These adorable Gluten Free Reindeer Sugar Cookies are the perfect festive treat for the holiday season. They are incredibly easy to make and start with Sweet Loren’s Sugar Cookie Dough, so there is no mixing or measuring involved. Simply place the dough on a baking sheet, bake until the cookies are golden, then allow them to cool and chill so the frosting spreads smoothly.
Once cooled, each cookie is transformed into a cute reindeer face. A generous layer of chocolate frosting becomes the base, and white frosting is piped on to form the eyes and nose. Mini chocolate chips are added for the pupils, and a bright red or green chocolate candy creates a festive Rudolph style nose. To finish the look, mini pretzels are gently pressed into the top of each cookie to make the antlers. These fun and whimsical cookies look bakery worthy, but they come together with simple store bought ingredients that are perfect for kids and adults to decorate together. They make a great gluten free Christmas treat for parties, cookie exchanges, or a cozy family baking day.
What You Need
Ingredients
1 package Sweet Loren’s Sugar Cookie Dough
1 cup chocolate frosting
1/3 cup white or vanilla frosting
24 mini pretzels (gluten free or regular)
24 mini chocolate chips (about 1/4 cup)
Red and green chocolate candies
Tools
Baking sheet
Parchment paper
Cooling rack (optional, but helpful)
Small piping bag or zip top bag for the white frosting
Spatula or butter knife for spreading chocolate frosting
Small bowls for organizing toppings
Refrigerator space to chill cookies before decorating
These Gluten Free Reindeer Sugar Cookies are the ultimate holiday baking shortcut. With Sweet Loren’s Sugar Cookie Dough as the base, you get perfectly soft and chewy cookies without any mixing, measuring, or fuss. Once baked and cooled, the fun begins. Each cookie is turned into a playful reindeer face using creamy chocolate frosting, piped white icing, mini chocolate chips, candy noses, and crunchy pretzel antlers. Kids love decorating them and adults love how adorable they look on a Christmas cookie platter.
This recipe is ideal for busy holiday schedules because everything comes together quickly using simple, store bought ingredients. The cookies look festive and detailed, but they are surprisingly easy to assemble, making them perfect for classroom parties, cookie exchanges, holiday movie nights, or a cozy December baking tradition. If you need a gluten free dessert that is cute, fun, and guaranteed to make everyone smile, these reindeer cookies are it.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Place Cookie dough on parchment lined baking sheet..
Bake 13-15 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Since ovens vary, check at the shortest time and add time as needed.
Cool cookies for 15 minutes. Then, set in the fridge to chill for an additional 15-20 minutes.
Spread a generous amount of chocolate frosting on top of each baked sugar cookie.
Next, use the white icing to pipe two eyes and a nose onto each one of the chocolate iced cookies. Place two mini chocolate chips on top of the white-icing eyes. Place a red or green chocolate candy on top of the white-iced nose.
Next, place two of the pretzels at the top of the reindeer's face, like the ears.
Repeat steps 6 & 7 for each cookie. Enjoy!
Servings 12
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
I am married to the most amazing man, Tommy. I am the mother of three beautiful children Landon, Finn, and Daisy. For years I have been helping friends, family and others navigate the life of gluten-free living. I grew up in a gluten-free house, my mom and both brothers were diagnosed with Celiac Disease when I was young. My mom did an amazing job making everything from scratch in a gluten free kitchen. When I had my first child Landon my world was changed. He was born at 24 weeks because I have a short cervix. The doctor told us that he had a slim chance of survival and that his life would be plagued with severe complications. He survived and has minimal complications due to his prematurity, but when Landon was two he started getting rashes all over his body and he would constantly be sick. My mom advised me to get Landon tested for Celiac Disease. This was the beginning of my true GF journey. Shortly after he was diagnosed, I decided to go off gluten as well. Although I do not have Celiac Disease, I have found that I feel 100% better eliminating gluten from my diet. Recently Finn was having some issues with his legs and knees hurting. The doctor told me to take Finn off gluten to see if it was causing the inflammation and pain. Sure enough once we changed his diet the symptoms went away. We have Celiac Disease and gluten intolerance on both sides of the family. My sister-in-law and niece were recently diagnosed and my Grandma recently took gluten out of her diet due to an autoimmune disease. We are in a fortunate position that both of our families understand the purpose of living a gluten-free lifestyle. I am on a mission to help people create amazing gluten-free recipes and to see that this diagnosis is not a curse, but can actually be delicious.
