Description
Delicious festive cookies shaped like reindeer, perfect for holiday celebrations.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup shortening (Crisco)
- 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 Tablespoons milk
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup chocolate covered pretzel twists (for the antlers)
- 1 cup M&M chocolate candy (for the noses, I like to use the red ones)
- 1 cup chocolate chips (for the eyes)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray or cover with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Using a fork, stir well and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer, combine shortening, light brown sugar, peanut butter, milk, and vanilla extract. Beat at medium speed until smooth and well-blended.
- Add in the egg and mix well.
- Slowly begin adding the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture. Only add a little at a time as you mix it to prevent flour from flying everywhere. Don’t overmix; just stir until combined.
- Form dough into 1-inch balls and place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Avoid baking too many at once to add the antlers without the cookies cooling too quickly.
- To create the reindeer face, pinch the bottom half of each cookie.
- Gently flatten each cookie with your hand.
- Bake cookies (one sheet at a time) on the middle rack for about 8 minutes.
- While the cookies are baking, get all your embellishments organized.
- Once cookies are finished, while still warm, start adding the noses using the red M&Ms. Then add the chocolate chip eyes close to the nose with the pointy side up.
- Add the antlers using the chocolate covered pretzel twists. Ensure they are pressed solidly on the cookie, near the eyes, applying light pressure for a few seconds to secure.
- Allow cookies to finish cooling and repeat with remaining dough.
Notes
- For best results, make sure cookies are still warm when adding the embellishments to secure them properly.
- Use a spring-loaded cookie scoop for uniform cookie sizes.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 120
- Sugar: 10g
- Sodium: 100mg
- Fat: 5g
- Saturated Fat: 1.5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 16g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 2g
- Cholesterol: 10mg