Melted Snowman Cookies

So I found an adorable picture that I fell in love with on Pinterest.  The picture connected to the blog, Crazy Domestic Blog.

Cute eh?  Well, I decided to tackle this project for a fundraiser my class was doing to raise money to have the Little People of Manitoba out at our school.  I didn't find the tutorial very helpful though as it used all premade store bought ingredients.  I like homemade and wanted to do it in a way that was most cost effective.

Initially I tried one recipe that was deemed to be one of the best on the web.  It wasn't a cheap recipe either-it had a whole pound of butter and although I cubed it and left it out overnight, the recipe was hard to manipulate.  Even after refrigerating, in order to make a cookie, I had to massage each individual ball in my hands.  I wasn't impressed.  I made it work as I didn't like to waste money or time, but I decided to try a different recipe to hopefully get better results...and it was way better!!

First recipe:

(sorry for the quality of pictures as I am still without a camera so I have to use my cell)

Second recipe:  look at how much puffier they are!

First of all,  you need time to make these cookies...expect to spend a whole afternoon and then some with refrigerating, baking, and decorating.

Melted Snowman Cookie Batter

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup softened margarine

1 1/4 cups white sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

In a large bowl, cream sugar and margarine until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, vanilla, and almond extract. 

In a separate bowl, combine your dry ingredients until mixed.  Gradually spoon the flour mixture into the creamed mixture, mixing well after each addition.  

Chill dough about 3 hours.  

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Form balls somewhere around 2 inches.  Flatten in hand so cookie is about the size of your palm (don't do this on your baking sheet as I found it really stuck to the cookie sheet).  Place on stoneware pan.  

Bake until edges are slightly golden brown; for me with my stoneware, I probably baked them for around 17 minutes and got six cookies on one sheet.  Let cool.

15 Cookies

Melted Snowmen Decorations Needed

• Icing ( I had bought packages after trying to make a runny icing that looked similar to the original picture that didn't turn out.  I ended up having to make some of my own and I think I had a couple cups of icing sugar to 1/8 of a cup of margarine and 1 tbsp of hot water.  You need to plan on making lots of icing!
• Marshmallows
• Non stick cooking spray
• Small tip decorating tubes of various colors (you definitely need black, orange, red, and green)
• Just some additional information about this; I used three different types based on what I had and what I know I needed.  The brands I used were the Cake Mate Scribblers (usually sold in any grocery store in a pack of green, red, blue, and yellow), Wilton Sparkle Gel in orange (bought from Michaels), and Duff Matte Candy Writer in black and red (bought from Michaels).  I thought the Wilton was easiest to write with, the Duff tubes needed the most preparation (needed to be kept in hot water to get them pliable), while the Cake Mate Scribblers had the best small tip.  However in the end, I actually liked the Duff Candy Writer better because it dried so quickly-no chance of smearing!

Best Tips!

Easiest tube to Squeeze!

Quickest to dry and set!

Steps:

Personally, I like to do things in step and work on the same detail rather than skipping all over the place.  This is your choice though.

Generously place icing on top of cookie.  You want it thick and don't worry if it's not perfect looking cause it's a melted snowman.  Weirder shape the better!

Next, spray a plate generously with non stick cooking spray.  Place marshmallows on plate and microwave up to 30 seconds.  Watch these.  You simply want them to warm and melt slightly, not double in size. Time varies based on how many you're microwaving at a time.  Place on cookie, pressing down slightly.

Add noses, eyes, mouth, buttons, and hands if desired using decorating tubes.  

My finished product looked like this:

They were a huge hit the school...the kids loved them and the adults were impressed...I was happy.