Desserts

Little Deer Sugar Cookies

December 5, 2016 by Laura Tucker 1 Comment

I’ve mentioned once or twice before that my family rarely buys ground hamburger meet. Because my husband is an avid hunter, we primarily eat venison instead of beef. Deer season just recently opened up here, and my husband has been in the woods every chance he gets hoping to snag a trophy and keep our family’s freezer filled with enough meat to last us the year. I’m certain that I don’t vocalize it nearly enough, but I’m so proud of my husband for being the amazing provider that he is.

To celebrate the opening of deer season this year, I decided to make my husband a special treat to come home to when he came out of the woods. I found this super cute little deer cookie cutter online and snatched it up just in time for opening weekend. I knew that making a batch of sugar cookies shaped like little deer would be just the thing to celebrate!

What really makes these cookies so wonderful is the dough. Friends, this is THE perfect sugar cookie dough recipe. At least, in my eyes it is. 🙂 The texture is so smooth, it’s not too sticky, it’s easy to roll out, and it bakes to perfection every time. The flavors are spot on – almost like those addicting little seasonal sugar cookies that Pillsbury pushes during every holiday.

After mixing up my dough and letting it chill in the fridge, I poured a little flour out on my counter and spread the dough out using a rolling pin. I went to town cutting out the little fawn shapes and spreading them out on a greased cookie sheet. (Note: You kind of have to be delicate with this cookie cutter as the legs are pretty thin and the dough shape can break easily!)

After the cookies baked in the oven and completely cooled down, I added a little gel icing to finish them up! Here’s a free printable copy of my sugar cookie recipe. If you don’t have a deer cookie cutter, you can still use this recipe with whatever shape of cookie you’d like!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Deer Cookies

Prep Time2

Cook Time8

Total Time2 8

Course: Desserts

Servings: 40

Author: Southern Made Simple

Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter or 3/4 cups butter - softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar until creamy
Add in eggs and vanilla and blend well
In a separate bowl. combine flour, salt and baking powder
Blend flour into sugar and butter mixture and beat with mixer until thick dough forms
Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours
Once dough is chilled, preheat oven to 350F
Clean off counter space or use a large cutting board and dust a little flour over surface
Using a rolling pin, smooth out dough into a thin layer and press the cookie cutter to form shapes
On a greased baking pan, cook cookies for exactly 8 minutes
Remove from oven and transfer to plate to finish cooling
Frost as desired
Yields roughly 40-45 cookies

Tried this recipe?

Tag me on Instagram: @SouthernMadeSimple or use the hashtag #SouthernMadeSimple and share your love of southern cuisine!

And just to make things extra fun, you can add a red nose and transform these fawn cookies into reindeer cookies for Christmas!

My husband was really excited to see all of the deer cookies that were made just for him when he came home. This recipe is really fun to get children involved with…especially if they’ll be making these for Santa and his reindeer to nibble on at Christmas time! 😉

Do you have a fun or whimsical cookie that you like to make on special occasions? Do you have a deer hunter in your life that you’d love to make these for? Be a dear and leave a comment below! 😉

Fresh Apple & Brown Sugar Cake

November 30, 2016 by Laura Tucker 2 Comments

I’ve mentioned a few times in previous posts about this fabulous little grocery store that I have nearby that always has an amazing deal on produce. They’re really good to slash their prices on the produce that needs to move out very quickly because it’s approaching it’s expiration date, and they almost always mark everything down to 99 cents for a large bundle. It’s a crazy good deal if you anticipate cooking with them pretty quickly, or taking the produce home and freezing it for later use. (For example, I got a 5 lb bag of organic carrots and a bag of key limes for 99 cents once. It was a total score!)

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Salted Caramel Peanut Butter Cookies

November 28, 2016 by Laura Tucker 2 Comments

No matter where you are in the world, there’s always that one thing that immediately takes you right back home. One of the most beautiful things about the United States is that each and every state has something unique that sets it apart from the rest. I pride myself on having roots planted deep within the Alabama clay, and I love to celebrate my Southern heritage because it’s a building block in the foundation of who I am (and this very blog, too!)

Out-of-staters may think of many different things when they think of Alabama (football, accents, farm land, etc.) but many people don’t know about the history of one little gem and how it completely turned this state around and revived it just a century ago:

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Chocolate Chip Spinach Muffins

November 21, 2016 by Laura Tucker 19 Comments

Over the past 2 weeks, it seems like my diet has primarily consisted of cookies and things smothered and covered in some sort of cheese. To be clear, I’m not really complaining about that (I love my cheese and sweets,) but I realize that a continued pattern of eating those fatty foods is going to wreck havoc on my waistline and on my health in general.

So in order to get some green back into my diet, I’ve been eating a whole lot of spinach here lately. I love spinach WAY more than lettuce (not to mention it’s way healthier than lettuce,) so I don’t have much of a problem eating it as a salad. My problem is that I’m sort of anti-leftovers and I get burned out on foods very quickly. When I say I’m anti-leftovers, I really mean that I’m not crazy about eating something as a leftover more than once. I can eat something twice, but then my taste buds have to move on!

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Cookies for Santa (A Gift in a Jar) + Free Printable

November 8, 2016 by Laura Tucker 3 Comments

There’s just something so magical about the holidays to me. From the food, festivities, and family gatherings to the holly jolliness of children anxiously awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus, it’s a spectacular time of year that’s unlike anything else. As families gather together to celebrate the season, old family traditions that have been passed down year after year are brought back to life. Every family has their own traditions that they love to carry on, and one of our favorite traditions is to spend time together making a special batch of cookies for ol’ St. Nicholas to nibble on when he makes his special delivery at our house.

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Banana Nut Cranberry Cookies

November 5, 2016 by Laura Tucker 2 Comments

I really wish we lived in a world where the calendar was full of Novembers. It’s my absolute favorite month of them all. The weather is perfect, the family gathers together to celebrate Thanksgiving, and all of the delicious foods that are prepared this month are amongst some of my all-time favorite foods in the entire universe.

This month is also special to me because it’s the month that I love to break out the recipe for my delicious Cranberry Banana Nut Bread. I made my first batch a few years ago when I was hosting Thanksgiving at my house. It was a little something that everyone could nibble on all throughout the day, and it could be warmed up with a slab of butter and eaten for breakfast. I remember the heavenly smell that filled my home while it was baking to perfection in my oven. As much as I love to bake pumpkin-y things during the Thanksgiving season, these are a really nice break from all of the pumpkin spice.

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White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha Cannoli Cups

November 1, 2016 by Laura Tucker 7 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DelightfulMoments #CollectiveBias

With the weather finally cooling off a little here in Alabama, I’ve been daydreaming of all of the wonderful holiday treats that I want to make this year. Once I feel that cool air come in, I grab my fuzzy socks, curl up in a blanket, pour myself a cup of my beloved coffee, take out my trusty notepad and pen and get busy jotting down all of the ideas I have for our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.

This time of year is always so busy for us. It seems like once Halloween has come and gone, our calendar immediately starts filling up with events, holiday parties and functions. I take menu planning for the holidays very seriously, and I always try to incorporate something new on the dessert table…no matter what holiday it is!

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Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies

October 19, 2016 by Laura Tucker 2 Comments

I’ve had a serious hankerin’ here lately, y’all. I’ve been having these super fierce cravings for something sweet, but I just couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was. I knew I wanted something chocolate-y, but not too chocolate-y. I knew I wanted to bake something, but I didn’t want any sort of cake. I probably wanted something pumpkin-y (because I always want something pumpkin-y,) but I didn’t want to go overboard with the pumpkin. I also wanted something sugary and cinnamon-y. Basically, I want all the things. That’s nothing unusual, by the way!

So what in the world is a woman to do when she’s got a hankerin’ like that?

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