Peanut Butter Christmas Reindeer Cookies
Blue-nosed Rudolph
Disclaimer: All the reindeer pictured in this post have red noses. We did this as a show of respect, Grammer.)
Around the holidays I see a lot of posts, articles, and newsletters that refer to having the cutest Christmas cookie. Ever.
Well, I’m here to say they can’t possibly, because this is the cutest Christmas cookie ever. This is the cookie recipe my kids started making with their Grammer when they were so small their only real input to the baking process was stealthily inhaling all the carefully color-coded M&Ms from the dishes of red and brown.
The best memories
My kids are grown, in their 20s grown, but when I ask what, if any, cookies they want to make when they’re home for Christmas, the answer’s always the same. You guessed it. “Reindeer Cookies!” So Reindeer Cookies we make, each and every year. With one slight change.
As they roll the peanut butter balls that will become the head and nose of Rudolph, they laugh and reminisce that when they made these with Grammer, there were only red noses. “They aren’t Rudolph without a red nose,” my mom would say.
Invariably, at least one of them would sneak a different color nose in to see if it’d be discovered. It always was. But we remember and laugh and think of all the great times making these with Grammer. Only now their generation’s creations are a little bit different. We’ll say they’re a bit more diverse.
Taste vs aesthetics
Here’s another Grammer rule: Cookies could be cute and tasty but they couldn’t be just cute. Honestly, I think this should be a cookie requirement. What’s a cookie if it isn’t tasty? Still, I see plenty of really cute creations every year posted all over the place, but it’s easy to tell they just won’t taste that good. The ingredients are an afterthought.
It isn’t hard to make homemade dough. This recipe proves that; it comes together in about 10 minutes. So, go ahead and make your reindeer with red, green, blue or whatever color you choose. But don’t spend your time making cookies that don’t taste good. That’s it. Now get baking!
Christmas Reindeer Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 bag (at least 40) mini pretzels
- large bag M&Ms (see above for color selection!) Purists would say they can only be red and brown
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375º. Beat butter, peanut butter, sugars and egg thoroughly. Mix all dry ingredients together and blend into butter mixture. Roll dough into 20 large balls (approximately 1 1/4" in diameter and 20 small balls (approximately 1" in diameter).
- Position one small ball under one large ball on a cookie sheet. (Large ball is reindeer's head and small ball is his snout.) Then, lightly press down and together to form the reindeer shape. Do this for all 20 sets of dough balls.
- Press two pretzels into the top ball for antlers. Add M&Ms (whatever colors you've chosen) and add for eyes and nose. (See image, above for guidance.)
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Makes approximately 20 reindeer. (The cutest cookie ever!)
