Easy, quick and fun to make, these Reindeer Cookie Bars are the perfect treats this holiday season! With only a few ingredients and ready in about 30 minutes, it’s one of our family’s favorite Christmas dessert recipes and I’m sure it will become one of yours too!
I absolutely love baking during the holiday season but there are so many things I want to do and so many treats I want to make that I often run out of time. But I still want to make more, do more and create as many delicious, fun foods as I can while the holiday season is here. Easy, yummy and festive holiday desserts are something I go out of my way to find.
I was really excited to try these reindeer cookie bars because they are simply adorable. They really add to the warm, holiday atmosphere that I try to create in my home. These Christmas cookie bars are also surprisingly easy to make. They may look complicated but they only take about 10 minutes to put together. How can something this festive and tasty be made so quickly? Let me tell you!
Ingredients for Reindeer Bars Recipe
First, you need to get together the ingredients for these reindeer cookie bars.
For this recipe, you will need:
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough– Any type of packaged, refrigerated cookie dough will work.
- Chocolate Frosting– I like to look for fudge frosting which tends to be darker chocolate but any kind of chocolate buttercream will work. You can even make your own!
- Mini Pretzel Twists– These will be used to make the reindeers antlers.
- Candy Eyes– Any store that sells baking supplies or cake decorating ingredients will have candy eyes. You can also order them online to be delivered right to your door!
- M&Ms– I use M&M’s to make the reindeer noses. Red M&M’s are great for Rudolph while brown candies are good for all the other reindeer in Santa’s lineup.
With just five ingredients, you are going to make the most adorable reindeer. I like to use packaged chocolate chip cookie dough to make this recipe as easy as possible but you can also make your own cookie dough. One regular sized batch of cookie dough will work!
How to Make Reindeer Cookie Bars
Now comes the fun part of the recipe- baking and decorating! Let me walk you through the steps with a little more detail so you know exactly how it’s done.
1. Preheat your oven to 350 and place a parchment circle in the bottom of a 9” cake pan. I also like to spray a little baking spray in the pan just to make the cookies easier to pop out once baked.
2. Press the cookie dough into the pan, making it as even as possible.
3. Bake the cookie cake for 20-25 minutes. The top will be a golden brown and the center will not look liquid or wet.
4. Let the baked cookie cool in the pan for about 15 minutes then flip the pan upside down to pop out the big cookie. Let the cookie cool completely on a cooling rack.
5. Spread the frosting over the entire top of the cookie, covering it completely.
6. While the frosting is still soft, cut the round cookie into eight slices as if it were a pizza. I like to cut it all the way in half, then cut those halves in half and then in half again! Just be sure to wipe your knife after each cut so the cookies stay clean.
7. Line up the triangles on a pretty tray or cutting board so the points are facing you.
8. Press two pretzel halves in both top corners of the triangles. These are the antlers for your reindeer.
9. Add an M&M near the bottom point of the triangle then add two eyes near the center.
10. Let the frosting set a little before serving the reindeer bars. This will help the decorations stick better.
Pretty easy, right? Just bake, frost and decorate! A Christmas recipe this easy is going to be made again and again in my house. I will probably bring them to every holiday event I have this year!
How to Store Reindeer Cookie Bars
Once your reindeer bars are decorated, place them in an airtight container with a sealed lid. They will keep at room temperature for about 3-4 days. Be sure to keep them in a single layer in the container and do not stack them or the decorations can get messy. You don’t want a reindeer with one crooked eye!
Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Reindeer Cookie Bars
Here are a few tips that you may find helpful to make your reindeer cookie bars perfect.
- Add more chocolate frosting if you want a really rich treat. The more frosting, the better!
- Be sure to add the decorations right after frosting the cookies. They will stick better to the wet frosting.
- Cut the pretzel twists in half with a serrated knife, sawing back and forth slowly to cut them perfectly. This works well to make even, precise antlers. Of course, you can always just break the pretzels freely to make realistic, random antlers!
- Use two small 6 inch cake pans to make smaller cookie bars. Divide the dough between the two pans and bake for only 15 minutes. Cut the small cookie circles into 8 and decorate them the same as the larger reindeer. This gives you more, bite sized reindeer cookies that are perfect for buffets and dessert bars.
So are you ready to make Christmas reindeer cookies? I definitely am! I love these reindeer cookie bars and how simple they are to make during such a crazy busy season. I think you are going to enjoy making and eating them, too! Let me know what you think!
MORE YUMMY DESSERTS TO TRY!
Red Velvet Kiss Cookies
Easy Peppermint Brownie Bites
Mint Chocolate Chip Brookies
Yummy Chocolate Covered Strawberries
I hope you like this recipe for Reindeer Cookie Bars– be sure to give it a review below!
Also don’t forget to follow Hip Mama’s Place on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter!
Print
Christmas Reindeer Cookie Bars
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 cookie bars 1x
Description
Easy, quick and fun to make, these Reindeer Cookie Bars are the perfect treats this holiday season! With only a few ingredients and ready in about 30 minutes, it’s one of our family’s favorite Christmas dessert recipes and I’m sure it will become one of yours too!
Ingredients
- 1 (16.5 ounce) package of chocolate chip cookie dough
- 8 ounces chocolate frosting (½ a 16 ounce tub)
- 8 mini pretzel twists, cut in half vertically
- 16 candy eyes
- 8 red or brown M&Ms
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line the bottom of a round 9” cake pan with parchment paper. Break the cookie dough up into chunks and press into an even layer in the cake pan.
- Bake the cookie for 20-25 minutes or until the top is starting to turn golden. Once the cookie is removed from the oven, run an offset spatula or butter knife (do not use a serrated knife) around the edge of the cake pan to stop the cookie sticking as it sets. Allow the cookie to cool for 15 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Spread the frosting over the top of the cookie using an offset spatula or butter knife. While the frosting is still wet, cut the cooking to 8 slices like you would a pizza cleaning the knife after each cut.
- Add two pretzel halfs to the top (larger end) of each slice to create the reindeer antlers. Add a red or brown M&M at the bottom (narrow end) of each slice to create the nose. Finally add two eyes about ⅓ of the way down the slice. Allow the frosting to set before serving.
- Category: Desserts
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: reindeer cookies bars, Christmas dessert, Christmas cookies, chocolate chip cookie bars
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A former school teacher, Jocelyn Brown created Hip Mama’s Place in 2007. Her motto for this blog is: get inspired, create and share! Jocelyn loves sharing about food and recipes, crafts, DIY projects and her random travels with her family. She also loves all things social media, but her latest obsession is Instagram.
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Oh wow, this looks super fun and super sweet. My sweet tooth will surely be satisfied with this totally fun dessert – perfect to bring to any Christmas party too!
Nnniiiccceeeee….this is just the cookie recipe taking me straight into Christmas! I think I can make myself a serving of them, this month!
How fun and easy this cookie is for Christmas. Perfect for cookie lovers.
This is really cute and easy to do it. It would be a fun recipe to make with my family. Something to do this holiday. Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
Those look so delicious, I’d love to bake these for a holiday get-together. Thanks for sharing!
My kids love cookie cakes which this reminds me of. I’ll have to make this for them!
These are so fun and not to hard to make! I pinned this one as my kids will go wild over it! Very cool and love the simplicity!
★★★★★
These are so cute! My son will love them! I can’t wait to try this recipe!
★★★★★
These cookie bars look so adorable and easy to make! Perfect for Christmas dinners and baking with the kids!
★★★★★
These would be a hit at my house. They are so cute too!
This is so cute and perfect for the holiday season. I bet my kids would love this.
Thank you for sharing the recipe. It looks easy to make. Can’t wait to prepare this for Christmas.
These looks so cute and yummy! The kids will love these for sure!
These are simply adorable and so easy to make. I am definitely going to make these with my nephew and niece this holiday. Such a good idea and no expensive cookie cutters needed.
So fun! I’d love to make these for my nephews and nieces.
These are super cute and look delicious. I will enjoy making them with my children. The love baking with me.
★★★★★
I love how easy this is to make! My boys would love these during the holidays.
These are so cute and seem so easy to make. A fun idea to do with the kids! Will be sharing to my fb and maybe my teen will want to make some.
So cute and no doubt centre place at any Christmas party! Unfortunately I’m not much of a baker, but I’ll pass this onto my nan who loves all things baking!
These are crazy cute and so delicious! Perfect for my holiday dessert tables.
★★★★★
Wow! This is so cute and it looks absolutely delicious and tasty! My kids would love this for sure!
★★★★★
I love how these are decorated! They look really cute, but they also look very easy to do. Maybe I’ll try this with brownies this year!
These look amazing. I’ll have to make them with my daughters. We love making Christmas goodies together.
These cookies are very cute. I love how easy they are to make.
I LOVE cookie pizzas, and the festive frosting on this one is so perfect. I can’t wait to try it.
★★★★★
Oh my gosh, how cute! I almost wouldn’t want to eat him. But I would, because yum 😉