These are a bit of a fave now. I’ve been doing this advent pre-pinterest days and have always done these cute little things. I must have seen them on the internet somewhere but can’t remember where now – but credit to some clever old soul who noticed the similarity between antlers and upsidedown pretzels… and the inventors of chocolate pretzels.
I use my nannans old recipe for fairings – and then its a bit of a hope and pray that as they squidge and grow in the oven the antlers, eyes and nose will vaiguely stay in the right places. So far they are always incredibly cute… so here’s hoping for success later today!
The cookies: Mix 100g plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp bicarb with 1/2 tsp each of mixed spicce, cinnamon and ginger. Add in the rind of a lemon or an orange (personally I prefer the orange for rudolf)
Add in 50g of diced butter and rub in with your fingers to make it fine and ‘breadcrummy’. Now add in 50g of sugar and 2 tablespoons of golden syrup (although we are generally using rice malt syrup and using 1/3rd of the sugar a recipe states so I may try this version out tomorrow – I’m not sure how well it will hold it together) Stir this all in with a big spoon until it’s lost it’s gooeyness enough for you to work it with your hands into a dough. Roll it into a log and slice it in half, half again and then each section into 3. (my easiest method to make 12 equal portions.
Squash eack of these slighly from a ball into a squashed ball and then tuck in 2 chocolate pretzels, a red smartie (or a mix of red, orange and brown if you want to make Rudolf and all his friends) and 2 rasins for his eyes. Bake for 8-10 mins at 180 degrees C and transfer to a cooling rack when he seems like he will move. These are fairly fool-proof – I can break most recipes but this is consistent and both older kids request this recipe on their birthdays to take to school – I think they’ve had requests from their friends.
The dough and the baked cookies both freeze really well (the smarties go a bit pale but if you’re adding anything else in or just having them plain that may work better)
This year are all red noses… I’ve saved the rest of the multi pack of smarties to use in the gingerbread house advent so they are not going to waste.. or getting eaten…yet.
Here’s a couple of pics of the ones we made last year… and you’ll find them on my imstagram every December! 
Apologies this last image is both after they’ve bene left slightly too long in the oven… and also I just can’t rotate it. I could… but it’s not as easy as just turning your head or just being happy to look at a sideways cookie. Cute though, right?
themoneyspendingexpert.com 