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Melted Snowman Cookies Recipe – delicious adorable snowman cookies with candy scarf and buttons that look like they are “melting” on a cookie!
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At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe – my goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.
I want each reader to walk away with a solid knowledge of each recipe, with all of the tips I’ve gathered from extensive testing of each recipe. I also answer questions my friends and family have asked about my recipes, to help everyone better understand the processes we use – and why!
Table of contents
Easy Snowman Cookies
These snowman cookies are so adorable – they make perfect party favors all winter long, are great for Christmas cookie exchanges, great to decorate together, and are super fun to customize!
Melted snowman cookies look fussy and complicated – but they are actually really easy to make, and so delicious!
These cookies are one of our favorite treats with homemade hot cocoa, they are sweet but not too sugary (despite the marshmallow!), and so adorable.
For more of Rachel’s recipes, check out some of our favorites below:
You can find Rachel’s site, Sweet Tea and Sprinkles, here!
How To Make Snowman Cookies
Making these delicious easy cookies from scratch couldn’t be easier – first, we’re going to make a delicious, easy sugar cookie base for our cookies, then a melted snowman icing base to top with a marshmallow and some fun candy decorations!
You can set up a big table to make these cookies for a party, and let guests make their own cookies – we like to make themes and have fun white elephant style prizes for different cookies.
Don’t worry too much if your snowman isn’t perfect – remember, he is melting!
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, egg, milk and vanilla. Then add the flour (start with 2 cups), baking powder, and salt. Beat this until well blended. If the dough is still really sticky you may mix in another ¼ to ½ cup of flour.
- Divide the cookie dough into 2 equal size disks. Wrap these and place them in the fridge for 1 hour (or until firm).
- When you remove the dough from the fridge, allow it to sit at room temperature until soft enough to roll easily.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick.
- Use a 2 ½ inch, lightly floured cookie cutter to cut out as many cookies as you are able to.
- Place the cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes or until the edges are just golden. (They can cook quickly so watch carefully after the 5 minute mark.)
- When the cookies are removed from the oven, move them to cooling racks to cool completely before frosting them.
- To make the icing: In a large, grease-free mixing bowl, sift together the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Add 5 tablespoons of the warm water. Use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment (or an electric hand-held mixer) to beat at high power for 10 minutes. Check the consistency.
- We want to get to a thicker consistency of icing that still has the ability to move and slide on the cookie a bit. Add more water if the icing is too thick and is so still that it will barely move. If it is too thin, beat longer, it thickens the longer you beat it.
- When you are ready to ice/make the melted snow, drop a dollop of icing onto the middle of the cookie and carefully spread out towards the edges. You can make this as perfect or messy as you’d like – after all – it’s a MELTED snowman cookie. Some icing might slowly run off the side, that’s ok. But if it quickly runs off, your icing may be too thin. Either way, just use a little trial and error to get the look you want. There will be plenty to experiment!
- Place one marshmallow on each cookie to represent the head of the snowman.
- When you are ready to add the eyes and buttons, add some black gel coloring to some of the icing and pipe on arms and eyes. Do the same with orange food coloring to make icing for the carrot nose. Then drop pn some mini m&ms for buttons, a licorice for the scarf and some sprinkles for fun!
- The royal icing will take about 2 hours to dry. If you need the icing to firm up more quickly, you can refrigerate them.
Tips To Perfect Melted Snowman Cookies & FAQs
Add flavor! Want to kick these cookies up a notch? You can add flavored extracts to the royal icing, and even the cookies, to add more flavor. You could add almond extract or peppermint extract, or even lemon, raspberry, or vanilla extract. You will want to start with 1 teaspoon.
Add color! If you’d like to add color to your icing for some bright and colorful snowmen, go for it! You could use food coloring, but I prefer to use gel color instead because you get a more intense color and don’t need to use as much.
FAQs
Yes, it may be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Once you’ve brought it to room temperature you may need to whisk it smooth again
It is very important to use grease-free bowls and utensils when you are working with meringue. I would start over, using a glass bowl if possible, that is very clean, and for better chances, you could chill the bowl and attachments as well.
You could substitute pasteurized egg whites. You will substitute pasteurized egg whites (or 6 Tablespoons of pasteurized egg whites from a carton). Whisk the egg whites until foamy, then beat in the powdered sugar at medium speed for 5 minutes. Adjust the water as needed.
Other Christmas Cookies You’ll Love
If you love these melted snowman cookies and want to see more of our easy cookie recipes, please check out some of our recent favorites below:
Try these other cookie recipes:
You can find the rest of our Christmas cookie recipe archives here.
Melted Snowman Cookies Recipe
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Melted Snowman Cookies Recipe
Equipment
- Food Coloring Set – 12 Color Food Grade Vibrant Food Dye Cherrysea Tasteless Liquid Color for Cake Decorating, Baking, Easter Egg, Icing, Fondant, Cooking, Slime Making DIY Supplies Kit – 0.35 Fl. oz (10 ml)/Bottles
Ingredients
For the Royal Icing
- 6 tbsp Meringue powder
- 8 cups powdered sugar
- 10 tbsp warmed water
For the Sugar Cookies
- 1 ½ cups of unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar + more for rolling
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp bing powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
Decorations
- 24 Marshmallows
- Food Coloring Gels – Black, Orange
- 24 Strawberry Licorice Laces
- ¼ cup Sugar Crystals, optional
Instructions
- To make the cookies, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl cream the butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and eggs. Cream 3-5 minutes till light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture and beat till just combined. Chill for at least an hour in the refrigerator.
- Sprinkle sugar on the counter and roll the dough till about the thickness of a half dollar coin. Use a round cutter to cut out the cookies. Place the cookies on a parchment lined baking tray.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the edges were slightly brown and center is barely set. Cool completely before icing.
- Beat all the royal icing ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes). Let it sit for 15 – 30 minutes to let air bubbles rise naturally or gently stir the top to release air before dying.
- Arrange cookies just apart on parchment paper. Spread icing on each cookie allowing the icing to drip over edge to look like melting snow. Split the remaining icing into two piping bags, dye one orange and one black, set aside.
- Add a marshmallow on each cookie while icing is still wet.
- Decorate the cookies with the black royal icing for eyes and arms, orange royal icing for carrots noses, M&M's for buttons, and licorice for a scarf.
- Sprinkle the cookies with sugar crystals for a snowy effect. Wait about 2 hours for the frosting to set and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
