Reindeer Cookies

These Reindeer Cookies were one of the hottest pins on Pinterest right before Christmas.  I thought they would be a big hit with the kids at our Christmas dinner.  These little guys were incredibly easy to make, though a bit time consuming.  It would be a really fun afternoon with the littles in your life, though!

I actually wanted mini M&Ms for the little noses, but couldn't find any in the grocery store.  Next year, I'll begin looking a little sooner and try to come up with some, because I think that would be more tasty than a red hot.  ;)

I've also seen this same concept done with white almond bark to create little snowmen, with mini M&Ms for buttons down the front and using Wilton Food Writer Edible Color Markers to draw in eyes and nose.

Ingredients
Nutter Butter Cookies
Chocolate Almond Bark

Wilton Candy Eyeballs

Pretzels

Red Hots

Directions:

According to package directions, melt about 3 blocks of chocolate almond bark.  Completely coat 1 Nutter Butter cookie.  Working quickly before almond bark hardens, place your pretzel for the antlers, and then place your eyes and nose.  Continue this method until your almond bark becomes a little too stiff to coat nicely.  Allow the cookies to harden on wax paper until set and then store in an airtight container.


Note: I used about 6 blocks of chocolate almond bark to coat an entire package of Nutter Butters.  3 blocks of almond bark was a good amount to melt at a time; I found I was just getting to the unworkable point as I got to the end of the first batch of melted bark.

Special K / Wheaties Clusters

I first had these during a music camp at church (think VBS except we learned a musical in one week to perform on Friday night).  I remember the ladies working hard in the kitchen making us snacks while we rehearsed.  Thank you Kristy! :)  They are so yummy and just enough different to be something "new" for a lot people. The recipe I have is actually named "Special K Clusters" and indicates that Wheaties is an alternative for the cereal. For some reason, I've always made them with Wheaties, so I adjusted the name when I wrote the title.

Ingredients:
1 cup white Karo syrup
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup peanut butter
5 cups Special K or Wheaties flakes

Directions:
Bring Karo syrup and sugar to a rolling boil.
Remove from heat and add vanilla, peanut butter, and cereal; mix well.
Working quickly, drop by spoonfuls on wax paper.
Once the clusters set up, transfer to an airtight container for storage.

Raspberry Shortbread Ribbons

'Tis the season for Cookie Swaps! This is a great Cookie Swap recipe because they make up quickly and easily. Depending on the size of your Cookie Swap, baking enough cookies can be a bit daunting. You shape your shortbread into logs, for this one, and then simply slice into ribbons after baking. You could always double the dough and make larger slices if you wanted bigger "ribbons". The recipe promised 5 dozen, I ended up with about 4 dozen. Since I needed 3 dozen, this worked out well -- I could reject some of the not-so-pretty ones. And eat them, of course. ;)

warning: cell phone photo coming up...

Ingredients:

Shortbread Dough:

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raspberry jam

Glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
 
Directions:
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  While this is mixing, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add egg and vanilla to the butter and sugar and mix well.  Gradually add dry ingredients until throughly combined.
 
Seperate dough into fourths.  Form a log from each dough section four inches apart on a greased cookie sheet.  Your logs should be about 10 inches long and 2.5 inches wide.  Create a 1/2 inch valley down the center of each log; try to create a "dam" at the end of each log, otherwise your jam will just run off the edges later on.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.
 
Remove logs from oven and fill the valleys with jam.  Bake for another 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Cool for two minutes, then slice into 3/4 inch slices.  Transfer ribbons to a wire rack.  Be sure to place a layer of wax paper between the rack and counter to catch the glaze drippings in the next step. 
 
In a small bowl, combine glaze ingredients.  Drizzle glaze over warm cookies.  Cool completely so that glaze will harden.  Also, be sure your cookies are seperated from one another after drizzling, so that the glaze doesn't "glue" them together.