What would Christmas be without home-baked cookies? I just love these Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer cookies. They are super cute and much easier to make than you might think. You can make them into cookie-lollies by sliding an ice-lolly stick under the cookies before baking them. They also make for cute Christmas tree decorations.
You will need:
90g butter
1 egg
1/2 cup light brown sugar (firmly packed)
1/3 cup (35g) wheat germ (I have also used oats that I blitzed to a finer consistency)
1/3 cup (25g) desiccated coconut
2/3 cup (100g) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (50g) self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
20 small pretzels
1/4 cup (45g) dark chocolate bits (for the eyes and mouth)
10 red Astros/Smarties chocolates (for Rudolf’s shiny nose)
This is how:
- Make sure the butter and egg is at room temperature.
- Beat the butter and sugar in a small bowl with electric mixture or blender until creamy. Add the egg and beat until combined.
- Stir in coconut, wheat germ, sifted flours and spice to the above mentioned mixture.
- Wrap the ball of dough in a Bee-wax wrap (or clingfilm) and refrigerator for 30 to 40 minutes.
- Remove dough form the refrigerator and roll between two sheets or baking paper until 5mm thick. Place the dough on a tray and refrigerate for another 30-40 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line oven trays with baking paper.
- Remove rolled-out dough from the refrigerator and using a 9cm ground cookie-cutter/glass, cut 10 rounds from the dough, re-rolling scraps of dough if necessary.
- Place the rounds of dough on the prepared baking tray about 7,5cm apart. Position two pretzels on each cookie for antlers and press down firmly. Decorate cookies with choc bits for eyes and mouths. If you are adding lolly sticks or making holes in the cookie now is the time to do it. To add the lolly stick – slide a stick under a cookie and press down firmly to keep it in place.
- Bake for 9 to 12 minutes (depending on your oven). The cookies should still feel soft to the touch when removed from the oven.
- Immediately press the the Astros/Smarties noses onto the hot cookies. *
- Cool on trays.
- If the noses don’t stick to the cookies, secure them with a little melted chocolate.
The recipe makes 10 cookies that can be stores in an airtight container for up to a week. These cuties make for great stocking fillers. So bake them in the week leading up to Christmas and wrap them on Christmas eve. Old tins or tomato punnets make for great containers.
Happy festive baking!
xxx
Original recipe from The Australian Women’s Weekly Christmas baking cookbook
