Sugar Cookie Snowmen (for kids that don’t like Gingerbread)

Creative Wednesdays

My four-year-old charge was begging to make gingerbread cookies, but the problem is that she hates the taste of gingerbread. So, I found this unique and easy sugar cookie recipe online.

I let the little one and her best friend roll out and cut all the cookies themselves so they turned out in different shapes, thickness, and sizes. And when it was time to decorate the cookies I chose a hard icing and let the girls decorate both snowmen and the men themselves as well. It takes awhile for the icing to dry so the kids have plenty of time to decorate the cookies after I brushed on the icing.

Unfortunately, the only gingerbread cookie cutter we found in her house was a tiny so there was only room for little candy eyes on her guys. But, the cookies turned out tasting fantastic. Here’s what we did.

Sugar Cookies You Will Need:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

What to Do:
1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour and confectioners’ sugar. Stir in the melted butter, egg, and vanilla until well blended. Cover, and refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. 4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Hard Sugar Cookie Icing You Will Need:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup (we used much more)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (we skipped this)
assorted food coloring (we skipped this)
candies for decorations

What to Do:
1. In a small bowl, stir together confectioner’s sugar and milk until smooth. Meat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
2. Divide into separate bowls and add food colorings to each desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.
3. Decorate cookies with small candies.

References:
Sugar Cookies from allrecipes.com 
Sugar Cookie Icing from allrecipes.com 
Photos by Stephanie Felzenberg