How to Make Snowman Cookies

One of my very first attempts at decorating cookies were snowman cookies. Since the beginning, these frozen buddies have become, in a ways, a winter-time cookie tradition for me. (You can see what I mean here, here, and here.) I tend to do some type of snowman version each winter, mostly because snowman cookies are fun to make and relatively easy to decorate.

For this year, I came up with these tree-toting, mitten-wearing, little guys. Their smiles and big bellies pack a lot of personality, which I hope will bring a lot of holiday cheer this season.

Snowman Cookie Cutters

Just like my Mrs. Claus cookies, I offered two design options for these snowman cookies: a full-body design, or a quicker-to-decorate head-only version.

For this tutorial, I'll be decorating the full-body design, but the same steps would apply to the head option, as well.

Template for the Snowman Cookies

To help with the decorating process, I made a PDF template available for all the Christmas cookie designs shown. In the file you will find a template for Mrs. Claus, Santa, the snowman, and an elf. Also, there's a separate second template for the head-only designs.

You can download the FULL-BODY cookie templates HERE.

You can download the HEAD-ONLY cookie templates HERE.

If you have a Kopykake or Pico projector, just print it out (or pull it up on your mobile device) and you are good to go. For those without a projector, follow the suggested steps below by tracing the design onto the cookie with an edible food marker.

The Decorating Process

For these snowman cookies, you will need the following suggested colors:

• White medium royal icing (I used Americolor Bright White.)
• Holiday Red piping and flood icing. (I used Americolor Tulip Red.)
• Holly Green icing (I mixed equal parts Americolor Egg Yellow with Mint Green.)
• Carrot Orange medium icing (I used Americolor Orange.)
• Winter Blue piping and flood icing (I mixed equal parts Americolor Teal and Americolor Sky Blue.)
• Black icing (I used Americolor Super Black.)

Step 1

For those without a projector, begin by making a guideline for where the face and center body should be. I made a template with template plastic from the PDF file above and used a food marker to draw the guideline on the cookie.

Step 2

Using the marker line as a guide, outline and then flood alternating sections. I began with the belly and the black hat sections first. I let those sections set up for about 20 minutes, then moved on to the face, the hat band, and the lower mitten areas.

Step 3

Continue filling in  alternate sections, as shown below.

I would wait until the base layer was fully dry (about 2 hours) before adding the final details and outlines on top.

Video Tutorial

The steps above are summarized in the time-lapsed video below.

Just as a reminder, here's the finished snowman cookies along side with the rest of this season's Christmas crew.

And as mentioned above, if you're pressed for time during the busy holiday season, these head-only versions are a great alternative.

As for packaging, I had fun coming up with various cookie combo gift ideas. Here's Mr. Snowman along side a message cookie. (You can find the plaque cookie cutter here.)

The cutter size for the full-body version will fit perfectly in these 7″x4.25″ gift boxes.

Or, in this smaller 4″x4″ gift box as a single gift.

Printable Gift Tags

Did you notice the coordinating snowman gift tag in the picture above? It's a printable download from my brother's Etsy shop, Owl House Co.

These tags are great because the "From:" tag line is editable. You can personalize it to your liking!

On another note, thanks for everyone for being so very patient while I catch up on cutter orders. This is my most busiest time of the year and I'm doing my best to process each one as soon as I possibly can. I really appreciate your continued support! Thanks again!