Stacked Snowman Cookies Recipes

STACKED SNOWMAN COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Divide dough in half; shape each into a disk. Wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll 1 portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. With a 2-in. round cookie cutter, cut out 18 circles. Repeat with 1-1/2-in. and 1-in. round cookie cutters. Place 1 in. apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake 7-10 minutes or until edges are set. Cool completely on wire racks., Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine confectioner's sugar, meringue powder, 1/3 cup water and, if desired, extract; beat on low speed just until combined. Beat on high 4-5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Add enough remaining water until icing no longer holds a peak. Keep unused icing covered at all times with a damp cloth. Using a pastry bag and #2 round tip, pipe icing over cookies. Let stand at least 5 minutes before gently stacking cookies to create snowmen. Let stand at room temperature several hours or until frosting is dry and firm. Using a new fine-tipped paintbrush, decorate snowmen with food coloring as desired.

MELTED SNOWMAN COOKIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Beat butter in a bowl using an electric mixer until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat white sugar, baking powder, and salt into butter until just combined. Beat egg, milk, and vanilla extract into butter-sugar mixture; add flour and mix until dough is just combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until dough is slightly chilled, about 10 minutes.
• Scoop dough into balls slightly larger than golf balls; flatten into cookies. Arrange cookies on a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until edges are golden brown, 10 to 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely, at least 30 minutes.
• Butter a microwave-safe plate. Place marshmallows on the prepared plate.
• Microwave marshmallows until slightly puffed, 10 to 15 seconds. Gently press marshmallows until bottoms slightly ooze.
• Whisk confectioners' sugar and water together in a bowl until icing is slightly thicker than drizzle-consistency. Pour icing over cookies so it runs over the edges, reserving about 1 tablespoon.
• Melt chocolate chips in a microwave-safe glass or ceramic bowl, about 30 seconds. Pour melted chocolate into a piping bag with a small tip or a plastic bag with a corner snipped.
• Press 1 marshmallow close to an edge of each cookie to be the snowman's head. Draw 'stick arms' onto the icing using the melted chocolate.
• Divide the reserved 1 tablespoon icing into 2 small bowls. Mix red food coloring into 1 of the bowls and orange food coloring into the other bowl. Decorate the snowmen with scarves or ties using the red icing and yellow icing.

MELTED SNOWMAN COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat egg whites lightly in a large bowl using an electric mixer until frothy. Slowly beat enough confectioners' sugar into egg whites to make icing that will hold shape; blend in lemon juice until desired consistency is reached.
• Arrange cookies about 1-inch apart on a large sheet of waxed paper. Spread icing onto each cookie, allowing icing to drip over edges to look like melting snow.
• Grease a microwave-safe plate. Place 1 marshmallow onto plate.
• Microwave marshmallow until it starts to puff up, 20 to 30 seconds. Immediately place marshmallow on the edge of 1 cookie while the icing is still wet to look like a melted snowman. Repeat with remaining marshmallows and iced cookies.
• Decorate 'melted snowmen' by piping 'twig-like arms' using black decorating gel on the icing. Make 'coal eyes' and a 'mouth' on the marshmallow using black decorating gel. Make a 'carrot nose' under the 'coal eyes' using orange decorating gel. Make 'coat buttons' by arranging silver nonpareils down the middle of the icing. Make 'scarves' or 'bow-ties' using red decorating gel or green decorating gel.
• Allow cookies to fully dry before removing from waxed paper, at least 1 hour.

SPIRAL SNOWMAN COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F. In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, flour, butter and egg until soft dough forms.
• On lightly floured surface, place heaping tablespoon of dough; roll dough into a 10-inch rope. On ungreased cookie sheet, loosely coil 1 end of rope into circle to make head. Loosely coil other end of rope in opposite direction for body. Repeat with remaining dough, placing cookies about 2 inches apart.
• Sprinkle each cookie with coarse sugar. Add cinnamon candies for buttons, multicolored candies for nose and chocolate chips for eyes.
• Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
• Pipe black gel for mouths. For each hat, on surface sprinkled with sugar, flatten gumdrop into hat shape; attach to head of snowman with small amount of frosting.

JOLLY SNOWMAN COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F. Stir cookie mix, butter and egg in medium bowl until soft dough forms. On ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 3 inches apart.
• Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Frost and decorate one cookie at a time. Spread frosting on 1 cookie. Add licorice across top third of cookie for hat, 3 raisins for eyes and nose and 5 candies for mouth. Repeat with remaining cookies.

GIGANTIC STANDING SNOWMAN

Steps:

• For the snowman: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line mini muffin tins with white mini cupcake liners.
• Prepare the cake batter according to the package directions for using egg whites. Fill each cupcake liner halfway with batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Repeat with the remaining cake batter (you should have about 240 cupcakes total).
• Microwave the white candy melting wafers in a medium microwave-safe bowl in 30-second intervals, stirring in between each, until melted, about 1 minute. Pour 2 tablespoons of the melted candy onto the center of a large serving platter or serving board (such as a 15-by-20-inch foam poster board). Place a 10-inch Styrofoam sphere on top of the candy and let set until hardened, about 10 minutes. This will be the bottom round of the snowman.
• Trim 2 inches off the flat end of three 12-inch wooden skewers, making sure that the skewers are even in length. Mark the center of the sphere and poke the 3 skewers, bundled together, into the center flat-end first, leaving about half the length of the skewers sticking out of the top. Align a 7-inch Styrofoam sphere on top and in the center of the 10-inch sphere and press down so the skewers are inserted into the smaller sphere, securing the snowman head to the bottom. Leave a 1-inch gap between the 2 spheres.
• Set aside 5 cupcakes for making the nose later. Coat the bottom of 16 cupcakes with the melted candy (reheating as necessary) and wedge them around the base of the bottom sphere so they are in contact with the board, creating a ring of cupcakes to keep the base from moving.
• Poke a toothpick through the top center of each of the remaining cupcakes until the toothpick pokes out of the other side. Coat the bottom of one cupcake with some of the melted candy. Starting at the bottom of the snowman, hold the top of the toothpick and poke the cupcake into the side of the sphere, offset between the row of cupcakes below, so that the toothpick is no longer showing and the coated bottom is pressed against the sphere. Working in batches so that the melted candy does not harden (and reheating as necessary), repeat with the remaining cupcakes until the bottom and head of the snowman are completely covered with cupcakes.
• To make the carrot nose: Crumble the reserved 5 cupcakes into as fine a crumb as possible in a medium bowl. Add the vanilla frosting to the bowl and mix until well combined and the mixture can be formed into a stiff ball. Mold into a 4-inch carrot shape. Cut a 12-inch wooden skewer in half; discard the half without the point. Insert the skewer half lengthwise through the center of the carrot with the pointed end sticking out of the flat side of the carrot. Freeze until solid, about 30 minutes.
• Microwave the orange candy melting wafers in a medium microwave-safe bowl in 30-second intervals, stirring in between each, until melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Dip the frozen carrot into the orange candy until completely coated. Transfer to a parchment-lined dish until hardened, about 15 minutes.
• Attach the carrot nose to the center of the face with the pointed end of the skewer, pressing in until the skewer is no longer visible and the carrot is straight.
• For the frosting: Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a heatproof stand mixer bowl above the water without the bottom of the bowl touching. Add the sugar, lemon juice, salt and egg whites to the mixer bowl and whisk together by hand. Set the bowl above the boiling water and whisk until the mixture is warm to the touch and the sugar is completely dissolved. Transfer to the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat at medium-high speed until the mixture is cool and holds stiff peaks, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Transfer a quarter of the frosting to a large pastry bag fitted with a medium star tip. Pipe rosettes onto each cupcake starting in the center and swirling outwards until the entire cupcake is covered with frosting, refilling the pastry bag with frosting as needed.
• To make the eyes and buttons: Cut 3 toothpicks in half and discard one of the halves. Stick the pointed end of each remaining toothpick half into the back of a chocolate-covered marshmallow cookie, making sure it doesn't poke through the front. On the head where the eyes would be, attach 2 marshmallow cookies to 2 cupcakes with the toothpicks. Attach 3 marshmallow cookies to 3 cupcakes down the front of the snowman where the buttons would be.
• To make the ear muffs: Cut two 12-inch wooden skewers in half; discard the ends without the point. Insert a skewer point-side first into each side of the snowman head even with the eyes. Trim any excess skewer to leave 1 inch exposed. Attach a doughnut to each side of the head by pressing the doughnut into the skewer until it is flush with the head and pressing against the frosted cupcakes. Lay the two 9-inch sour candy strands next to each other across the top of the head to attach the ear muffs. Trim any excess if needed.
• To make the woven scarf: Stack four 3-foot-long sour candy strands on top of each other and position vertically in front of you. Measure 4 inches down from the top of the strands and insert a toothpick through all 4 pieces to attach them at the top. Separate the strands below the toothpick so they are no longer stacked on top of each other. Interlace the far-right strand first under the strand next to it, then over the strand next to that and finally under the last strand (on the left) to create the first weave, tightening as you go to create a snug pattern. Continue the pattern by bringing the same strand back over the strand closest to it, then under the next strand and finally over the last strand on the far right.
• Repeat this pattern--weaving side to side and back again--until the strand has been completely woven through. Using a toothpick, attach another 3-foot strand where the original one left off and continue until the new strand is woven through. Cut the remaining unwoven strands at the bottom. Use toothpicks to secure the scarf. Repeat this process, starting with four new 3-foot sour candy strands and weaving in a fifth, to create 2 woven scarf halves equal in length.
• Fray the unwoven section at the top of the scarf halves by pulling the different colors apart. Attach one of the scarf halves to the back of the snowman, securing it with toothpicks. Wrap the scarf carefully around to the front of the snowman so the frayed end drapes near the buttons. Secure the other scarf half, overlapping in the back if needed, and wrap around to the front of the body so the ends of the scarves overlap.
• Keep chilled until serving. Serve within a day.

M&M'S SNOWMAN

Steps:

• Beat three 8-ounce packages cream cheese and 1 stick butter (both at room temperature) with a mixer until creamy. Beat in 1 cup confectioners' sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Divide into 3 balls (large, medium and small) and wrap each in plastic wrap. Chill 2 hours, then roll in unsweetened shredded coconut and stack the snowman. Add brown mini M&M'S for the eyes, mouth and buttons, and red and green M&M'S for the nose and scarf (attach with icing, if necessary). Add pretzel arms. Serve with fruit or cookies.

CHOCOLATE SNOWMEN BISCUITS

Steps:

• Mix the flour, cocoa and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Beat the butter with the sugars in another bowl for about 3 mins until pale and creamy. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet, and bring together with your hands. Wrap the dough and leave to chill in the fridge for 1 hr.
• Heat the oven to 170C/150C fan/ gas 3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to a thickness of about 4mm, and press out circles in three sizes. Place them, sorted by size, on baking sheets lined with baking parchment. Bake the smallest cookies for 6-8 mins and the remainder for about 10-12 mins. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Tip the icing sugar into a small bowl and gradually add the milk, stirring until smooth and thick. Coat the tops of the biscuits with it using a small knife, then stack three of each biscuit, starting with the largest. Cut the cranberries into small pieces and stick to the snowmen as eyes, mouths and buttons. Cut the strips of mango into the shape of mini carrots, and place them on the faces as noses. Leave to dry. Will keep in an airtight container for up to three days. Recipe adapted from Let it Snow by Agnes Prus (£7.99, Hardie Grant). Photographs © Frauke Antholz.