Gingerbread Reindeer Cookies

Gingerbread cookies are such a lovely seasonal treat, and these Gingerbread Reindeer Cookies are a great festive take on the classic.  Using a traditional gingerbread recipe and gingerbread man biscuit cutter, that most well versed bakers have to hand this season, these Gingerbread Reindeer Cookies are such fun to make and (almost) too cute to eat.

Who doesn’t love a gingerbread man especially at Christmas time?  Well this is a little variation on the classic. Not only are they great to bake and decorate with the kids, they also make great edible gifts.

 I’d love to say this was originally my idea, but alas it is not.  Oliver bought home this little gingerbread reindeer he made at pre-school a few years ago, and since then he has asked to make them every Christmas.  I’ve seen lots of variations on the internet since, but I and Oliver like to stick to the original that he made. The kids love to help mix the dough, cut out the shapes and decorating them (not as much as they like licking out the bowl of chocolate afterwards!).

So if you would like to give it a go, read on to see how we make ours, or pin it for later!

Pin Gingerbread Reindeer Cookies

How You Make Your Reindeer Gingerbread Men Cookies

We used my old faithful gingerbread recipe, but there are loads of recipes out there to make gingerbread dough, so go with your favourite.  Equally these would work as sugar cookies if you’re not fan of the ginger.  

My Gingerbread Dough Recipe

Top Tips for Turning Your Dough INto Gingerbread Reindeer

After you have allowed your dough to cool, follow these key steps to turn it into reindeers.

• Roll out your gingerbread dough to the thickness of a pound coin. The best (and cleanist) way to do this is to roll out the dough between two sheets of greaseproof paper. Make sure you lift the dough from the bottom sheet after every few rolls to prevent it from sticking.
• Use a regular ‘gingerbread man’ cookie cutter to cut out the shapes. The kids love getting involved with this bit.
• Place on a greaseproof paper lined baking tray. Use a blunt knife and cut between the gingerbread mans legs up to the level of where his belly button would be. Turn the gingerbread men upside down, and fan out the two legs to make antlers.  You can now start to see the reindeers taking shape.

• Chill again before baking.  I find this step helps prevent the dough from spreading too much during the baking process.
• Bake in the oven. It depends on what gingerbread dough recipe you are following. For my dough recipe we baked in the oven for about 6-8 mins on 180C (170C fan oven). They are cooked when they are still soft but just going a little brown at the edges.

How To Decorate Your Gingerbread Reindeer Cookies

• When completely cool they are ready to decorate. Melt some chocolate over a pan of boiling water. The kids can then cover the reindeer’s antlers in chocolate by dipping the reindeer gingerbread into the bowl. You can also add some chocolate sprinkles if you wish.
• Use the left over chocolate to attach 2 edible googley eyes and a red smartie for a nose. The easiest (and cleanist) was to do this is by piping a small dot of chocolate onto the cookie, and get the kids to stick on the nose and eyes.

That’s it! Simple but effective, and a lovley festive treat to bake and enjoy with children.  What do you think of our little gingerbread reindeer cookies? Do you bake gingerbread at Christmas time?

If you need some more inspiration of what to bake and cook this Christmas then check out and follow our Pinterest board for some ideas

Merry Christmas!

Kerry x

First published in December 2018.