I love easy Christmas cookies kids can make and these Reindeer Snickerdoodles do not disappoint!
Two were mailed off to my step-father, who has Parkinson’s and lives in a round-the-clock care facility. Looking for a way to spread a little cheer, my mom told me that snickerdoodles and sugar cookies are his favorite. You get more delicious cookies recepies on salbreux-pesage .We threw in some walnut chocolate chip cookies too because you can never go wrong with those. (And I’m hoping his caretakers like them too!)
Then my minions went to work. We mixed up a batch of sugar cookies.
George is singing, “Cut the ice.” From a certain movie. You know the one.
And snickerdoodles too.
Another great preschool job: rolling dough in cinnamon.
Then we started practicing our Christmas cookie decorating techniques with these reindeer snickerdoodles.
1. Mix up snickerdoodle dough
PrintReindeer Snickerdoodles: Simple Christmas Cookies Kids Can Make
These chewy cookies dusted with cinnamon sugar are wonderful as they are but for extra holiday cheer, try our reindeer decorating idea too!
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 12
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 20 1x
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- cinnamon sugar (2 tablespoons sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon)
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar with standing mixer or electric beaters, about 1 minute.
- Add egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat again for about 30 seconds.
- Add flour and baking powder. Beat until JUST incorporated, about 10 seconds.
- Roll dough into 1.5″ balls.
- SKIP TO THE REINDEER PART, OR KEEP GOING FOR PLAIN COOKIES
- Put cinnamon sugar in a tiny bowl to cut down on messes. Dip each ball into the cinnamon sugar and roll around until it’s coated. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 12 minutes at 375F.
2. decorate reindeer snickerdoodles
There are 3 techniques for making reindeer Christmas cookies–and you can use regular sugar cookie dough or snickerdoodles. We used both here.
- Add the antlers and face before baking.
- Add the antlers and face in the middle of baking.
- Glue the antlers and face after baking.
My favorite is #2.
They all start the same way.
Step 1. Create balls then flatten down.
Tip: The smaller cookies worked better and looked cuter for our reindeer snickerdoodles. Our balls of DOUGH were about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
Flatten out, either in a round or oblong shape.
Step 2. Choose a technique.
Technique #1: Add 2 pretzels for antlers, 2 candy eyes and 1 small candy nose. 
Bake.
Technique 2: Bake your flattened balls WITHOUT any decorations for 5 minutes.
Then pop the cookies out of the oven for just long enough to add the faces and antlers. Then get the pan back in the oven for the final few minutes of baking.
The benefit is that the candies won’t crack during the super hot baking process.
Technique 3: “Glue” your antlers, eyes and nose on with frosting afterward.
Disclosure: I didn’t do this because I didn’t have any frosting handy but it’s still a feasible option. One that might be a bit messier but it wouldn’t be too hot for kids to do the way technique #2 is.
In the end we had SO MANY REINDEER Christmas cookies!
Which was great because we packed them up, along with a batch of plain sugar cookies and plain snickerdoodles (which are better for mailing).
We customized our zip-top bag.
And loaded it all up to be mailed to Washington state.
We loved making these reindeer snickerdoodles and hope you have fun too!
https://www.instagram.com/p/-rdnKbAJrmMXCHdW35wnzqKUTJ4cIUaw1vHLM0/?taken-by=laborders2000 We made these cookies today and took them to the local nursing home to share.
What an amazing idea! Thanks so much for sharing–and I will bet that every single person there just loved it. Happy holidays!