Reindeer Sugar Cookies
These Reindeer Sugar Cookies bring festive fun to your holiday baking. They're easy to decorate and perfect for family fun.
Servings: 44 cookies
Calories: 91kcal
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
To decorate
- 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted
- 44 M&Ms, for the noses
Instructions
Mix cookies
- Whisk the flour and baking powder to combine and set aside.
- In the large mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter and sugar. Beat until smooth and creamy, then add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract and beat again until completely combined. You will need to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times during this process.
- Turn the mixer to its lowest speed and gradually add the flour mixture, beating until a soft dough is formed. If the dough is not soft and feels sticky, add more flour, a tablespoon at a time.
- Place a baking sheet on a work surface with a piece of lightly floured parchment paper on top of the sheet. Bring the dough together with your hands, briefly kneading it in the bowl until it’s smooth. Break off half the dough, then place it on the baking sheet with the parchment paper.
- Use your hands to flatten it into a smooth disc, then place a piece of parchment paper on top and roll the dough out to 1/4 inch. Cling wrap the whole baking sheet and place in the refrigerator to chill for 2 hours. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Bake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Remove the first baking sheet from the fridge, unwrap it, and discard the top layer of parchment.
- Use a 2.5-inch cookie cutter to cut circles in the dough. Re-roll and cut out any remaining dough on a fresh sheet of parchment paper on your surface. Arrange the cut-out cookies on the baking sheet, leaving a small space between them. They will not spread, so they can be placed close together.
- Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 9-10 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Decorate reindeer cookies
- To decorate, add the melted chocolate to a piping bag or zipper bag and snip the very end off with scissors so there’s a small hole (or use a very small round piping tip).
- Pipe the reindeer eyes and antlers onto the cooled cookies, then add a small amount of melted chocolate where the noses will go. Stick the M&M's on before the chocolate sets.
- Once the chocolate has set, serve and enjoy!
Notes
- It’s important to spoon and level your flour when making these cookies as if you have too much flour, they will be dry and crumbly. If you would like to weigh the flour it should be 375 grams.
- We added a classic vanilla flavoring and always add a small touch of almond extract to sugar cookies as it gives such a beautiful flavor. You can opt to leave it out if you want to.
- This recipe is quick and easy to make, and when sufficiently chilled, sugar cookie dough is very good at holding its shape in the oven. Don’t skip the chilling stage because if the dough is too soft it will spread.
- We went with cute little reindeer faces for these sugar cookies but you can go wild with this dough and make all sorts of different designs. It’s easy to color with a small amount of gel food coloring and is a good dough to work into different shapes, such as candy canes. Use this as a base sugar cookie recipe and see where your imagination takes you!
- Storage and Make Ahead: The dough can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 days. Once baked, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Undecorated cookies freeze really well for up to 1 month.
