Melted Snowman Cookies
These super cute melted snowman cookies are easy to assemble and perfect for the holidays. Soft and chewy drop sugar cookies are drizzled with icing, then you make the snowmen out of marshmallows and candies. It doesn’t get much easier than that!
These adorable melted snowman cookies are the perfect treat if you’re short on time, but still want to make something festive and fun.
The cookies are made with a no-chill drop sugar cookie dough. Unlike traditional cut-out sugar cookies, there’s no rolling or cutting involved, which saves so much time and makes this recipe even easier!
For the vanilla icing, I used my go-to sugar cookie icing. It’s an easy recipe that sets up just as well as royal icing, but doesn’t require any special ingredients like meringue powder.
These snowman cookies would be perfect for Christmas and they’re easy enough for kids to help decorate too!
Video Tutorial
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
Sugar Cookie Dough
I kept this recipe as simple as possible by using my favorite drop sugar cookie recipe. You’re welcome to try my cut-out sugar cookie recipe instead, or use another drop cookie dough like my chocolate peppermint cookies, molasses cookies, or peanut butter cookies.
Icing
I used my easy sugar cookie icing, which creates a nice “puddle” under the snowman. If you want to add more intricate details to the cookies, my royal icing recipe would be a good option!
Gel Food Coloring
Gel food coloring will give your icing a vibrant color without watering it down like liquid food coloring tends to do. You’ll need some black and orange gel food coloring to create the eyes, nose, and arms. If you use pure vanilla, I also recommend using some white gel food coloring to make the white icing pure white. AmeriColor is my personal favorite brand!
Decorations
Marshmallows, mini M&M’s, and Airhead extreme candies create the snowman’s head, buttons, and scarf. If you can’t find any of these ingredients, I’ve included some other decorating ideas further on down in the post.
The Perfect Consistency For Your Icing
When you’re mixing together the icing it’s best to start with just 3 tablespoons of milk, then mix in 1 teaspoon of milk at a time until it reaches a medium consistency (like the picture above). You want the icing to be thin enough to spoon on the cookie, but thick enough that it stays in place.
To test the consistency of the icing you can lift your whisk out of the bowl and let it fall back in. The ribbons of icing should take about 5 to 6 seconds to fully dissolve back into the bowl of icing.
You can also spoon some of the icing on a cookie to see how it looks. If it’s sliding off of the cookie pretty easily, you need to add more powdered sugar to thicken it. If it’s too thick to spread just add a little more milk to thin it out.
Note: If you use pure vanilla extract instead of clear vanilla, I recommend mixing white gel food coloring into the icing to make it as white as the marshmallows. This is optional, but keep in mind that if you use pure vanilla your icing will be a little more off white than the marshmallows.
How To Assemble & Decorate The Cookies
- Spread a spoonful of white icing over each cookie. It’s okay if it looks messy, your snowmen are all melting!
- While the icing is still wet, place a marshmallow on one side of the cookie to create the snowman’s head. If you feel like the marshmallow is a little too big, you can cut some off of one end to make it a little smaller. Then, place two or three mini M&M’s down the middle of each cookie to create the buttons.
- Use the black icing to pipe two button eyes and two arms onto each snowman. Then, use the orange icing to pipe on a carrot nose.
- Once the icing has fully hardened, you can cut the Airhead candies into thin strips and wind one strip around the snowman’s head to create the scarf.
Quick Tip: The icing takes up to a day to fully harden. I prefer to decorate the cookies one day and add the “scarves” the next.
More Decorating Ideas
- Use melted white chocolate instead of white icing on top of the cookies.
- Skip the orange and black icing and use edible markers, sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, etc. to make the arms, eyes, and carrot nose.
- Break mini pretzels in half to use as the arms.
- Sprinkle some sugar on the icing while it’s still wet for a snowy effect.
- Give your snowmen hats by adding mini peanut butter cups on top. A little icing or melted chocolate will help them stick!
- Make red or green colored icing and pipe the scarves onto each snowman instead of using Airhead candies.
- Replace the mini M&M’s with mini gum drops to make the buttons.
- Use pull apart red Twizzlers to create the scarves instead.
These melted snowman sugar cookies might be the cutest Christmas cookies I’ve ever made. I can’t get over how cute they turned out!
If you try this recipe, don’t forget to leave a comment below to let me know what you thought of the cookies, and how you decorated them too! Happy Baking!
Melted Snowman Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled (345 grams)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch or cornflour (6 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened (226 grams; sticks)
- 1 ⅓ cups granulated sugar (270 grams)
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Icing
Decorations
- Marshmallows
- Mini M&M’s
- Airheads extremes or Twizzler’s pull & peel candies
Instructions
- To make the sugar cookies: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line three large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour,2 teaspoons cornstarch or cornflour,1 teaspoon baking powder,½ teaspoon salt
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar together for 1 to 2 minutes or until well combined.1 cup unsalted butter,1 ⅓ cups granulated sugar
- Mix in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract until fully combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.1 large egg,1 large egg yolk,2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. If needed, you can use your hands or a rubber spatula to help work the dough together.
- Using a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, making sure to leave a little room between each one. Slightly flatten each ball of cookie dough with the palm of your hand (this will help the cookies spread in the oven!).
- Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are set and the edges are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and gently press the top of each cookie with the bottom of a spatula to create a flatter surface (make sure not to press too hard or the cookies will crack!). Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the icing: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons (45 ml) of milk, light corn syrup, and vanilla extract until well combined and no lumps remain. The mixture will be pretty thick at this point.3 cups powdered sugar,3 to 4 tablespoons milk,1 tablespoon light corn syrup,1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
- Mix in 1 additional teaspoon of milk at a time until the icing has thinned out and reached a medium consistency. I typically use a little over 4 tablespoons of milk. To test the icing, lift your whisk or spoon from the mixing bowl; the ribbons of icing should take about 5 to 6 seconds to melt back into the bowl of icing. You can also test the icing on one of the cookies, it should be thick enough to spread, but stay in place and not drip easily off of the cookie. If it’s too thick, add more milk to thin out the icing. If it’s too thin, add more powdered sugar to make the icing thicker.
- Remove a little bit of the white icing and place it into two separate bowls (this will be for the arms, eyes, and nose on the snowman cookies). Mix black gel food coloring into one small bowl of icing and orange gel food coloring into the other small bowl. Cover the bowls with damp paper towels or place the colored icings into two separate piping bags until you’re ready to use them.black and orange gel food coloring
- To assemble the cookies: Scoop a spoonful of white icing on top of a sugar cookie and gently spread it around to make it look a little messy. Place a marshmallow onto one side of the icing to create the snowman head, then add some mini M&M’s to create the buttons. If you feel that a whole marshmallow is too much, you can cut about ¼ off of the marshmallow to make it a little shorter (I prefer to do this). Repeat with the remaining sugar cookies.Marshmallows,Mini M&M’s
- Using the black icing, pipe arms onto each cookie, then add small dots to the marshmallows for the eyes. Use the orange icing to pipe a nose onto the marshmallows.
- Allow the icing to harden completely. This can take up to one day, so I prefer to make mine the day before and store them in a container to let the icing harden overnight. Once the icing has hardened, cut the airhead extreme candies into thinner strips with just one or two colors (or use a piece of a pull ‘n peel Twizzler) to create the “scarf” around the marshmallows.Airheads extremes or Twizzler’s pull & peel candies
- Serve and enjoy or store in an airtight container until ready to serve!
Love these easy to bake, fun to decorate cookies. The icing is a nice change of pace from royal and the cookies are melt in your mouth soft. I decorated half the batch as shown and the remainder as snowmen melted…with just a scarf, buttons and nose. Very cute addition to a cookie tray.
Thank you! So glad you loved the cookies!