Snowman Face Cookies
Servings: 24
Calories: 240kcal
These adorable Snowman Face Cookies are so fun to make and are perfect for all your holiday gatherings! Made with my favorite sugar cookie recipe and decorated with my simple royal icing recipe, these charming snowmen come to life, making them the star of any winter gathering or cozy family night!
Print Recipe
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt good quality
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg large
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Royal Icing
- 4 tablespoons meringue powder
- 4 cups powdered sugar about 1 pound
- 6 tablespoons warm water to start
- food coloring
Decorations
- white non-pareils (sprinkles)
- pink luster dust
Instructions
Sugar Cookies
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This should take 2-3 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat another minute or so.
- Add the flour mixture slowly. (Be careful not to add too much at a time or you will have a snowstorm of flour.)
- Blend until all of the flour is incorporated. The mixture will look crumbly at first but just keep blending until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Remove about half of the dough from the bowl and knead by hand just a bit to form a smooth ball. Roll out dough onto a lightly floured work surface, or onto a piece of plastic wrap (as described in detail in the blog post above).
- Cut out cookies into desired shapes and place entire baking sheet of unbaked cookies into the freezer for 5 minutes. (A round ornament cookie cutter is what I used. Depending on the style of cutter you use, you may need to trim the top of the ornament a bit before baking. You could also use a circle cutter for these cookies, you’d just need to alter the top “puff ball” a bit.)
- Preheat oven to 350°F and bake cookies in preheated oven for 9-11 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your cookies.
- The cookies are baked when then are no longer shinny on top, but they will not show much of any change in color.
- Cool on baking sheet just a minute or so, then carefully move to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool fully before decorating.
Royal Icing
- Beat all ingredients until stiff peaks form.
- Spoon some of the thick white icing into individual bowls and add coloring .
- Add additional water, about 1 teaspoon at a time until you’ve reached the consistency you need.
Decorating
- Using a medium consistency icing (any color choice), outline and fill in the hat portion of the cookie (as shown). Allow this area to dry fully (4+ hours).
- When the hat and face areas are dry, use a thick consistency icing (white) and add the rim of the hat and the “puff ball” on top of the hat (as shown).
- Immediately sprinkle non-pareils (or sprinkles of your choice) onto the wet icing (as shown).
- Add a hint of blush to the cheek area using pink luster dust and a (clean and dry) soft paint brush
- Add details to the face (eyes and mouth with black icing, nose with orange icing). Allow to dry fully before packaging.
Notes
Sugar Cookies
I HIGHLY recommend using a large stand mixer to mix up the dough, if at all possible. It is possible to mix up the recipe with a hand-held mixer, but it will take a lot more hand kneading to combine all of the flour.
Be sure to omit the additional salt if you are using salted butter in the recipe.
Flavoring options - Feel free to add your choice of fresh citrus zest (1-2 teaspoons), or add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon almond extract in addition to the vanilla extract listed.
If you prefer a more crisp cookie, simply bake an extra minute or two.
Baked cookies will remain fresh at least one week (stored in a Tupperware type container, or individually wrapped).
Baked cookies can be successfully frozen for a month or more. Layer baked cookies in a Tupperware type container with parchment paper between layers of cookies. Thaw cookies at room temperature before decorating. I do not recommend freezing the cookies after they've been decorated.
Royal Icing
Make sure all bowls and utensils are totally grease-free or your icing will never reach proper consistency.
The base royal icing recipe will produce a very thick icing. From this very thick icing, you need to add small amounts of water to thin the icing. So for any cookie design that you need two different consistencies of the same icing, color the icing as needed, then thin just a bit to create the “thick” consistency (about the consistency of toothpaste), add a portion of that icing to a piping bag, then continue to add a bit more water to the remaining icing in the bowl to create a thinner “medium” consistency icing (about the consistency of shampoo). Happy decorating!
Nutrition
Calories: 240kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 55mg | Potassium: 29mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 246IU | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1mg