Skip to Content

Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies

These reindeer cookies are a peanut butter cookie with just a few “decorations” to make the face. This festive Christmas cookie is the perfect recipe to add to your holiday baking list and it’s easy enough to have the kids help you!

This post contains affiliate links, which means that I earn a small commission if you purchase something that I recommend. 

peanut butter reindeer cookies

I am here to tell you that this peanut butter cookie recipe is the bomb. There is seriously nothing worse than a dry crumbly peanut butter cookie- this is not one of those. These are soft and moist and don’t crumble down the front of your shirt. promise!

Cute and festive reindeer Christmas cookies

How to make Reindeer Cookies

To make these peanut butter cookies look like Rudolf the reindeer you’ll just need a few ingredients. The decorating is minimal guys. No pastry bags needed. Here a few tips for making the reindeer faces on these cookies.

  1. Place the decorations quickly after the cookies come out of the oven. Because peanut butter cookies stiffen after they cool it is difficult if not impossible to get the pretzels, m&m’s and chocolate chips to stay on the cookies after they are cool.
  2. Cut the pretzels carefully with a paring knife. Use the mini pretzels and carefully cut the rounded edges off so that you are left with a Y shape that looks like an antler!
  3. To get the exact look in these pictures use mini chocolate chips for the eyes and a larger size holiday M&M for the nose. I used the holiday mint but a peanut butter M&M would also be the same size.

If you are looking for an even faster peanut butter reindeer cookie check out my nutter butter reindeer cookies. No baking required!

Ingredients Needed:

The ingredients for this peanut butter cookie recipe are standard baking ingredients. This is a classic peanut butter cookie and as such you don’t need extra fancy ingredients!

  • All-Purpose Flour
  • Baking Soda, Baking Powder & Salt
  • Unsalted Butter
  • Shortening
  • Creamy Peanut Butter
  • White & Brown Sugar
  • Eggs
  • Vanilla Extract

If you’re doing a day of holiday baking like I do every year there are a few tools that I love that make the day easier and a little bit more enjoyable. 😉

  • A great cookie scoop- A great scoop is literally a magic lifesaver. No more scooping with a spoon and shaping with hands. You can literally scoop out cookie in half the time it used to take you. My favorite one is this Jenaluca and this Norpro is slightly less expensive and has great reviews.
  • A Silpat baking mat- The non-stick baking mat is essential with cookie baking! I love how easily the cookies come off, how evenly the cook and how easy the cleanup is! If you’d like to know a little bit more read my entire post about why I love my Silpat.
  • A Kitchenaid Mixer- Kitchenaid stand mixers are a big expense, but gosh are they worth it. If you love to bake you’ll enjoy baking even more with this amazing kitchen appliance. I received mine as a wedding gift 13 years ago and I use it all. the. time.
Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookie

I love these cookies and I hope you do too! When you make these be sure to share a picture with me! I love to see when you make recipes from the blog. Leave a comment or tag me on instagram @handmadeintheheartland or facebook !

peanut butter reindeer cookies

Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies

Yield: 24 cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

These peanut butter reindeer cookies are a cute and easy Christmas cookie that everyone loves! This cookie is so simple to decorate like Rudolf the reindeer that the kids will have an easy time helping you making this recipe.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Decoration Ingredients

  • mini pretzels
  • mini chocolate chips
  • red m&m’s

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350.  
  2. Stir together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt. 
  3. In a mixer cream butter, shortening, and peanut butter until smooth.  Add the sugars and keep mixing until well blended.  Add eggs, one at a time, and then vanilla.  Add flour in two parts and mix until combined.  
  4. Using a cookie scoop or spoon shape dough into balls and place an inch apart on a Silpat lined cookie sheet. My cookies are about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough. Bake for 8-10 minutes.  
  5. While they are baking or before cut the pretzels into “antlers”, I just took a pairing knife and cut the rounded outer parts of the pretzel off. When you take the cookies out of the oven immediately place the pretzels in the top for the antlers, a m&m for the nose, and mini chocolate chips for the eyes.  Let cool and enjoy!

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn a small commission if you purchase something I recommend. I would never recommend products I don't love and use!

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 300Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 28mgSodium: 246mgCarbohydrates: 35gFiber: 1gSugar: 22gProtein: 5g

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

Get the recipe for my favorite sour cream sugar cookies!

sour cream sugar cookies recipe

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

The Top 3 Reasons I love my Silpat | Handmade in the Heartland

Thursday 4th of February 2021

[…] cookies like my favorite: Peanut Butter Cookies, Frosted Sour Cream Sugar Cookies and Chocolate Chip Oatmeal […]

Frosted Sour Cream Sugar Cookies | Handmade in the Heartland

Sunday 29th of November 2020

[…] Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies […]

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Skip to Recipe