Reindeer Cookies
These festive Reindeer Cookies will be the star of your Christmas dessert table this holiday season! Whether you're making Rudolph or the whole herd, these eye-catching chocolate Christmas cookies always steal the show! They also earn major bonus points for being crazy easy to make!
Servings: 15
Ingredients
- 13.25 ounces Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (if using a 15.25 oz. box, increase butter to 1/2 cup)
- 1/3 cup Melted Butter (Vegetable or Canola Oil can be substituted)
- 2 large Eggs
- 2 cups Chocolate Frosting
- 15+ Mini Nilla Wafers
- 30+ Candy Eyeballs
- 30+ Tiny Pretzel Twists
- 15+ Cinnamon Imperials Candies
Instructions
- Gather your ingredients.
- Combine Cake Mix, Melted Butter (or oil), and Eggs in large mixing bowl, and mix with hand mixer or stand mixer until well combined.
- Cover dough and chill in refrigerator for 2 hours.
- After dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Form dough into balls, a little larger than your typical cookie… I usually use 2 tbsp. – 2.5 tbsp. of dough per each dough ball.
- Bake on center oven rack for 7 - 13 minutes, or until done. (Note: Bake on the shorter end of the time range for non-stick cookie sheets & longer end of the time range for aluminum cookie sheets.)
- Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes.
- Transfer cookies to wire racks to finish cooling. (Allow cookies to cool COMPLETELY before decorating. I usually let them sit out at least 30 minutes before I start frosting.)
- Once cookies have cooled completely, apply a smooth layer of chocolate frosting to your cookie.
- Then gently press 1 nilla wafer onto the cookie for the snout, add 2 eyes, and 2 pretzels for ears.
- Now take your cinnamon candy, and add just a little bit of chocolate frosting to the back, and place down onto the nilla wafer for Rudolph's red nose. (The frosting will act like glue and help the nose stay in place.)
- Then repeat the frosting and decorating process until all cookies are finished. Aren't they SO cute?!? ENJOY!
Notes
- Butter: When it comes to cake mix cookies, salted or unsalted butter can be used, as the cake mix will have a little salt in it. However, I've found that salted butter will result in superior flavor.
- Make Ahead Tips: These cookies are really easy to prep ahead of time! Your cookie dough can be prepared ahead of time and stored covered in the refrigerator up to 2 days prior to baking.
- Storage Tips: After your cute little Christmas cookies have baked and cooled, they will last well at room temperature, stored covered in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.
- FAQ's: For answers to Frequently Asked Questions or tips for common substitutions and variations, please refer to the detailed information above this recipe card.
