Peanut butter blossom cookie reindeers
These cute reindeer cookies are fun to make for all the family. Recipe and image from An Iced Christmas by Harriet Hastings (£20, Quadrille). Photography: Hannah Rose Hughes
Prep: 1 hr
Cook: 12 mins
Makes 16 cookies
Ingredients
- 120g salted butter, softened
- 100g smooth peanut butter
- 65g granulated sugar, plus extra for dusting
- 65g soft light brown sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 medium egg, beaten
- 180g self-raising flour
- 16 large chocolate buttons
- 6 fresh medium egg whites
- 900g icing sugar, sifted
- gel food colourings in black, red and brown
Method
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4 and line a couple of baking sheets with baking paper. Whisk together the butter, peanut butter and both sugars in a bowl until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and egg and mix again until smooth. Sift the flour and gradually add it to the dough in about three stages until you can combine the mixture to form a cookie dough.
Step 2
Scoop a tablespoon of the dough into your hands and form rough balls (each ball should be about 30g and you should be able to make 16). Roll each in a little extra granulated sugar and place on the baking sheets, around 5cm apart. Bake for 12 minutes until the cookies have spread a little but still have a domed appearance, and are beginning to crack and turn golden around the base. As soon as they come out of the oven, press a chocolate button into the centre of each. Cool on the baking sheets for a couple of minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 3
For the royal icing, using a stand mixer or a handheld electric whisk, mix the egg whites on a low speed for about a minute, then slowly add the sifted icing sugar. Once it has come together, increase to a medium speed and continue to mix for 5-10 minutes. You are looking for stiff peaks that hold their shape.
Step 4
Divide the icing into clean dry bowls to colour. Add a tiny bit of colour at a time until you reach the tone you want for each. Transfer each into an icing bag.
Step 5
Decorate the cookies when they are cold. Use white and black icing to add googly eyes and a cheeky mouth and red icing for the nose. To make the antlers, pipe them onto baking paper (use a template if liked) in brown icing and let them set before peeling off and sticking into each biscuit.
