Peanut Butter Rudolph Cookies: Easy Holiday Treats
One of our favorite things about the holidays is baking up fun, festive treats that make us smile and make the whole house smell amazing. These Peanut Butter Rudolph Cookies check all the boxes — they’re easy to make, kid-approved, and ridiculously cute.
This is one of those semi-homemade recipes we love because it starts with a store-bought mix but ends with big holiday charm.
Shortcut Cookie Magic
We used a Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie mix for the base of our cookies, but we gave it a little extra oomph by adding 1/4 cup of creamy peanut butter to the mix — along with the rest of the ingredients listed on the package. Our Nannie who passed away a few years ago taught us the trick of adding 1/4 cup peanut butter to a package of cookie mix. We’ve used her trick before in our Snickers peanut butter cookies recipe.
The result? Soft, chewy, peanut buttery cookies that hold their shape but still have that homemade flavor. Plus, they’re sturdy enough to decorate, which is kind of the whole point when you’re turning them into little reindeer faces!
How to Turn Cookies Into Peanut Butter Rudolph Cookies
Once the cookies were baked and cooled, we brought our Rudolphs to life with a few simple touches:
- Pretzel twists for antlers (we snapped ours in half to fit better)
- Brown M&Ms, chocolate chips or googley eyes for the eyes
- Red M&Ms for the classic Rudolph nose
- A little peanut butter to act as edible glue
We used a small dab of peanut butter on the back of each candy or pretzel piece and gently pressed them into the tops of each cookie. That’s it! Instant reindeer magic.
On some of the cookies, we put upside-down chocolate chips for the eyes.
On others, we use brown M&Ms.
Tips for Decorating Your Peanut Butter Rudolph Cookies
- Make sure your cookies are fully cooled before decorating so the peanut butter holds everything in place.
- Let kids be creative! Some of our Rudolphs had eyes going in two directions or antlers on sideways — and honestly, that makes them even more lovable.
- You can store these in a single layer on a covered cookie tray or container for a day or two, but we don’t recommend stacking them or transporting them much as the decorations may get shaken off.
A Sweet Holiday Activity
This is one of those recipes that’s just as fun to make as it is to eat. We made a batch on a snowy afternoon and were giggling the whole time over our lopsided antlers and funny reindeer faces.
They’re perfect for:
- Cookie swaps
- Family baking days
- Leaving out for Santa (with a note that says “Hope you like peanut butter, big guy!”)
However, we don’t recommend making them for class parties. After all, some students have peanut allergies and many schools (like ours) prefer only store-bought class treats.
We’ll definitely be making these peanut butter Rudolph cookies again next year – along with our reindeer pretzel sticks, melting snowman cupcakes, Grinch Oreo balls, and Christmas present brownies!
Easy Peanut Butter Rudolph Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Cookies
- 17.5 oz Peanut butter cookie mix We like the Betty Crocker mix.
- 3 tbsp Vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp Water
- 1 Egg
- ¼ cup Peanut butter Creamy
Decorations for Rudolph
- 24 Pretzel twists
- 24 M&Ms brown (or chocolate chips)
- 12 M&Ms red
- ⅛ cup Peanut butter Creamy
Instructions
Make Peanut Butter Cookies
- Mix all cookie mix, oil, water, egg, and peanut butter in large mixing bowl. Stir in mixer bowl until dough forms.
- Roll dough into 12 balls and spread 2-3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
- Using a fork, flatten each cookie and make a criss-cross pattern across the top.
- Bake 12-14 minutes and allow cookies to cool for 2 minutes on the tray before moving them carefully to a cooling rack to completely cool on a wire rack.
Decorate Rudolph Faces
- Using the end of a toothpick or end of a wooden spoon, dab a tiny bit of peanut butter onto the nose area of a cooled cookie and add one red M&M. Dab two small dots of peanut butter and place either two brown M&Ms or two chocolate chips (upside down). Do the same with the pretzel antlers. Repeat with all cookies.
- *Carefully place each cookie on a flat surface and serve.
