Christmas Reindeer Cookies

This weekend was one of those December weekends where you race from commitment to commitment without a moment to pee. They were all awesome events surrounded by wicked people, but still tiring nonetheless. Friday was by far my favourite as I spent it with my cooking club. Okay I know it sounds cheesy, but basically we drink tons of wine and try to learn a new recipe while having a kitchen dance party. Maybe I'm old but these nights make my life.

This weekend we made tourtière based on my besties family recipe passed down from generation to generation. We decided to learn it to carry on the tradition. Because I was so busy this weekend I was planning on blogging about the tourtière, but then I remembered it was a family secret. I can't very well post it on the internet!  Dibinka (our nickname for my besites mom) would have my neck! 

So instead I decided to make Christmas Reindeer Cookies that I found on Pinterest.  Let's see if I can overcome the Pinterest fail curse.

After following the yellow brick road, I found the recipe at Budding Baketress Blog.  Here is a photo of her cookies:

And here is a picture of my cookies:

Not bad, eh? I'll repost the recipe then give my thoughts below.

Reindeer Cookies

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup shortening

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 egg

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

Chocolate-covered mini pretzels

Mini brown M&Ms

Regular-sized red M&Ms

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Combine brown sugar, peanut butter, shortening, milk, and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until well blended. Add egg; beat until just blended.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.

Form dough into 1-inch balls. To make reindeer-shaped cookies, pinch the bottom of the ball slightly to form a point, then gently flatten with your hand. Space cookies about 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 7 to 8 minutes, until set or just beginning to brown. 

Remove from oven and immediately (and gently) press two mini pretzels into the tops of the cookies for the reindeer's antlers. Press two mini brown M&Ms in for the eyes and one red M&M for the nose (or any other color... some of mine ended up with green noses. They might be South Pole reindeer.). 

Allow to cool 2 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack or paper towel to cool completely. 

Makes about 40 reindeer cookies.

Source: Peanut butter cookie recipe from Jif.

My thoughts:

1. I couldn't find mini-M&Ms so I used Reese Pieces which seemed to work just fine.

2. It was hard to get the antlers to stay. I realized they needed to be done as soon as they were out of the oven. As some posters mentioned on her comments section, try to do them before the nose and eyes.

3. The chocolate on the pretzels did melt. Not sure there's much you can do to stop this except perhaps putting them into the fridge to set once made?

4. My dough seemed a bit stickier then I thought it should be. I cooked it anyways hoping it would firm up but they flattened out quite a bit. Could be because there is more humidity in the air here as I know that can affect gnocchi? Anyhow, I would probably add a touch more flour next time.

5. I used parchment paper to keep the cookies from sticking, which worked great.

Happy Funday!