These Reindeer Sugar Cookie Bars are made with mini pretzel twists, candy eyeballs, M&M's, and homemade buttercream frosting.
This soft and delicious sugar cookie cake is festive for the holidays with the addition of Christmas-colored sprinkles and is all dressed up as Rudolf - the kids will love it!
Ingredients in Reindeer Sugar Cookie Bars
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Egg + egg yolk
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Cornstarch
- White chocolate chips
- Christmas sprinkles
- M&M's - red for Rudolf or brown or red for the other reindeer.
- Mini pretzel twists
- Candy eyeballs
Ingredients in Buttercream Frosting for Sugar Cookie Bars
The amount of ingredients for this sugar cookie bar frosting is just enough to decorate around the edge of the sugar cookie cake with very little waste.
- Unsalted butter
- Powdered sugar
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
RELATED: Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars
How to Make These Reindeer Sugar Cookie Bars
To make this sugar cookie cake you will need:
Preheat the oven and prepare the pan - Preheat the oven to 350ºF and spray a 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray and wipe down the bottom and sides with a paper towel.
Line with parchment paper - Cut and insert a piece of parchment paper to fit the inside of the cake pan. This will ensure that the sugar cookie dough doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Combine the dry ingredients - In a bowl, combine the spooned & leveled all-purpose flour together with the baking powder, salt, and cornstarch.
Cream together the wet ingredients - In a large bowl, cream the unsalted butter until creamy and add the granulated sugar, and beat until combined and the mixture is pale in color.
Divide the egg - Using an egg separator, separate the egg white from the egg yolk of one egg.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla - Mix the whole egg and the egg yolk into the butter mixture and add in the vanilla extract as well.
Combine the dry and wet ingredients - Slowly blend the flour mixture into the wet ingredients just until all the ingredients are no longer dry.
Stir in the chocolate chips and sprinkles - Stir in the white chocolate chips and your Christmas sprinkles of choice.
Fill the cake pan - Transfer the prepared dough to the lined cake pan and press down the cookie dough to spread it out evenly.
Bake - Bake for 28-30 minutes or until the tops and edges are golden brown.
Cool - Remove the cake and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack to cool completely.
RELATED: Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
How to Make Buttercream Frosting for Sugar Cookie Bars
The recipe for this buttercream frosting has been cut in half as it doesn't take much to decorate around the edge of the cake.
Cream the unsalted butter - Cream the unsalted butter by beating it until it is smooth and creamy.
Add the powdered sugar - Beat in the powdered sugar until combined. It will be lumpy.
Add the milk and vanilla - Add the milk and vanilla and beat until no longer lumpy and smooth. It should still be stiff to the touch.
How to Decorate Reindeer Sugar Cookie Bars
To decorate these Reindeer Sugar Cookie Bars, fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip with the prepared buttercream frosting.
Pipe the frosting around the edge of the sugar cookie cake.
Cut the cake into 8 equal slices (or 9 if you want eight reindeer and one Rudolf!) or use a pie slicer to get even slices.
Using the leftover buttercream, carefully dab the buttercream onto the underside of the candy eyeballs and place them on the sugar cookie triangles.
Repeat the process with the M&M's.
Place two mini pretzel twists on each sugar cookie triangle on top of the buttercream frosting to create the antlers.
Reindeer Sugar Cookie Cake Variations
- Make it chocolate - Swap out the vanilla buttercream frosting for chocolate frosting by adding ¼ cup of cocoa powder to the buttercream frosting recipe
- Mix up the M&M's - want all Rudolf's? Only want Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen? Decorate with the brown and red M&m's as desired.
- Add chocolate chips to the cookie dough - This recipe uses white chocolate chips in the cookie dough. You can swap out the white chocolate chips for chocolate chips or even do half and half.
- Skip the chocolate chips - Leave the chocolate chips out if you want - it'll still be yummy!
You also make a chocolate chip cookie Reindeer cake by using this recipe for a chocolate chip cookie cake!
Want Rudolf Brownies instead? Check out this recipe for Reindeer Christmas Brownies - it's fudgy and delicious!
📖 Recipe
Reindeer Sugar Cookie Bars
Equipment
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Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Cake
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ all-purpose flour spoon & leveled
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
- ¼ cup Christmas sprinkles not nonpareils
Buttercream Frosting
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tablespoon milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Candy eyeballs
- Mini pretzel twists
- M&M's
Instructions
To Make the Sugar Cookie Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and spray a 9 inch cake pan with cooking spray and wipe down the bottom and sides with a paper towel.
- Cut and insert a piece of parchment paper to fit the inside of the cake pan. This will ensure that the sugar cookie dough doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
- In a bowl, combine the spooned & leveled all-purpose flour together with the baking powder, salt, and cornstarch.
- In a large bowl, cream the unsalted butter until creamy and add the granulated sugar and beat until combined and the mixture is pale in color.
- Using an egg separator, separate the egg white from the egg yolk of one egg.
- Mix the whole egg and the egg yolk into the butter mixture and add in the vanilla extract as well.
- Slowly blend the flour mixture into the wet ingredients just until all the ingredients are no longer dry.
- Stir in the white chocolate chips and your Christmas sprinkles of choice.
- Transfer the prepared dough to the lined cake pan and press down the cookie dough to spread it out evenly.
- Bake for 28-30 minutes or until the tops and edges are golden brown.
- Remove the cake and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack to cool completely.
To make Buttercream Frosting:
- Cream the unsalted butter by beating it until it is smooth and creamy.
- Beat in the powdered sugar until combined. It will be lumpy.
- Add the milk and vanilla and beat until no longer lumpy and smooth. It should still be stiff to the touch.
To Decorate the Reindeer:
- To decorate these Reindeer Sugar Cookie Bars, fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip with the prepared buttercream frosting.
- Pipe the frosting around the edge of the sugar cookie cake.
- Cut the cake into 8 equal slices (or 9 if you want eight reindeer and one Rudolf!) or use a pie slicer to get even slices.
- Using the leftover buttercream, carefully dab the buttercream onto the underside of the candy eyeballs and place them on the sugar cookie triangles.
- Repeat the process with the M&M's.
- Place two mini pretzel twists on each sugar cookie triangle on top of the buttercream frosting
to create the antlers. - Store in an air-tight container.
Notes
Nutrition
Dana is an experienced recipe creator who crafts easy and delicious recipes for all levels of home cooks.
Her recipes range from classic comfort foods to healthy and nutritious meals, and she is always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to bring flavor and variety to the table.
Ann says
This looks so delicious and fun to make! My school kids would love this for a holiday treat! Thanks for the recipe share!
jamie says
Such a cute and delicious treat to make for the kids this weekend.
Yum!