Snowmen Decorations

Winter cookies are some of my favourite to create.  This year I wanted to do a cookie that would be good for all my friends and family that was just winter themed instead of holiday themed.  I decided I wanted to a scene with snow falling and a snowman, instead of just doing snowman shaped cookies.  I also wanted them to be able to be used as decorating for your home or if you celebrate Christmas for you tree so when I baked them I cut out a little hole in the top to place ribbon in later.  These vibrant, cheery, snowmen will be sure to brighten up their recipient's day!

Snowmen Decorations

Decorating level: Medium-Advanced
Concept, design, and execution by Jesika Rose

• Gluten Free Chocolate Sugar Dough Recipe
• Royal Icing Recipe
• 4" Circle Cutter
• 9 Decorating bags, couplers, tips, and rubber bands
• Two #3 round tips
• Two #2 round tips
• Five #1 round tips 
• Toothpicks 
• White or Opal sanding sugar
• Gel food coloring:
• Sky Blue
• Royal Blue
• Fushia
• Regal Purple
• Orange
• Chocolate Brown
• Black

Roll, cut, chill, and bake your cookies.  A note on cutting the hole for the ribbon: Make sure it's a little larger than you want it.  When baking it will close up a  bit.  Also make sure it's at least 1/4" from the top of the cookie so it doesn't break.  If your hole closes up when baking, as soon as you remove it from the oven while it's still hot, use whatever you used to cut the hole to re-punch it.

While you're cookies are baking and cooling you can make your royal icing and mix your colours.  Depending on how many cookies you're making, you'll need:

• A bag of thick white icing with a #2 tip
• A bag of flood white icing with a #2 tip
• A bag of sky blue flood icing with a #3 tip
• A bag of fushia/regal purple with a #3 tip
• Extremely small bag of super thick black icing with #1 tip
• Extremely small bag of super thick orange icing with #1 tip
• Extremely small bag of super thick brown icing with #1 tip
• Small bag of super thick royal blue icing with #1 tip
• Small bag of super thick lighter fushia/regal purple with #1 tip

Once your cookies are cooled you're ready to decorate!

 Use the thick white to outline the circle.  Make sure to also outline the hole for the ribbon.  Allow this to dry.  It shouldn't take too long since the icing is thick.  If this outline is too wet when you flood if you accidentally hit it with the tip of the blue or purple, you'll break the line and the icing will flood out of the cookie.

Using the flood blue or the flood purple, fill the cookie entirely.  Pop any bubbles with a toothpick.  Allow this stage to completely dry.  This may take a few hours or even overnight if you're in a very humid environment.  If you apply the next layer while this layer is wet, the color of the blue (or if your background is purple) can bleed into the white for the snowman.

Outline the snowman with the thick white icing.  If you outline all cookies before filling any, the white should be dry enough to fill the first one by the time you finish outlining the last one.

Next you want to take the loose white and fill the bottom layer of all the snowmen.  Once this is slightly dry, fill the middles, then once they're slightly dry, fill the top.  If you fill all three at once, you won't get the layered effect of each segment sitting atop the other like a real snowman.  Allow this to complete dry for a few hours.  

Next you'll be sugaring and applying the details so if it's still wet or tacky at all the sugar will stick to it and the colours of the details will bleed into the white.

Using the thick white, pipe little circles for falling snow and a few lines under the snowman for the snow on the ground.  Only do these one or two at a time, or the icing will dry and the sugar won't stick.  Right after you pipe the snow, dust if with the sanding sugar.  Make sure when piping the snowballs to leave room for where the snowman's arms will go.  You can do the snow last if you'd like, just make sure that all the details are completely dry or the sugar will stick to those details too.

Using the thick orange, pipe the carrot nose.  Start at the base, if you pipe little zig zag like vertical lines you'll get the ridged looked of the carrot.

Using the thick royal blue, pipe the hat.  Piping it in lines will give it a knit look.

Pipe the base of the hat and the pompom in the thick lighter purple.  Again, pipe it in vertical lines to create the knit look.

Now for the scarf.  Pipe the blue first horizontally.  Then the purple horizontally to the right of the blue and below it.  Pipe it vertically to the left of it.  Then pipe blue again vertical on either side, and horizontal under the purple.  Pipe the "fringe" on the bottom of the scarf.  Not pictured here, but also make so to pipe the last purple on the left.

Pipe the branch arms with the brown. 

Using the black, pipe the eyes and the mouth.

Then your snowmen are done!  Allow them to completely dry before bagging.

Tie a string through the hole of the cookie that's extra long to be able to stick out the top of the bag so it can be hung up.  Then bag the cookie and tie another ribbon at the top.  As long as these cookies aren't in direct sunlight, they stay fresh and delicious for weeks if not longer.  So feel free to hang them around until the holidays are over as decorations before enjoying them!

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