Super simple and fun to make, these Reindeer Gingerbread Cookies are made using a gingerbread man cookie cutter. They taste amazing too! Don't forget to add Rudolph's red nose!
Well here it goes; welcome to 2015! So Happy New Year, may the next 365 days be full of happiness, laughter and oodles of love! And whilst you're enjoying life, let me bring you a little baking goodness to go with it.
2014 was full of so many amazing times; it was sad to finally say goodbye to my business after 5 years of cakes, but I've been so lucky to have found a job I really enjoy and work with some pretty cool people, and made some awesome friends. We've eaten some amazing food and I've added one massive tick to my bucket list. And amongst all this, we've certainly had plenty to celebrate; birthdays, anniversaries and 3 fabulous weddings, so there's been plenty to bake as well.
So picture if you will, a week before Christmas and a beautiful winter wedding, deep in the heart of the Cotswolds, full of sparkle and magic, glamour and elegance, and oh.... gingerbread reindeer!
So then, winter, wedding, glamour and reindeer - the perfect recipe, for the perfect day! Now, December in the Cotswolds isn't what I'd call 'toasty', despite it being significantly warmer than previous years, but it certainly wasn't Pimms and canapés on the terrace weather.
So to warm the cockles of our hearts and keep everyone fuelled for a little longer, we were treated to a Hot Chocolate Bar, perhaps with a little alcohol in there for good measure, and to accompany the chocolatey delights... gingerbread men reindeer!
Well, as I was creating a bit of a Winter Wonderland Cake masterpiece in the kitchen for the Big Day, so adding a few gingerbread reindeer just slipped onto the end of the baking list, and as Ian was building a gingerbread house as well it all fitted neatly together. It was a mammoth baking week, in-between work and Christmas parties but come Saturday morning we were all set to go and off we trundled very slowly (so much cake onboard) to set up, speed back, get changed and back for the wedding. Shattering but so proud to be part of a beautiful day.
Anyway, I was really excited about making the Reindeer, I love gingerbread, and had been hankering to make something gingerbready and suitably festive since I'd made Gingerdead Men for Halloween, so these really did tick the right boxes.
Just like the Gingerdead Men, these are so effective and pretty simple - a gingerbread man cutter, or in my case a gingerbread girl (I thought her skirt gave the antlers a little more shape), royal icing and an hour of your time - well maybe a little more time if you're on a baking marathon! And if you really don't fancy whipping up royal icing, you can buy the coloured icing tubes in the supermarket and they'll take even less time.
As it is, the longest part of making these cuties is chilling the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge. They're 5 minutes in the KitchenAid, 10 minutes in the oven and 5 minutes tops to decorate. Not wanting the Reindeer to feel left out when everyone was dressed with a little glamour for the wedding, I gave their antlers a coat of edible gold paint and made their noses out of red sugar paste.
If you wanted to go down the 'traditional gingerbread man' route you could use gum drops, Smarties or M&Ms instead, but I thought the little sugar paste balls suited better. Heck if you wanted traditional, turn the gingerbread men up the right way and give them a face and buttons; but these are a little more festive.
So then, I've popped you the recipe below; trust me when I say they're pretty simple. Oh, and if you're wondering about getting the design the same each time, the secret is an edible food pen. When the cookies have cooled, draw on your design and pipe over the top. Et voilà!
Top tips for perfect gingerbread reindeer
I love gingerbread all year round, but there's nothing quite like tucking in to a spicy piece of gingerbread and a glass of mulled wine to make it feel like Christmas; and to make sure your gingerbread reindeer are the pulling Santa's sleigh this year, here's my top tips to get them looking spot-on:
- Try a gingerbread woman cookie cutter to get plenty of space to pipe your antlers on to, but gingerbread men work just as well
- These double ended pens from Rainbow Dust rock, especially the fine end, are handy for drawing your design to act as a guide
- Use a fine icing nozzle to pipe your reindeer's features on with, a 1.5mm should be just right, but remember to make sure your icing is runny but still firm for getting the best hold
- You could sprinkle edible sparkle lustre over the antler icing to make them sparkle or paint with edible gold paint
Recommended Equipment
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Fancy some other quick and simple Christmas treats?
Then why not check out these recipes and give them a try for the Holidays...
- Rice Krispie Christmas Puddings
- Mini Christmas Tree Meringues
- Buddy Elf's Breakfast Spaghetti Cupcakes
- Baileys Chocolate Cupcakes
- Peppermint Pinwheel Sugar Cookies
- Granny Vi's Mince Pies
pin these gingerbread reindeer
I hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. If you give the gingerbread reindeer a go, let me know how you get on and please rate the recipe. Don't forget to leave me a comment below if you do!
Gingerbread Reindeer Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 350 g Plain Flour or All Purpose Flour
- 150 g Light Soft Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 100 g Butter Unsalted, Cubed and Cold
- 1 Eggs Medium
- 4 tbsp Golden Syrup or Light Corn Syrup
To Decorate
- Royal Icing
- Black Food Colouring Gel
- Edible Gold Paint
- Red Fondant or Sugarpaste
Instructions
- Make the cookies: Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line two large baking trays with baking parchment.
- In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and bicarb of soda. Add the butter and rub in with your fingertips. The rubbed-in mixture should resemble fine breadcrumbs or sand. Alternatively, you can mix the dough in a stand mixer.
- Add the sugar to the rubbed-in mixture.
- In a separate bowl, add the egg and golden syrup. Whisk together.
- Make a well in the centre of the rubbed-in mixture, and pour in the egg and golden syrup. Mix together to form a smooth dough.
- Roll the dough into a sausage, wrap in cling-film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll out on a floured surface to a thickness of approximately 3-5mm.
- Using a gingerbread man cutter, cut out as many gingerbread men as possible.
- Gently lift onto the lined baking tray with a flat palette knife. Gently lift onto the lined baking tray with a flat palette knife.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
- Take the gingerbread men out of the oven and slide them off the baking tray and onto a cooling rack to cool.
- To decorate the reindeer: When the gingerbread men are cooled, turn them upside down, so their feet are at the top.
- Using the food pen, draw the reindeer outline onto each gingerbread man including the antlers, eyes, eyebrows, ears and mouth.
- Trace over the outline with the royal icing, using a small round nozzle or a piping bag with the tip snipped off. Make sure the opening isn’t too wide else the outline will flood out rather than be fine.
- Add a little black gel food colouring to the remaining royal icing and add the eyebrows, pupils and mouth.
- Add a dot of icing where you would like the nose to be, and add a small ball of red sugar paste.
- When the royal icing is dry, go over the antlers with the edible gold paint.
Notes
- The gingerbread reindeer cookies will keep up to a week in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
Lou
I absolutely adore these and they make perfect treats for Santa's Little Helpers!