Description
Delightfully festive Snowman Sugar Cookies featuring a tender, buttery dough flavored with vanilla and almond extract, perfectly cut into snowman shapes and decorated with colorful royal icing to bring holiday cheer to your table.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed for rolling and work surface
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional, but makes the flavor outstanding)
For Decorating
- Royal Icing
- Red gel food coloring
- Black gel food coloring
- Orange gel food coloring
Instructions
- Mix Dry Ingredients: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until completely smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Add Egg and Extracts: Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract (if using) and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed.
- Combine Dry and Wet Ingredients: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until just combined. If the dough is too soft and sticky, add 1 more tablespoon of flour.
- Divide and Roll Dough: Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Place each portion onto lightly floured parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Roll out each dough to about 1/4-inch thickness using a lightly floured rolling pin.
- Stack and Chill Dough: Lightly dust one rolled-out dough with flour, place parchment on top, and then place the second dough on top. Cover with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Baking Sheets: Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Cut out Cookies: Remove dough from refrigerator and separate. Use a snowman cookie cutter to cut shapes, rerolling scraps as needed to use all dough.
- Arrange and Bake: Place cookies 3 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes, until lightly browned around edges. Rotate sheets halfway if needed. Cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.
- Prepare Icing Colors: Divide royal icing into 4 bowls; leave one white, and color the others red, black, and orange with gel food coloring to desired shades.
- Pipe White Icing Base: Fit piping bag with Wilton #4 or #5 tip and pipe a white icing border around each cookie and fill the inside, leaving room for other decorations. Allow to set in refrigerator to speed drying.
- Decorate Cookies: Using smaller piping tips (#1), pipe black icing for hats, eyes, mouth, and buttons; pipe orange for nose; pipe red for scarves using the larger tip. Use a coupler if needed to switch tips between colors.
- Set Icing: Let decorated cookies sit at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours until icing is completely set before serving, gifting, or storage.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze plain or decorated cookies for up to 3 months. Ensure icing is fully set before freezing. Freeze dough by dividing, flattening into disks, wrapping tightly, and thaw in refrigerator before use.
- Flavor Variations: Substitute almond extract with maple, coconut, lemon, or peppermint extract, or add spices like pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon for different flavors.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Use butter that is cool to the touch and egg at room temperature to ensure the correct dough consistency.
- Decorating Tips: Use Wilton piping tips #1 for small details and #4 or #5 for larger areas like scarves and borders. Use a piping bag coupler for easy tip switching.
- Storage: Decorated cookies stay soft for about 5 days covered tightly at room temperature; refrigerate up to 10 days for longer freshness.
- Rolling Dough: Use extra flour as needed to prevent sticking but avoid adding too much which can make the cookies tough.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 150 kcal
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 80 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 25 mg
