Reindeer Cookies
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These kid-friendly reindeer cookies are flavored with vanilla, cocoa powder, and decorated with crispy pretzel antlers. They are so delicious and easy to make in your food processor with step-by-step photos.
Kids and beginner bakers will LOVE them.
My list of Christmas cookies is full of classic recipes like fig cookies, almond cookies, orange chocolate cookies, but this year I wanted to create a super festive cookie recipe that is simple, kid-friendly, and fun to bake.
And here it is a new delicious reindeer cookie recipe that kids will love!
So, these are essentially a combination of vanilla cookies and chocolate cookies. The recipe I use to make them is based off of my favorite pastry dough recipe. It uses cold butter, and it’s a breeze to make in a food processor in seconds, seriously.
No stand mixer, no creamed butter, no kneading.
Firstly, let’s start by making two cookie doughs, one with vanilla extract and one with cocoa powder. You also need two different round cookie cutters, and pretzels and coloured chocolate buttons to decorate, of course!
The dough needs to chill, so you can make it in advance and bake whenever convenient. You can also freeze it, a bonus during the busy holiday season!
Next, when you’re ready to bake, form the dough into a disc, roll flat, and cut. Finally, overlap the smaller chocolate cookies on top of the vanilla cookies, and have fun with the decorations!
With little adult supervision, young bakers will love making these adorable reindeer cookies. They’re also easy to customize and perfect for your holiday cookie swap!
Grab your baking essentials, and let’s bake!
List of the ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Butter
- Sugar
- Salt
- Eggs
- Cocoa powder
- Vanilla extract
- Nuts (optional)
- Pretzels & coloured buttons
Get your tools ready
- Food processor: It keeps the ingredients colder longer than mixing with hands and makes this reindeer cookie dough in seconds. I’ve been using this model for more than 10 years, I couldn’t recommend it more!
- Cookie cutters: you need 2 round cookie cutters with different sizes, about (Ø 2 ¼ inches/ 6 cm) and (Ø 2 ¾ inches/ 7 cm).
- Rolling pin: to roll out the cookie dough. I use a wood rolling pin.
- Baking sheets: You need two baking sheets and parchment paper or silicon baking mat.
How to make reindeer cookies
(Note: this is a description of the method, the full recipe is at the bottom of the page)
- Add diced cold butter, flour, and salt to the bowl of a food processor.
- Process for a few second until the mixture resembles “sand” (see photo below).
- Add the sugar and pulse again just until combined.
- Finally add the beaten egg, vanilla extract, and pulse for a few seconds just until the pastry dough comes together. Do not overprocess, it’s important to not overheat the ingredients.
- Transfer the dough onto a piece of cling film, wrap it, flatten and refrigerate.
- Next, to make the chocolate dough, repeat the previous steps adding the cocoa powder and nuts to the mixture.
- Refrigerate the doughs for about 2 hours and up to 2 days. It’s also freezable.
- Roll out the chilled vanilla dough and cut about 22 cookies (the exact number depends on the size of your cookie cutter).
- Roll out the chocolate dough and cut the same amount of cookies. You might have some cookie dough leftover, enough to roll a few extra plain cookies. Yum.
- Place the vanilla cookies on a baking sheet.
- Add the chocolate cookies on top of the vanilla cookies. You’ll want to overlap them just to create the reindeer’s muzzles (see photos).
- Decorate with coloured buttons and pretzels to create eyes, noses, and antlers.
- Refrigerate for about 20 minutes before baking.
Recipe notes
Reindeer cookies: ingredients
Flour: Unbleached all-purpose flour (aka plain flour) works just fine for this recipe.
Butter: Good-quality unsalted butter is really a treat here (salted could work too, but skip the extra salt).
Sugar: Powdered sugar (aka icing sugar if you’re in the UK). It’s made by finely grinding granulated sugar until it is a very fine powdery and gives a smoother texture than using granulated sugar. However, if granulated sugar is all you have on hand, keep in mind you need only 1/2 cup.
Egg: One whole egg provides structure and makes the dough more compact and easy to roll out.
Flavoring: It’s important to add flavor by using vanilla extract, but lemon or orange zest or almond extract would work just fine instead of vanilla. For the chocolate cookies I use unsweetened cocoa powder and chopped toasted almonds along with vanilla extract. Feel free to skip the nuts to make nut-free cookies, or swap the vanilla extract for orange zest if you wish.
Pretzels & buttons: Yes, the fun part! Any kind of mini pretzels work fine here and for the buttons, you can use chocolate chips, chocolate buttons, m&m, or even skittles.
Important tips!
- Fridge-cold butter is the key! I would recommend cutting the butter into cubes and refrigerate again until very cold, about 30 minutes, or freeze it for 15 minutes.
- Work quickly. It’s important to whip up the dough as quickly as possible and handle the mixture minimally after blending.
- Flatten the dough: Flattening the dough before rolling makes the rolling easier and faster.
- Chill the cookie dough, the longer the better! Resting in the fridge improves the texture, don’t skip this step. If you’re short on time just make sure it’s in the fridge long enough to firm up properly and become chilled (at least 60 minutes).
- Roll it out! For the best texture and easier cut, make sure you cut the dough when it’s still pretty cold, not at room temp, let alone warm.
More cookie recipes you’ll love!
- Fig cookies (Italian cucciddati)
- Vegan biscotti with almonds
- 1-bowl Orange chocolate cookies
- 4-ingredient coconut cookies
- Lemon biscotti
- Chocolate chip biscotti
- Coconut chocolate chip cookies
Lastly, I hope you’ll love these reindeer cookies as much as we do. And if you have any questions, let me know! Leave a comment, send me a message, or rate it. I would love to hear from you!
Reindeer Cookies
Equipment
- Food processor
- Cookie cutters (Ø 2 ¼ inches/6 cm) and (Ø 2 ¾ inches/7 cm)
- Baking sheets
- Parchment paper or silicon mat
Ingredients
Vanilla cookies
- 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- ¾ cup (100 grams) powdered sugar (aka icing sugar)
- 1 large egg, cold and lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (or ½ lemon zest)
Chocolate cookies
- 1 ¾ cups (220 grams) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- ¾ cup (100 grams) powdered sugar (icing sugar)
- ¼ cup (30 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons chopped nuts (optional)
- 1 large egg, cold and lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (or ½ orange zest)
Decorations
- mini pretzels
- chocolate chips, coloured buttons or m&m
Instructions
- Prep the butter: for both cookie doughs, measure and cut the butter into 1-inch/2 cm cubes. Place the diced butter in two separate containers and keep refrigerated until very cold about 20 minutes.
- Make the vanilla cookie dough: Add the flour, cold-fridge butter, salt to a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles "sand". It takes a few seconds. Add the sugar and repeat just until combined.
- Add the beaten egg, vanilla extract or lemon zest (or both), and pulse just to bring the dough together. It takes a few seconds, make sure you don't overwork the ingredients.
- Carefully remove the blades, transfer the cookie dough onto cling film, wrap and flatten the dough using your hands, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Make the chocolate cookie dough: No need to wash the food processor bowl in between, just add the flour, cold-fridge butter, salt to the food processor bowl and repeat: pulse until the mixture resembles "sand", next add the sugar, cocoa powder (if using nuts add them now), and pulse just until combined.
- Add the beaten egg, vanilla extract or orange zest (or both), and pulse just to bring the dough together. Make sure you don't overwork the ingredients.
- Carefully remove the blades, transfer the cookie dough onto cling film, wrap and flatten the dough using your hands, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- After the chilling time, take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter to soften slightly. You don't want it at room temp, so try to roll it out after 3-5 minutes. Meanwhile line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mats.
- Rolling out: Lightly sprinkle work surface and dough with flour. Roll out the chilled vanilla dough (⅕ inch/ ½ cm thick), using a round cookie cutter cut about 24 cookies. Roll out chilled the chocolate dough (⅕ inch/ ½ cm thick) and using a smaller cookie cutter, cut the same amount of cookies.
- Place the vanilla cookies on the baking sheets, add the chocolate cookies on top of the vanilla cookies. Partially overlap them just to make a sort of reindeer's muzzles. Decorate with coloured or chocolate buttons to create eyes, nose, and finish with pretzel antlers. Place the tray in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉/175℃ (conventional oven) and once it reaches the temperature, place one of the baking sheet in the middle rack and bake for about 13-15 minutes. The vanilla cookies should be golden pale. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and bake the second batch.
- Transfer the reindeer cookies to a cooling rack and let them cool at room temp. Enjoy!
