I wanted to do something with candy eyes for quite some time. I had some leftovers from my Halloween Monster Cookies and I did not want them to go bad. You know – an open bag of eyes does not stay fresh for too long… juuuust kidding ;) A friend of mine was asking for funny Christmas cookies, so I made these Double Chocolate Speculoos Reindeer Cookies. That’s all ;)
Do you know Pinterest? I can “waste” hours on that platform, browsing through the pictures, looking for new ideas. When I say hours, I mean many hours ;) Once you started looking for something, you end up checking one thing after another… that’s why my pinning boards are packed with thousands of pins. Everything from baking and cooking to DIY. Haven’t tried any of the DIY things though, but it all looks so nice and you never know if you need it one day :P My board for “bakes I want to try” is also extremely full. If I start today, baking one recipe a day, I would be finished in about two years ;)
Anyways – why all this talking about Pinterest? Well… the idea for these cute little cookies comes from Pinterest or better said a blog that pinned a picture of some reindeer cookies on the platform. The blog is called “eat, little bird” and Thanh is the blogger behind that blog. Awesome blog btw. – she has really nice recipes and makes awesome pictures! Her reindeer cookies look better than mine though. Much better ;) Mine are a bit like the clumbsy brothers of her reindeers ;) But my little fellas here are made with a recipe with more chocolate inside (double the chocolate is always better) and a more “christmassy” flavor with some extra speculoos spice.
What are you baking for Christmas? Only “classic” bakes or also some more fun stuff like these cookies?
INGREDIENTS / ZUTATEN
For the dough:
3/4 cup (170g) butter
1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar
1/4 cup (50g) sugar
1.7 oz. (50g) semi-sweet chocolate
2 1/4 cups (290g) all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. speculoos spice
3 tbsp. cocoa nibs
For the decoration:
40-44 small pretzels
20-22 m&m’s peanuts
candy eyes
Für den Teig:
170g Butter
100g bauner Zucker
50g Zucker
50g Zartbitterschokolade
290g Mehl (Type 405)
3 TL Backpulver
2 TL Natron
2 EL Kakao
1 TL Spekulatiusgewürz
3 EL Kakao Nibs
Für die Dekoration:
40-44 kleine Salzbrezeln
20-22 m&m’s Erdnuss
Zuckeraugen
DIRECTIONS / ZUBEREITUNG
2. Add the butter, sugars, and chocolate to a small pot and heat up until the butter and chocolate are melted, mix until smooth. Set aside to cool down a bit.
3. Mix the flour with baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, speculoos spice, and cocoa nibs in a large bowl. Add the melted butter mixture and mix until the dough comes together. Make walnut-sized balls and place with enough space in between on the baking sheet. Flatten the balls a bit and bake for 5 minutes, then press two pretzels into each cookie and bake another 6 minutes. Take out of the oven and press one m&m into each cookie for the nose and the candy eyes (be careful the cookies are hot). Let cool down a bit on the baking sheet, then remove and let cool down completely on a wire rack. If the pretzels come off the come off the cookies at some point, you can fixate them with some melted chocolate.
2. Die Butter mit den beiden Zuckersorten und der Schokolade in einem kleinen Topf erhitzen, bis die Butter und Schokolade geschmolzen sind. Glatt rühren, zur Seite stellen und etwas abkühlen lassen.
3. Das Mehl mit dem Backpulver, Natron, Kakao, Spekulatiusgewürz und Kakao Nibs in einer großen Schüssel vermischen. Die Mischung mit der geschmolzenen Butter dazugeben und alles verrühren. Aus dem Teig etwa walnussgroße Kugeln formen, flachdrücken und mit etwas Abstand auf das Blech setzen. Für 5 Minuten backen, dann herausnehmen und je zwei Salzbrezeln als Geweih in die Cookies drücken und zurück in den Ofen schieben und weitere 6 Minuten backen. Wieder herausnehmen und dann sofort die m&m’s als Nasen und die Zuckeraugen in die noch weichen Cookies drücken (Vorsicht – ist noch alles sehr heiß). Auf dem Blech etwas abkühlen lassen und dann auf ein Kuchengitter legen und komplett auskühlen lassen. Sollten die Brezeln nicht halten, kann man sie mit etwas geschmolzener Schokolade wieder ankleben.
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Here is a version of the recipe you can print easily.
Double Chocolate Speculoos Reindeer Cookies
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 11
- Total Time: 40
- Yield: 20 1x
Description
Cute little reindeer cookies – double chocolate cookies with speculoos spice. Kids love them ;)
Ingredients
For the dough
- 3/4 cup (170g) butter
- 1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) sugar
- 1.7 oz. (50g) semi-sweet chocolate
- 2 1/4 cups (290g) all-purpose flour
- 3 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tbsp. cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. speculoos spice
- 3 tbsp. cocoa nibs
For the decoration
- 40–44 small pretzels
- 20–22 m&m’s peanuts
- candy eyes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°C (175°C). Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and set aside.
- Add the butter, sugars, and chocolate to a small pot and heat up until the butter and chocolate are melted, mix until smooth. Set aside to cool down a bit.
- Mix the flour with baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, speculoos spice, and cocoa nibs in a large bowl. Add the melted butter mixture and mix until the dough comes together. Make walnut-sized balls and place with enough space in between on the baking sheet. Flatten the balls a bit and bake for 5 minutes, then press two pretzels into each cookie and bake another 6 minutes. Take out of the oven and press one m&m into each cookie for the nose and the candy eyes (be careful the cookies are hot). Let cool down a bit on the baking sheet, then remove and let cool down completely on a wire rack. If the pretzels come off the come off the cookies at some point, you can fixate them with some melted chocolate.
Notes
- Enjoy baking!
I love my job, but in between I love to bake and try new things in the kitchen. A lot of my friends and colleagues encourage me to bake - for a very simple reason: they get the leftovers - and it seems they like it most of the time ;) 
