These easy peanut butter reindeer cookies are the perfect no bake treat to make with the kids this holiday season! Peanut butter sandwich cookies are dipped in a chocolate candy coating and adorned with pretzels, candy eyes, and a bright red nose! These are just as much fun for the adults as they are for the kids!
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These peanut butter reindeer cookies are the best way to be super festive around the holidays, without spending ALL DAY in the kitchen.
I love Christmas and the holidays, but all too often I find myself biting off more than I can chew.
For example...
I love the idea of rolling out sugar cookies and decorating them all gorgeous with reds and greens and sprinkles. But around cookie number 8, I'm over it. And D has no doubt given up and just started to eat the decorations.
It's so hard to be festive AND lazy!
Well, problem solved: Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies.
They require 0 baking, they look so stinkin' cute (I mean...they're red nosed reindeer cookies!!) and you can make as much or as little as you need!
Oh and they're super tasty, like addictive. It's a problem.
These are such a fun activity for the kids too! They'll love decorating these little peanut butter cookies with candy and making their own individual reindeer friends!
Jump to:
How to Make Peanut Butter Red Nosed Reindeer Cookies
Makes 18 Cookies
Ingredients for the reindeer cookies
- 18 oblong peanut butter sandwich cookies (Nutter Butters)
- 1 cup of white melting wafers
- 1 cup of milk chocolate flavored melting wafers
- Mini pretzel twists
- Candy eyeballs or mini chocolate chips
Instructions
Melt the milk chocolate flavored wafers in a heatproof bowl either in the microwave (per the package instructions) or over a pan of barely simmering water.
Stir until the melts are completely melted and smooth.
Repeat the same steps with the white melting wafers in a separate heat safe dish.
Line a sheet pan or cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper.
To make the reindeer, place two pretzels side by side--into an antler shape-on the parchment paper.
*If you wanted to keep your pretzels in place, you could put a little dollop of candy melt on the parchment paper and set the antlers on top, to kind of "glue them" into position. But this is totally optional!
Drop a Nutter Butter into the melted candy coating and using a fork, flip around until the cookie is coated completely.
Lift the peanut butter cookie out with the fork and allow the excess candy coating to drip off.
Gently place the peanut butter cookie on top of your pretzels. The pretzels may shift a little, but that's ok (see above note for "gluing" them in place). Slide them back into place to make the antler shape you desire.
Add the candy eyeballs or the mini chocolate chips slightly above the center or "waist" of the Nutter Butter cookie.
Place a red M&M or any red candy right at the bottom tip of the cookie to make the nose.
Now you have a reindeer!
Repeat the above steps until you run out of eyeballs, cookies and/or candy melts. Once all the reindeer are made, pop them in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to set.
Serve your Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies in a single layer on a festive platter and enjoy!
Storing your peanut butter reindeer cookies
Once set, these guys should be stored in an airtight container. They'll last for weeks!
They do not require refrigeration, so feel free to keep them on the countertop for easy snackin' access.
FYI I do recommend storing these reindeer cookies in a single layer. If they're stacked or jiggled around too much in the container, the antlers will pop off!
What should I use to coat my peanut butter reindeer cookies?
For this recipe, I like to use the Ghiradelli White Candy Melts and the Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate flavored candy melts. Both in the 10 oz size.
You of course can use the dark chocolate melts if you prefer. I like the milk chocolate for the lighter shade of brown on the reindeer.
But if you can't find these candy melts, use any almond bark or white candy melts or brown candy melts from the craft store!
A hack you could use to make the brown coating is to add semisweet chocolate chips to the melted white candy coating. Just keep adding chocolate chips a few at a time until you get the shade of brown you want.
This way will save you from buying two bags of melts!
If you're feeling ambitious, you could also make your own chocolate coating instead of using candy melts!
Variations:
You can customize these reindeer however you like, and that's half the fun! Here are some ways you can mix up your little sleigh team of peanut butter reindeer:
- You can use chocolate or white fudge covered pretzels instead of plain pretzels for the antlers! Or even peppermint coated pretzels would be adorable!
- Change the cookie from Nutter Butters to any other oblong cookie. I use the peanut butter sandwich cookies for their signature peanut shape, but you can use anything you have on hand!
- Use Oreos instead of Nutter Butters to make round little reindeer faces!
- Use Reese's pieces for the noses instead of M&Ms
- Instead of milk chocolate candy melts, you can use dark chocolate or any other color wafer you like!
Can I double or half the amount of peanut butter reindeer cookies in this recipe?
Definitely!
One of the best things about this easy no bake Christmas treat is that you can really customize the recipe to fit how many people you need to serve!
So if you need more or less than what the recipe states, it's super easy to scale.
I found that about 1 cup of the melting wafers will coat 9 Nutter Butter cookies. Using this ratio, you can increase or decrease how much you melt and dip to match your needs.
The candy eyes I use will make about 30-32 cookies.
So use these ratios as a guide to help adjust the recipe to the quantity you need!
Other Holiday Recipes You May Like
Chewy Snickerdoodles--Without Cream of Tartar
📖 Recipe
Peanut Butter Red Nosed Reindeer Cookies
Cute no bake Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies are the perfect holiday treat to make with the family.
Ingredients
- 18 oblong peanut butter sandwich cookies (Nutter Butters)
- 1 cup of white melting wafers
- 1 cup of milk chocolate flavored melting wafers
- Mini pretzel twists
- Candy eyeballs or mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Melt the milk chocolate flavored wafers in a heatproof bowl either in the microwave (per the package instructions) or over a pan of barely simmering water.
- Stir until the melts are completely melted and smooth.
- Repeat the same steps with the white melting wafers in a separate heat safe dish.
- Line a sheet pan or cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper.
- To make the reindeer, place two pretzels side by side--into an antler shape-on the parchment paper.
- *If you wanted to keep your pretzels in place, you could put a little dollop of candy melt on the parchment paper and set the antlers on top, to kind of "glue them" into position. But this is totally optional!
- Drop a Nutter Butter into the melted candy coating and using a fork, flip around until the cookie is coated completely.
- Lift the peanut butter cookie out with the fork and allow the excess candy coating to drip off.
- Gently place the peanut butter cookie on top of your pretzels. The pretzels may shift a little, but that's ok (see above note for "gluing" them in place). Slide them back into place to get the antler shape you desire.
- Add the candy eyeballs or the mini chocolate chips slightly above the center or "waist" of the Nutter Butter cookie.
- Place a red M&M or any red candy right at the bottom tip of the cookie for the nose.
- Now you have a reindeer!
- Repeat the above steps until you run out of eyeballs, cookies and/or candy melts. Once all the reindeer are made, pop them in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to set.
- Serve your Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies in a single layer on a festive platter and enjoy!
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