Description
These Snowman Sugar Cookies are delightful, soft, and perfectly sweet, decorated with colorful royal icing to create charming snowman shapes. Perfect for festive occasions, these cookies provide a fun and creative baking experience with a balance of classic sugar cookie flavors and optional almond extract for extra depth.
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 on high speed until completely smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Add Wet Ingredients: Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract (if using) to the butter mixture and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl and beat again as needed to fully combine.
- Combine Dry and Wet: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. The dough will be a bit soft. If too sticky, add 1 more tablespoon of flour.
- Divide and Roll Dough: Divide dough into 2 equal parts. Place each on lightly floured parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Roll each to about 1/4-inch thickness using a lightly floured rolling pin.
- Layer and Chill: Lightly dust one rolled dough with flour, place parchment on top, then the second rolled dough on top. Cover with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours or up to 2 days.
- Preheat and Prepare for Baking: Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Cut and Arrange Cookies: Remove dough from fridge. Separate top dough if sticking. Use snowman cookie cutter to cut shapes. Re-roll scraps and repeat. Arrange cookies 3 inches apart on baking sheets.
- Bake Cookies: Bake for 12 minutes until lightly browned around edges. Rotate pans halfway if needed. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
- Prepare Icing Colors: Divide royal icing into three small bowls. Add red, black, and orange gel food coloring to each to desired shades respectively. Leave some icing white.
- Decorate Cookies: Fit a piping bag with Wilton #5 or #4 tip, fill with white icing, pipe border and fill on cookies leaving room for black hat. Allow to set, refrigerate if desired.
- Detail Decoration: Use Wilton #1 tip for black hat, eyes, mouth, buttons and orange nose. Use red icing with #4 or #5 tip for scarf. Let icing set for 2-3 hours at room temperature.
- Store and Serve: Enjoy immediately or after icing sets. Store covered at room temperature for up to 5 days or refrigerate up to 10 days. Perfect for gifting.
Notes
- Plain or decorated sugar cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Freeze icing-set cookies layered between parchment in airtight containers.
- You can freeze dough after step 3, shaped into disks wrapped in plastic wrap. Thaw overnight in refrigerator before rolling and chilling as directed.
- Room temperature butter should be cool to the touch; too soft butter makes sticky dough.
- Flavor variations: use maple, coconut, lemon, peppermint extracts or spices like pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon instead of almond extract.
- Use snowflake cookie cutters and sparkling sugar for different shapes and festive variations.
- Using couplers for piping tips makes color changes in small number of tips easy.
- Allowing icing to set well before layering frozen cookies helps avoid sticking in the freezer.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 180 kcal
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 90 mg
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 24 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 30 mg
