Rudolph Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe (2024)

Posted: · Updated: · By Chrysa

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This Rudolph Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe is fun to make and delicious to eat. Use pretzels, mini chocolate chips and M&Ms to create your own Rudolph cookies!

Rudolph Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe (1)
Rudolph Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe (2)

Ask any kid who their favorite reindeer is and chances are that they will answer “Rudolph!” Well, that’s a great choice and is an especially fun one for baking.

With a bright red M&M nose, this Rudolph Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe is easy to identify as Santa’s lead reindeer.

Rudolph Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe (3)

The homemade peanut butter cookie recipe we use for these Rudolph cookies is easy to whip together.

But, if you just want to do the fun part of decorating with your kids, you could start with a refrigerated cookie dough instead.

Rudolph Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe (4)

Even little tots are able to help by placing the chocolate chip eyes and M&M noses in place to make these adorable reindeer cookies! For older kids they can help measure out ingredients and mix up the dough.

Rudolph Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe (5)

If you plan to make a lot of Rudolph Christmas cookies, it’s helpful to get a bag of ALL red M&Ms (which you can get in bulk on Amazon) or you can use a bag of holiday M&Ms and pick out the half that are red instead of green.

Want to make a gluten-free version? Start with this almond flour peanut butter cookies recipe and then continue with our decorating instructions using gluten-free pretzels.

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Rudolph Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 Egg
1 1/3 cup Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
48 Red M&M’s
96 Mini Chocolate Chips
Mini Twist Pretzels

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How to Make Rudolph Cookies

Break pretzels into pieces to use as antlers.Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together peanut butter, butter, sugar and brown sugar until smooth.

Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.

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Slowly add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, beating until incorporated.

Roll into 1/2-3/4″ balls and place on cookie sheet several inches apart.

Sprinkle with sugar and gently make an indentation slightly off the center of each cookie.

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Bake 12-14 minutes.

Place an M&M in the indentation of each cookie.

Insert 2 mini chocolate chips (pointy side down) above the M&M to be the eyes.

Insert 2 pretzel pieces to be the antlers.

If the antlers won’t stick, place some chocolate chips in a sandwich bag and microwave 30 seconds and knead until soft. Clip the very tip of the corner and pipe onto cookie to act as glue.

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For some extra fun, team up these cookies with ourwith our with our Reindeer Hot Chocolate! Packaging the two together would make a really fun Christmas gift.

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For lots more fun reindeer themed fun, check out these tips for throwing the ultimate reindeer party!

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Rudolph Peanut Butter Cookies

Chrysa

This Rudolph Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe is fun to make and delicious to eat. Use pretzels, mini chocolate chips and M&Ms to create your own Rudloph cookies!

4.57 from 37 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 14 minutes mins

Additional Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 54 minutes mins

Course Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 48

Calories 83 kcal

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Break pretzels into pieces to use as antlers.

  • Preheat oven to 350.

  • Cream together peanut butter, butter, sugar and brown sugar until smooth.

  • Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.

  • Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.

  • Slowly add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, beating until incorporated.

  • Roll into 1/2-3/4″ balls and place on cookie sheet several inches apart.

  • Sprinkle with sugar and gently make an indentation slightly off the center of each cookie.

  • Bake 12-14 minutes.

  • Place an M&M in the indentation of each cookie.

  • Insert 2 mini chocolate chips (pointy side down) above the M&M to be the eyes.

  • Insert 2 pretzel pieces to be the antlers.

  • If the antlers won’t stick, place some chocolate chips in a sandwich bag and microwave 30 seconds and knead until soft. Clip the very tip of the corner and pipe onto cookie to act as glue.

Nutrition

Serving: 1CookieCalories: 83kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 1gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 9mgSodium: 80mgPotassium: 28mgFiber: 0.4gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 71IUVitamin C: 0.03mgCalcium: 9mgIron: 0.3mg

I am not a nutritionist. These values were calculated automatically with the Spoonacular Food API.

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Rudolph Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies falling apart? ›

The wrong type of peanut butter may cause them to fall apart. Or using old eggs may create crumbly cookies. How long do peanut butter cookies last?

Why do they put fork marks in peanut butter cookies? ›

The baking company shared that the reason has to do with the consistency of the dough. Because peanut butter cookie dough is dense, using a fork helps flatten it into the ideal shape and thickness, allowing it to bake evenly.

Why do they use Criss Cross peanut butter cookies? ›

So it looks like that there are utilitarian reasons for the cross-hatching—to allow for even cooking—but it might have been passed along for nearly a hundred years for primarily aesthetic reasons, where the cross-hatching is more to identify the cookies as peanut butter ones, rather than to cook them well.

Why are my peanut butter cookies always hard? ›

why are my peanut butter cookies hard and dry? There are two main culprits when these cookies come out dry. First is using too much flour and second is over-baking. It is very important to measure the flour correctly for this recipe.

What happens if you don't flatten peanut butter cookies? ›

If you don't flatten the cookies first, then the fork does double duty – it performs both functions. One very subtle result of creating the pattern is that the little tips of dough bake up crisper than the rest of the cookie, giving you both a bit of additional texture and deeper taste where the dough is more baked.

Why do my peanut butter cookies taste weird? ›

Ones with lots of additives do not have as distinct a peanutty taste. So, use a natural peanut butter. Two, your expectations for a peanut taste are too high. The cookies have lots of other ingredients including a significant amount of flavor that decrease the flavor of the peanut butter.

Why are my peanut butter cookies dry and crumbly? ›

If you're wanting to use natural (no sugar added) peanut butter, the cookies will be less sweet and they will likely spread out more. Using natural peanut butter will change the structure and texture of the cookies. Why are my cookies dry and crumbly? This is most likely a classic case of using too much flour.

Why do my peanut butter cookies not taste like peanut butter? ›

The most common mistake with peanut butter cookies is using the wrong type of peanut butter. The BEST peanut butter for today's cookies is a processed creamy peanut butter, preferably Jif or Skippy.

How do you keep peanut butter cookies from going flat? ›

“When chilled cookies bake, the butter stays in a solid form longer, slowing the spread,” says Dawn. “30 to 60 minutes in the refrigerator does wonders, and you can bake the cookies right from the fridge.” Not only will chilling help the fats firm up and the flour hydrate, but it also helps the flavors develop.

Should you refrigerate peanut butter cookie dough before baking? ›

Prep your Peanut Butter Cookie recipe up to 24 hours in advance, cover it and refrigerate it so you are ready to bake at a moment's notice. The kids can even help you scoop, roll and flatten the cookies. If the dough is too firm to scoop, let it stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Why do you refrigerate peanut butter cookie dough? ›

For starters, chilling prevents cookies from spreading out too quickly once they're in the oven. If you use a higher fat butter (like Kerrygold), chilling your dough is absolutely essential. Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool.

What are Elvis cookies? ›

The Elvis: Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies.

How do you moisten peanut butter cookie dough? ›

Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

Why are my homemade peanut butter cookies falling apart? ›

One reason could be that you overcooked them. Another reason could be that you didn't add enough moisture to the dough. Finally, your peanut butter cookies might be dry and crumbly if you used a natural peanut butter that doesn't have any added oil.

How can you tell when peanut butter cookies are done? ›

Unlike many other cookies, peanut butter biscuits only fully harden once they've been removed from the oven. Here's how to tell when peanut butter cookies are done: The tops of the cookies are a uniform light brown. They're soft to the touch but not moist or mushy.

How do you keep peanut butter cookies from falling apart? ›

If you find that the dough is too dry (without the fat) then simply hold back some of the flour and add it near the end of mixing when you add the fat/butter If this helps to hold your baked cookies together, fine. If not then add a few more minutes of mixing.

Why do my peanut butter cookies fall apart? ›

Why are my peanut butter cookies so crumbly? Peanut butter cookies are naturally delicate because peanut butter has so much fat in it. All the extra fat makes it a little harder for the binding ingredients (egg, butter) to hold it together.

Why do homemade peanut butter cookies fall apart? ›

Reasons why peanut butter cookies are dry and crumbly:

You cooked them a wee bit too long. Peanut butter cookies can be extremely deceiving. They don't always look cooked when, indeed, they are fully cooked. They won't get brown around the edges.

How do you keep peanut butter cookies from being crumbly? ›

Add more liquid ingredients in small amounts. Milk, egg yolks or egg whites, vanilla extract or even a teaspoon of water can help moisten the dough to give you less crumbly cookies. A little bit of a liquid like milk can also help your cookies spread in the oven to give you a more crispy cookie.

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