How to Make a Snowman Cookie Set

Written by Mike Tamplin • Nov 17, 2019

During the Christmas season, I'm often excited to see more and more people try their hand at cookie decorating for the first time. It's easy to see why. Christmas is such a festive time for baking, and decorated Christmas cookies make the perfect handmade present to gift to loved ones.

If I had to recommend a design perfect for cookie-decorating novices it would have to be snowman cookies. Snowman cookies are fun to make, they don't require a lot of different icing colors to mix, and they are relatively easy to decorate.

This snowman cookie set breaks down a traditional snowman design into three parts. Each part is pretty easy to whip together for both experienced and novice cookie decorators alike.

Snowman Cookie Cutter Set

Recently added to the shop is this new Snowman cookie cutter set design.

This cookie cutter set is available in both LARGE and MINI sizes. For this tutorial, I'll be decorating the LARGE size. However, the mini cookies are also showcased at the end of this post.

Template for the Snowman Cookie Set

To help with the decorating process, I made a PDF template of all the designs of my 2019 Christmas cookie collection, including this snowman cookie set design.

Click the link below for the downloadable template PDF file.

2019 Christmas Cookie Templates

This file is 3 pages long and is rather large in data size. Just a warning, it might take a moment before the file opens in your browser.

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 this snowman cookie set, you will need the following suggested colors:

Holiday Red icing. (I used Americolor Tulip Red.)
Holly Green icing (I mixed Americolor Egg Yellow with Mint Green.)
Orange icing ( used Americolor Orange.)
White icing (I used Americolor Bright White.)
Black icing (I used Americolor Super Black.)

Head Cookie

Step 1

For those without a projector, begin by making guidelines for the face and hat band, as shown. I made a template with template plastic from the PDF file above and used a food marker to draw the guidelines on the cookie.

Step 2

Begin by first filling in the face area with white icing and the hat band with red icing. Let this icing set for about 20 minutes.

Then fill in the remaining hat sections with black icing. Let this icing dry for about 1 hour.

Step 3

Once the base layer of icing had time to dry, add the face details like the eyes made of coal, the carrot nose, and the smile line.

Finish the snowman head by outlining over the brim of the hat detail.

Belly Cookie

Step 1

For those without a projector, begin by making a guideline for the scarf, as shown. You might be able to skip this step and just wing it, too.

Step 2

Begin by first filling in the belly area with white icing. Let this icing set for about 20 minutes.

Then fill in the top scarf area with green icing. Also, add the coal buttons, as shown. Let this icing set for another 20 minutes.

Step 3

Next, add a tail to the scarf over the base layer. Let the icing dry for a few hours.

Once the icing is fully dry, add a scarf outline with icing and a #1.5 PME tip. Then draw in the stripes with a food pen.

Bottom Cookie

This last cookie is easy. Outline and fill the entire cookie with white icing. Let this icing set for an hour.

Then, add the last coal button as shown.

Video Tutorial

The steps above are summarized in this time-lapsed video I put together below.

Once the three cookies are assembled together, the completed snowman should look like the cookies below.

As you see from the above image, this snowman cookie set is available in a LARGE and MINI size.

For the large size, I love using this new BRP long cookie box (12″ x 5″ x 1.5″).

For the minis, I place them in a 3"x11" bag sleeve and trimmed down the extra length.

Snowman Bag Topper Printables

To help elevate the presentation of the mini cookie sets, we created coordinating snowman bag toppers.

There are two bag topper design options available in the shop for instant download- one that says "Warm Wishes" and another for "Do you want to build a snowman?"

Each tag is 3" wide to span the width of the 3"x11" bags.

Snowman Plaque Cookies

One more thing. Because I often get requests for cookies that can be personalized, I created a similar snowman in a plaque design.

These snowman plaques have the same snowman design aspects as the 3-pc set shown in this tutorial. However, with these plaques there's plenty of room on the belly area to write a name or add a Christmas message. Some phrase examples are shown below.

(For reference, the font I used was Grenouille.)