Reindeer cookies.

The Munchkin has been looking forward to making these for DAYS. & they turned out just as great as we hoped they would!

I had originally thought to do spice cookies, but The Munchkin said peanut butter, so that’s what we did! Lucky for us, Bakergirl had already made delicious peanut butter reindeer cookies! Hers are for mini reindeer, but I had full-sized “features,” so I made them full-sized. It yielded 18 cookies instead of 40.

• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3 Tbsp. milk
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• scant 3/4 tsp. salt (I felt it was plenty salty from the peanut butter)
• pretzels (I think chocolate- or yogurt-covered pretzels would “stick” better)
• green M&Ms
• red Cadbury Christmas Mini Eggs (or you could use peanut M&Ms, but I’m kind of obsessed with the Cadbury Mini Eggs, so we’re using those)

1. Preheat your oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Cream together first 5 ingredients in your electric mixer. Add egg & beat until just blended.
3. (Optional: combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.) Add to the wet ingredients & mix until just incorporated.
4. Roll into 2-inch balls. Pinch one end between your thumb & forefinger for the “chin.” Then flatten between your palms. Place them on your prepared cookie sheet; I fit 9 on a sheet to keep them from spreading.
5. Bake 9 minutes or until set in the middle & just starting to brown.
6. Remove from the oven, & immediately (carefully!) press the pretzels in for antlers. Do this for all of the cookies right away; the pretzels don’t stick as well as the other “features.”
7. Let your kitchen helper help you press in M&Ms for eyes (M side down, of course) & a Cadbury Mini Egg for a nose.

I was amazed at how good The Munchkin got at decorating these!

Her first attempts were rather… Picasso-like…

But by her 6th one, everything was in its proper place!

Who knew that cookie decorating could teach a two-&-a-half-year-old anatomy?