I love a good festive cookie.
Absolutely love them.
So when I saw a recipe video for Reindeer Cookies, I knew I had to make them.
Despite following the recipe, my cookies ended up being a little bit of a #fail.
The cookies were too big, the chocolate pretzels too melty, and the M&Ms for the eyes and nose made the cookie too squishy. While the cookies looked okay and tasted amazing (seriously, gingerbread + chocolate 4ever!), I wasn’t too happy with the results. I knew that there had to be a better way to make these adorable treats.
So I decided to go back to what I know – cut-out gingerbread cookies + royal icing.
I decided to roll out the gingerbread instead of shape it, cut out oval-shaped cookies (hello, Easter Egg cutter), and baked them up! It resulted in much less fuss (despite the taking a bit longer) and a better surface to affix all the decorations. **Note: if you don’t have an oval cookie cutter, a circle one will work perfectly fine!**
The gingerbread cookie base is my go-to, ginger-less gingerbread recipe. I love this recipe because it is easy to make, everyone loves it, and the cookies don’t spread too much while baking. But you don’t have to use my recipe – any gingerbread dough (that doesn’t spread) can work here!
After the cookies are baked and cooled, whip up a batch of royal icing (I use meringue powder for a food-safe and easy-to-make icing) and grab some M&Ms/chocolate-covered pretzels.
Two chocolate-covered pretzels act as the antlers while M&Ms act as the eyes and nose.
Super cute!
These will be the talk of the office holiday party!
What’s your favorite festive cookie treat?
oxox,
Catherine
- 1 recipe of gingerbread dough - making sure it is a recipe that has minimal spreading
- Royal Icing
- M&M candies, brown and red only
- Milk Chocolate-Covered Pretzels, bite-size
- Roll out gingerbread dough to quarter-inch thick. Using an oval cookie cutter (if you don't have one, a circle cookie cutter works just fine!), cut out gingerbread cookies. Bake according to recipe directions. Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool before decorating.
- Using royal icing, affix two chocolate-covered pretzels to the top of the cookie for the antlers. Add two brown M&Ms for the eye and one red M&M for the nose. Allow to dry completely before devouring!
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