The Best Melted Snowman Cookies

Create delicious sugar cookies decorated to look like a melting snowman

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword christmas, cookie

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 10

Decorating Time 20

Total Time 45

Servings cookies

Calories 229kcal

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Then stir in the eggs and vanilla until just combined.
In another mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Then stir the dry ingredients in with the wet until a dough forms.
On a floured surface, roll the dough out so it's 1/4-inch thick or a little less. Cut out circle shapes with cookie cutters. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking mat.
Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes. The centers may look a little undercooked, but the edges should just be beginning to brown. Remove to a cooling rack and they will firm up.

To make the royal icing, simply whisk together the meringue powder, powdered sugar, and water. Start with five tablespoons and add an additional one (or two) as needed. The mixture should flow in thick ribbons, but not be super runny. If it's too thin, add more powdered sugar; if too thick, add small bits of water until desired consistency.

Use a piping bag or ziplock to pipe the frosting into a snow puddle shape on the cooled cookies (or you can spoon it on and spread with back of the spoon). You want the icing to look a little messy since the snowman is melting, so it’s OK if some goes over the edge.
While the icing is still wet, press in your marshmallow head near the side of your cookies and any snowman buttons you want to add. Add some icing to a small bowl and add black food coloring to add to a piping bag or ziplock bag and pipe on the eyes, mouth, and arms. Attach orange sprinkle nose with a small dab of icing (or make some orange icing to pipe it on). For earmuffs, just shorten a gumdrop by cutting off a bit of the bottom and use a dab of icing to glue them to the sides of your marshmallow head. Use more candy to add scarfs or hats for some extra details!
The cookies are best if left to set overnight, but you can also consume them immediately if you like. The frosting will get harder as it sets, so this is best if you plan to transport the cookies anywhere.

Decorating Ideas for Melted Snowman cookies:

Icing: You can stick to just icing in different colors for the buttons and scarf for easy decorating.
M&Ms: Round candies like M&Ms or M&M minis make great buttons.
Pull and Peel Twizzlers: These or sour straws make great scarves.
Mini Reese's Cups: You can use these for a snowman hat!
Oreos: A mini Oreo on top of a single larger Oreo makes a cute top hat!

Tips for melted snowman cookies:

If your icing piping skills aren’t great, try using food markers to add your details instead! Just wait until the icing has set a few hours before writing on the cookies.
To make your marshmallow snowman head a little melty, try putting the marshmallows in the microwave for about 30 seconds until they puff up a little before pressing into your cookie.
When mixing up your black icing, make it a little thicker than your white icing (just add a little more powdered sugar to it to thicken it) so that it will keep its shape and not spread out when you pipe it.