What if My Candies Won’t Stick?

Name: Easy Reindeer Cookies
Prep time: 35 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 30
Ingredients: 1 roll (16.5 oz) refrigerated Pillsbury™ Sugar Cookie Dough; 3 tablespoons mild molasses; 1/2 cup all-purpose flour; 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger; 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice; 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves; 60 small pretzel twists; 60 semisweet chocolate chips (about 1/2 cup); 30 small gumdrops

Kitchen Tested

Easy Reindeer Cookies

Prep time:35 min
Total time:2 hr 0 min
Ingredients:10
Servings:30
Calories per serving:100

By Pillsbury Kitchens(Opens in a new tab)Updated 07/13/2024

Easy Reindeer Cookies

Prep time:35 min
Total time:2 hr 0 min
Ingredients:10
Servings:30
Calories per serving:100

Our adorable reindeer gingerbread cookies are so charming and easy to make. It’s a great holiday recipe to help whip up some merry-making magic, whether you’re new to the kitchen or an ace baker.

Most seasonal cookies are shaped cookies—those you dig out the cookie cutters for. They require making and chilling the dough before they are rolled out and cut with cookie cutter shapes. Starting with Pillsbury™ sugar cookie dough, puts you on a fast track to decorating and devouring of these jolly sweet treats and no cookie cutters required!

Make some yuletide memories with your family, with this simple recipe. Kids can find the ingredients you will need in your cupboard or create a fun ingredient search game at the store. After the cookies come out of the oven, they’ll love decorating the cookies. With a few simple steps and ingredients, make the cutest reindeer cookies this side of the North Pole. Unleash your creativity by offering up bowls of other small candies or decors and see what tasty creations your family invents!

Celebrate the magic of the season and create new holiday memories together in the kitchen as you make, bake, and nibble these delightfully jolly sweet treats. With a recipe this easy, you won’t mind if they disappear before the holiday—it’s easy to make more!

How to Make Reindeer Cookies

Making these reindeer cookies is easy and oh, so, fun! Use these general guidelines and helpful tips along with the detailed recipe below for sweet success:

Break Up Dough

It will be a breeze to stir in other ingredients if you break up the dough into the bowl first. Using the dough straight from the fridge, break it with your clean fingers, into pieces about a tablespoon or two large. Breaking it first means it will be a lot faster to mix in the other ingredients. Or, you can skip step 1 entirely, cutting down on prep time by staring with Pillsbury gingerbread cookie dough.

Making Easy Gingerbread Dough

Stir in the additional flour and molasses until the sugar cookie dough is evenly colored. (Now that you’ve added flour, remember not to sneak a bite, since untreated raw flour can be a source of food-borne illness). Sprinkle the dough with the spices and stir, until they are evenly mixed in.

Shape a Triangular Log

Gather the dough into a ball and roll it on the counter under your hands, into an 8-inch log. Using just a little pressure, press down on the log to flatten it on one side. Roll dough over, just past the flattened side and flatten the log again to make the second side of a triangle. Repeat one more time, to create a triangle-shaped log.

Chill it Well

You can put it in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours, or you can chill it faster in the freezer (just don’t let it freeze).

Slice ‘Em Up

When the cookie dough is properly chilled, you’ll be able to slice nice slices that hold their shape. If you try to cut them too soon, the dough is likely to squish when cutting it. Place the slices on the cookie sheets and add pretzels to two of the sides to make the antlers before baking.

Make Reindeer Faces

After baking, while the cookies are still warm, add chocolate chips for eyes and a gumdrop for the nose—that’s it. No decorating skills are needed for these decorated Christmas cookies!

How To Decorate a Reindeer Christmas Cookie

The goal of making Pillsbury reindeer cookies is to have fun and let your creativity shine! This easy recipe uses standard pretzel twists, found in the snack aisle of your grocery store, chocolate chips for the eyes, and small gumdrops for the nose.

The pretzels are added before the cookies go in the oven, so cookie dough can bake around them, holding the pretzels in place. Press enough so the pretzels stick lightly in the dough. For the eyes and nose, wait a minute after the cookies come out of the oven (while still on the cookie sheets) and press on the decorations. While still warm, you'll add chocolate chips for the eyes and then a gumdrop for each nose. Press them in enough to make a slight indentation—the warm cookie will soften the bottoms of the candies so that they melt, ever so slightly, into the cookies to “glue” them. This way nothing else is needed to make them stick. Let your reindeer sit on the cookie sheets for about 3 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack. This gives the tender cookies enough time to cool somewhat making them sturdy enough to hold their shape when you moved.

If you want to get even more creative, feel free to decorate them any way you like! Get to the eating even faster by making our Frosted Reindeer Cookies or cute chocolate-frosted cookies, instead. Or use whatever small candies or sprinkles you like to decorate your cookies, using your favorite frosting to “glue” them onto completely cooled cookies.

More About This Recipe

Making Christmas cookie shapes during the holiday season is a fun baking tradition in many households. It’s the perfect activity to do with the whole family, and the shapes you can make are many—popular shapes include Christmas trees, mittens, stars, gingerbread men, snowmen and reindeer cookies. Making these shapes often requires special cookie cutters, but this particular reindeer cookie recipe doesn’t require any! So, there’s no need to rush out to the store to find cookie cutters anymore. With a few simple steps and some candy, you can make these adorable reindeer cookies with almost no tools or fuss. Not a big fan of gingerbread cookie dough? Pillsbury fans have tried this recipe with peanut butter dough instead and have had great results. Whichever dough you decide to use, let us know how these turned out! When you’re done making these, don’t forget to browse all of our other cookie recipes. Have some cookie questions? We have the kitchen-tested tips for you to have on hand while you bake.

Frequently Asked Questions

Cookies cool quickly, so wait just a minute after they come out of the oven before adding the candies. (See How To Decorate a Reindeer Christmas Cookie above). Keeping them on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes after decorating them will also help them adhere, as the heat from the cookie sheet will help the outer layer of the candies melt slightly and act as the “glue”.

But if you waited too long to add the candies and they didn’t stick, no worries! You can use a toothpick to add a tiny amount of ready-to-spread frosting under the candies as glue. No ready-to-spread frosting on hand? You can make a simple powdered sugar icing in a jiffy by mixing 1/2 cup powdered sugar with a tiny amount of water (start with a few drops, adding more if necessary) until it’s thick enough to hold its shape.

Easy Reindeer Cookies

Prep time:35 min
Total time:2 hr 0 min
Ingredients:10
Servings:30
Calories per serving:100

Ingredient

1 roll (16.5 oz) refrigerated Pillsbury™ Sugar Cookie Dough
3 tablespoons mild molasses
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
60 small pretzel twists
60 semisweet chocolate chips (about 1/2 cup)
30 small gumdrops

Instructions

Step 1
In large bowl, break up cookie dough; stir in molasses. Add flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and cloves; mix thoroughly with hands until blended. (DO NOT EAT RAW COOKIE DOUGH AFTER COMBINING WITH FLOUR.)

Step 2
With hands, shape cookie dough into 8-inch log. Shape into triangle-shaped log. Wrap log with plastic wrap. Place in freezer 45 minutes or in refrigerator 1 to 2 hours until firm.

Step 3
Heat oven to 350°F. With thin sharp knife, cut dough into 30 (1/4-inch) slices. On ungreased large cookie sheets, place 2 inches apart. Place 2 pretzel twists on each triangle near two of the corners for antlers.

Step 4
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set and light golden brown. Let cookies stand 1 minute; lightly press 2 chocolate chips into each cookie for eyes and gumdrop for nose. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Let stand until chocolate chips are set, about 15 minutes. Store between sheets of waxed paper in tightly covered container.

Recipe Tips

Candy-coated chocolate candies may be substituted for the gumdrop nose.
Keep dough well-chilled for easy slicing.

Nutrition Facts

Calories
100
Total Fat
3g
Protein
1g
Total Carbohydrate
18g
Sugars
10g

Servings: 30

Serving Size: 1 Cookie (With Decorations)

Amount Per Serving Calories : 100

Nutrition Facts
Food Component / Nutrient	Amount	% , Daily Value*
Total Fat	3g	5%
Saturated Fat	1g	5%
Trans Fat	0g	% Value Not Available
Monounsaturated Fat	0g	% Value Not Available
Polyunsaturated Fat	0g	% Value Not Available
Omega-3	0g	% Value Not Available
Cholesterol	0mg	0%
Sodium	80mg	3%
Total Carbohydrate	18g	6%
Dietary Fiber	0g	0%
Soluble Fiber	0g	% Value Not Available
Insoluble Fiber	0g	% Value Not Available
Sugars	10g	% Value Not Available
Protein	1g	% Value Not Available
Vitamin D	Value Not Available	0%
Calcium	Value Not Available	0%
Iron	Value Not Available	2%
Potassium	45mg	1%
Vitamin A	Value Not Available	0%
Vitamin C	Value Not Available	0%
Vitamin E	Value Not Available	0%
Thiamin	Value Not Available	0%
Riboflavin	Value Not Available	0%
Niacin	Value Not Available	0%
Vitamin B6	Value Not Available	0%
Folic Acid	Value Not Available	0%
Vitamin B12	Value Not Available	0%
Pantothenic Acid	Value Not Available	0%
Phosphorus	Value Not Available	0%
Magnesium	Value Not Available	0%
Zinc	Value Not Available	0%
Manganese	Value Not Available	6%
Selenium	Value Not Available	0%
Copper	Value Not Available	0%
Beta-Carotene	Value Not Available	% Value Not Available
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Exchanges

Starch ½,
Fruit 0,
Other Carbohydrate ½,
Skim Milk 0,
Low-Fat Milk 0,
Milk 0,
Vegetable 0,
Very Lean Meat 0,
Lean Meat 0,
Medium-Fat Meat 0,
High-Fat Meat 0,
Fat ½,
Fruits 0c,
Vegetables 0c,
Grains 0oz-eq,
Meat & Beans 0oz-eq,
Dairy 0c,
Fats & Oils 0tsp

Carbohydrate Choice

Carbohydrate Choice1

Loading component...

Try These Next

Loading component...

Family-friendly meals made easy!

Make everyday family moments count, with easy recipes that everyone will love. Join our email community to receive tested recipes and tips.

How to Make Reindeer Cookies

Making these reindeer cookies is easy and oh, so, fun! Use these general guidelines and helpful tips along with the detailed recipe below for sweet success: