These molasses spice cookies are the perfect sweet treat to leave out for Santa this Christmas Eve. And, with the addition of mini pretzel antlers, candy eyeballs, and chocolate M&M’s noses, these easy-to-decorate sweet spice-filled molasses reindeer cookies will definitely ensure that you make Santa’s Nice List this holiday season.
How hard could it be to turn molasses spice cookies into reindeer cookies? One would think that it would be rather simple. However, as is often the case where I am concerned, things are never as simple as they should be. Sure, in the end, these spice-filled cookies turned out to be extremely simple to make and easy to decorate, but if you saw the many pathetic versions of poor little reindeer test cookies that came before these shown here, you definitely would not have any great desire to bake these adorable reindeer Christmas cookies.
For the first round of reindeer cookies, I baked two cookies. One with antlers and two chocolate chip eyes right below and the other with just chocolate chip eyes. When removed from the oven, I added a candy eyeball on top of each chocolate chip and then added a red candy nose. I also pressed two pretzel antlers down into the cookie without them. The only thing I discovered in this round, was that the pretzel antlers definitely worked better when pressed into the cookie dough before baking and that my reindeer looked like they were getting ready to head out to rob a bank.
For the second round of reindeer cookies, I pressed two pretzel antlers down into each cookie. I then placed a chocolate chip on top of the bottom center of each pretzel for the eyes. After that, I added another chocolate chip below the eyes for a mouth. When removed from the oven, I added a candy eyeball on top of each chocolate chip eye and a red candy nose between the eyes and chocolate chip mouth. Y’all, this batch of reindeer somehow looked even more pathetic than the first round. Let’s just say that these reindeer looked a wee bit “touched” to say the least.
Finally, I decided to ditch the chocolate chips altogether. This definitely meant that I needed to quickly press the candy eyeballs and noses into the cookies immediately upon removing them from the oven, however, at least this round of cookies didn’t make me want to run away screaming in horror at the sight of them. I mean who wants to celebrate the holidays with “touched” reindeer cookies that look like they just robbed a bank? Certainly not me and definitely not Santa. At least this version of reindeer cookies won’t get me added to Santa’s Naughty List.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
- 1/4 Cup Molasses
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons Ground Ginger
- 1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- Pinch of Ground Cloves
- Pinch of Freshly Grated Nutmeg
- Mini Pretzels
- Candy Eyeballs
- Red Milk Chocolate M&M’s
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Add the egg, vanilla, and molasses; mix for 1 minute on medium speed.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Add a third of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Repeat until all of the dry ingredients are just incorporated into the dough. Do not overmix.
- Use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough out onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Press two pretzels down into the top of each scoop of cookie dough to make reindeer antlers.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- When you remove the cookies from the oven, immediately decorate them with candy eyeballs and M&M’s noses.
- Allow the cookies to rest for 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
Suggestions:
- I used Snyder’s of Hanover Itty Bitty Minis Pretzels for this cookie recipe. These pretzels are tiny and absolutely over-the-top adorable, however, I think a slightly larger average mini-pretzel would look cute on these cookies as well.
- You will need to work fast when garnishing the cookies with their reindeer eyes and noses.
- Use a clean pair of tweezers to position or push the candy eyeballs and M&M’s into the baked cookies.
- This recipe will yield approximately 2 1/2 dozen cookies.
- Store the baked cookies in an airtight container between layers of wax paper.
Improvements:
- If you aren’t a fan of ground cloves or nutmeg, feel free to make these a ground ginger and/or a ground cinnamon cookie only. Simply omit the ground cloves and freshly grated nutmeg.
- M&M’s are always available in an assortment of holiday flavors each year. Feel free to replace the milk chocolate version with one of these holiday flavors.
- CLICK HERE to check out all of our past cookie recipes. Don’t forget to check out our Christmas cookies section.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
- 1/4 Cup Molasses
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons Ground Ginger
- 1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- Pinch of Ground Cloves
- Pinch of Freshly Grated Nutmeg
- Mini Pretzels
- Candy Eyeballs
- Red Milk Chocolate M&M's
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Add the egg, vanilla, and molasses; mix for 1 minute on medium speed.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Add a third of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Repeat until all of the dry ingredients are just incorporated into the dough. Do not overmix.
- Use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough out onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Press two pretzels down into the top of each scoop of cookie dough to make reindeer antlers.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- When you remove the cookies from the oven, immediately decorate them with candy eyeballs and M&M's noses.
- Allow the cookies to rest for 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
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Christmas is a time for family, friends, and delicious holiday cookies. From classic butter cookies to iced gingerbread cookies, this list of ultimate Christmas cookie recipes has something for everyone. Whether you’re looking for festive colors, unique seasonal ingredients, or just a cookie that’s super easy to make, these Christmas cookie recipes will help you find the perfect cookie for the season. CLICK HERE for the recipes.
