Day 276 - Day 5 of the 12 Days of Cookies - Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies

I saw these cookies on the internet when I Googled "Christmas Cookies" and I knew I just had to make them.

They are just WAY too cute!!
If I had little kid, they'd be all over them, but my teenagers liked them, too.
I have to thank Kerry from Bakergirl for this idea.
I used a different peanut butter cookie recipe and other things, but they came out just as cute.
I'm sure the kids in your life will love these, too!

This peanut butter cookie recipe is one that we like the best here at 365 and it came from my New Doubleday Cookbook, p.843; authors, Jean Anderson and Elaine Hanna; publisher, Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., an imprint of Random house, Inc.; ISBN 0-385-19577-X.

Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies - makes about 73 (6 dozen)
*I only made about 1/3 of the batch reindeer and the rest I left plain because I ran out of chocolate covered pretzels.*

2 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup butter-flavored vegetable shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup creamy peanut butter
chocolate covered pretzels
cinnamon red hots
semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Into a medium bowl, sift flour with baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, shortening and sugars til light and fluffy, about 7 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, making sure the first is fully incorporated before adding the next.

Beat in peanut butter.

Slowly add flour mixture, about 1/3 at a time, until just blended.

Chill dough for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls, pinching the bottom to give the reindeer his chin.
Place onto cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set and just beginning to brown.
Immediately upon removing from oven, place two chocolate-covered pretzels into the tops of the cookies for the antlers, two chocolate morsels for the eyes and a red hot for the nose.

Allow to cool on cookie sheet for a couple of minutes and then gently transfer to a wire baking rack to cool completely.

*Dough freezes well if you do not want to bake them right away.*

I rate everything I bake on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and these Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies earned 4 rolling pins.
The peanut butter cookie was delicious and the added "extras", especially those chocolate covered pretzels, took the ol' standby to another level.
Plus it's got to be given credit for being the cutest darn cookie I've ever made.
The bag of Hershey's Chocolate-Covered Pretzels was a little pricier than I would have liked and it only came with 46 in a package.
I made 21 reindeer with the chocolate-covered antlers (ok, I admit it, I ate 4 pretzels in the process.  I HAD to find out how they tasted!), before running out and switching to regular mini-pretzels.
Please note that because the cookies are hot, the chocolate will of course, melt.
It won't be dripping off of the pretzels or melting from the morsel into the face, but it will become...
soft.
SO, if you should BUMP into the pretzel or accidentally put your finger into the poor reindeer's eye, you could find yourself with some road-kill-type looking cookies.
I should have taken a picture, but the evidence was eaten before I had the chance.
And I would highly recommend using the chocolate-covered pretzels as opposed to the plain because for 1, they just taste so much better with the chocolate, but 2, Rudolph won't be losing his antlers when you go to move him to his resting place on the wire rack.
The chocolate acts as a pretty darn good antler adhesive.
Kerry used M&M's for her eyes and nose which would help to prevent eye injuries, but I thought they were cute with the morsels.
If you're going to be having the little ones help you out with these, you might want to use the M&M's because they "melt in your mouth, not in your hand", and hopefully not on a reindeer's face.
Then again, maybe you shouldn't have the little ones help because they may burn themselves on the hot cookie sheet.  Well, I'll leave it up to you.
Just make sure you're sticking the parts into the cookie as soon as they come out of the oven because the cookie will start to harden and then it becomes difficult to perform the necessary facial surgery.
The great thing about this recipe, too, is that you can use a sugar cookie or even a snickerdoodle!  AND you can get creative - maybe you have other things you'd like to use as facial parts!
I'm sure Santa would LOVE to see these under the tree this year with his glass of milk, and don't forget that carrot for Rudolph!
I shared these at the Cookie Exchange at Dukes and Duchesses! Take a look to see all the other great cookies people are sharing!

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!