Description
Delightfully festive and easy to make, these Reindeer Cookies combine buttery shortbread dough with a sweet strawberry jam center and detailed chocolate decorations to bring cheerful holiday spirit to your kitchen. Perfect for Christmas gatherings, these adorable cookies are sure to charm both kids and adults alike.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 140g (1/2 Cup + 1/8 Cup) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 60g (1/2 Cup) Icing/Confectioners Sugar
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- Pinch of Salt
- 210g (1 + 2/3 Cup) Plain/All Purpose Flour
Filling and Decoration
- 200g (1/2 Cup + 2 tbsp) Strawberry Jam
- 75g (2.6 oz) Milk Chocolate
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Place the butter, sugar, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt into a stand mixer bowl and beat on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, creating a smooth base for your cookie dough.
- Add flour and knead: Gradually add the plain/all-purpose flour and fold it through the mixture until a soft dough forms. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead briefly on a clean surface to combine everything evenly.
- Roll out and cut shapes: Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper to an even thickness of 6mm. Using a 6cm round cookie cutter, cut out circles. On half of these circles, use a smaller 1cm circle cutter off-center to cut out the ‘nose’ holes for the reindeer cookies.
- Chill the cookies: Place the dough cookies on a lined baking tray and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm up. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180ºC (Fan 170ºC / 356ºF).
- Bake the cookies: Arrange the cookies spaced out on a lined baking tray. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Bake in batches if your tray cannot hold all at once. After baking, allow cookies to firm on the tray for a couple of minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Prepare jam filling: Soften the strawberry jam by mixing it gently in a small bowl. Transfer the jam to a disposable piping bag and cut a small tip for controlled piping.
- Assemble cookies: Pipe small circles of jam onto each cookie without nose holes, being careful not to overfill or pipe too close to the edges. Gently place the cookies with nose holes on top, aligning the holes to reveal the jam ‘nose’ beneath without squeezing jam out of the sides.
- Melt chocolate: In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the milk chocolate in short 10-second bursts, stirring between each until two-thirds melted. Remove from the microwave and stir until entirely smooth. Pour the chocolate into another piping bag and cut a small tip.
- Decorate reindeer faces: Pipe small chocolate eyes just above each red jam nose. Then carefully pipe the main outlines of each antler, followed by detailed lines to create realistic antler shapes. Use downward-pointing arrow strokes for easy detailing.
- Set and store: Allow the chocolate decorations to fully set on a rack at room temperature. Once set, store the cookies in an airtight metal tin at room temperature. Consume within 4-5 days for best freshness.
Notes
- These reindeer cookies are perfect for festive gift-giving or holiday parties, guaranteed to bring joy to loved ones.
- Ensure the dough is well chilled before baking to maintain cookie shape and crisp edges.
- You can substitute strawberry jam with raspberry jam or another red-colored jam for a similar visual effect.
- When melting chocolate, avoid overheating to prevent burning; stir well after removing from microwave for smooth texture.
- Store in an airtight container to keep cookies fresh and preserve the chocolate decoration.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 275
- Sugar: 18g
- Sodium: 26mg
- Fat: 13g
- Saturated Fat: 8g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 37g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 3g
- Cholesterol: 46mg
