Thoughtful Thursday–Reindeer Noses To Go

I saw this idea, and sometimes when I get an idea stuck in my head, it’s like OCD and I just HAVE to do it, mono or not.

After I saw this adorable idea, I knew Cooper and I needed to make them for his classmates. Bite-sized, perfect little adorable cookies! I’ll be honest, it wasn’t has simple and easy as the original blog states. BUT…it made an amazing, traditional, baking holiday memory for my son and I, and he was SO proud to share with his friends. And, it really only took an afternoon, and a bit of the evening. Not too shabby for 27 Reindeer Noses To-Go kits! Refrain from doing the math – it’s 243 1” cookies total. Moving right along..

Her sugar cookie recipe, was absolutely perfect! AND…I should save this for a trick of the trade (I may repeat it next Tuesday, don’t judge!), but why have I never used wax paper to roll out cookie dough before? I laid out a sheet of wax paper, put my glob of cookie dough, then laid down another sheet and rolled away. No sticky mess! Then, I used a 1” cookie cutter (yes, they are teeny tiny people!) to cut out all the little noses. I used rolling pin spacers (1/4” – to make the dough a uniform thickness) and mine cooked for 11 minutes and were perfect.

Baking…DONE! That was the easy part. Oh, and kind of a silly tip, but when I took them off the cookie sheet, I counted out 8, then put aside a 9th on a separate sheet so I could keep count of how many “kits” I had already baked.

Now, onto frosting.

The recipe on this website seemed a bit off regarding water, but she did say to play around with it. I added quite a bit more than what was recommended. But again, play with it and see what works for you. And, be prepared to either take your time, or get a hand cramp, or both.

You know how you read all these blogs or facebook posts about perfect, holiday traditions and wonder why yours NEVER seem quite so perfect? Well, there was definitely a moment during frosting where that thought crossed MY mind. I took a deep breath, took some tylenol, played with my kiddos, THEN put on some Christmas music and got back to work. After relaxing and getting perspective, we DID have that awesome, traditional moment. =) See? I didn’t picture the play-doh mess that happened off in the corner while I was frosting said cookies. Thankfully, on the tile, and…worth it ‘cuz the kids had a blast playing!

The frosting hardens, which will be GREAT for packing them up for delivery, but you do have to work quickly if you’re crazy and are doing 200+ 1” cookies!. Another tip, use a LOT of food coloring. Mine are pretty light colored brown, I would’ve preferred darker, but I still ADORE how they turned out. And, Rudolph’s nose is sort of…shhh…pink! Gasp! Thankfully you can’t tell in these pics…

Final bit of information if you choose to make your own! I think the mason jars I used are half pint. I just put a paper lid in, I kept the metal inserts. I stacked the 8 brown ones like so, then placed the red one in front you so you can see it!

My husband thought this was overkill, but I LOVE how it looks! So aesthetically pleasing! =)

AND…if you choose to make your own, here’s your free printable! Perfectly sized to fit the insert for the Kerr mason jars. Enjoy!

If you’re having a hard time getting the printable, just shoot me an email. I’d be happy to email you the original. =)

And, as if you haven’t gotten enough pictures, here’s my son after placing them in all of his classmates cubbies at school. He was SO excited!!

Oh, and proof that I made a vat of them! And used two printouts of the free printable!

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