Reindeer Sugar Cookies Recipe

'Tis the season for decking the halls, singing a few carols, wrapping Christmas presents, and of course, baking lots of festive treats. And this season, if you're ready to take your holiday cookie game up a notch, then these delightful reindeer sugar cookies designed by chef and recipe developer Autumn LeAnn are a perfect choice. That's because they delight both in looks and taste. 

But fair warning: With said looks and flavor does lead to more prep work and decorating than you'd get with your average sugar cookie. They're well worth it, though, and as long as you carve out enough free time not to rush the process (Let that icing and chocolate set fully before you start in on the serving or snacking, for example!), you'll do just fine. And the good news is, the cookies will still taste great even if not every reindeer turns out looking quite up to Santa's sleigh team quality.

These cookies only call for a few more ingredients than classic sugar cookies, and those are for the icing and decorative touches. Overall, you likely have all of this stuff on hand. So, you'll want to start by gathering butter, sugar, vanilla extract, salt, eggs, cornstarch, all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, meringue powder (Okay, you may not have that one!), white chocolate chips, and some water. Once your ingredients are ready to go, it's time to prepare the sugar cookie dough.

Start things off by preheating your oven to 325 F. Then, add the butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt to a bowl, and cream them together until the mixture is fluffy. "I used my stand mixer, but you can also use a hand mixer," LeAnn says.

Next, proceed to crack one egg at a time into the mixture, and combine until each is smoothly incorporated. Then, pour in the cornstarch, and mix that in until it's well combined.

Now comes the flour, which you will add about 1 cup at a time, mixing between additions. Continue adding in a cup at a time until all 3 ½ cups have been incorporated, and the dough is formed.

Lightly dust your countertop with flour, then dump the cookie dough onto it, and work the dough together into a rectangle shape. Once you have achieved a rough rectangle, sprinkle a bit more flour on top of the cookie dough, and begin rolling it out with a rolling pin.

When you've rolled your dough about ⅙-inch-thick, begin cutting out reindeer cookies with your cookie cutter, and place each onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking mat. "These cookies don't spread too much, so they don't have to be very far apart," LeAnn says, adding, "Just make sure they are not touching each other."

Now, bake the cookies at 325 F for seven minutes, then turn the pan, and bake for another seven minutes. Once the cookies are done, remove them from the oven, and let them cool completely on the baking sheet.

While the cookies are cooling down, combine the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and meringue powder in a shallow bowl. Then, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time to the mixture, and combine the ingredients until a smooth frosting forms. (You want it to be smooth so it runs off your spoon, but thick enough that it will not run off the sides of the cookies when you dip them.)

Once the cookies have cooled, dip the top side of each cookie into the icing, and let the excess drip off before setting aside the cookie aside to let the icing harden. Repeat this until all of cookies are iced.

Now, let the icing set fully, then melt ¼ cup of white chocolate chips (You can use a saucepan over low heat, or heat in increments in a microwave.), and transfer the liquid white chocolate to a piping bag (or a small Ziploc bag, if need be).

Cut the tip off of your piping bag, and pipe some antlers onto your reindeer cookies, then let cookies set until the white chocolate completely hardens before stacking, serving, or snacking!