Snowflake Cookies are decorated with a soft icing and a minimal amount of royal icing so the frosting stays soft. They are great for Christmas, winter, or a Nutcracker or FROZEN birthday party!
I made these Snowflake Cookies for my oldest daughter's Nutcracker Birthday Party when she turned 10. We absolutely love the Nutcracker Ballet, and each holiday season we go as a family to a performance.
I was inspired by these Snowflake Gingerbread Cookies I first made many years ago (before she was even born!)
Also years earlier, I made these Pastel Christmas Sugar Cookies and loved how they looked.
For this party, I wanted to use a gold and pastel color palette, so I needed a light cookie base. I chose to use shortbread cookies, but my Cut Out Sugar Cookies would also work well for this.
The cookies are dipped in a simple powdered sugar glaze. After the glaze is set, they are topped with royal icing details to make the snowflake pattern.
I added a sugar pearl in the center, and for some of them, I sprinkled the wet royal icing with sparkly sanding sugar.
These are some of my favorite cookies I've ever made! I think they are so pretty and, of course, delicious.
When I displayed them on the Nutcracker dessert table, I added a few Royal Icing Snowflakes to the platter for decoration.
I had previously made Royal Icing Snowflakes for my daughter's FROZEN Birthday Party when she turned 3. These Snowflake Cookies would have been perfect for that party as well!
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Supplies
- 1 batch roll out shortbread or sugar cookies, cut with snowflake cutter
- Cookie glaze
- Pink food coloring liquid
- Royal icing (will require meringue powder)
- Sparkly sanding sugar (I used silver and rose gold)
- Sugar pearls
- Gold dust (recommended: Truly Mad Plastics)
- Everclear
- Plastic disposable transfer pipette
- Food grade paint brush and paint palette
- Disposable piping bags
- #2 round tip
- Plastic piping bag tip coupler
Cookie Base
First, you need to choose a cookie base for these cookies. It needs to be a lighter color dough in order for the pastel glaze to maintain the color.
I used Vanilla Shortbread Cookies, but my Cut Out Sugar Cookies or Brown Sugar and Spice Sugar Cookies would also work for the cookie base.
Dip the Cookies in the Glaze
Stir together the glaze ingredients. You can leave the glaze untinted, or add a small amount of liquid pink food coloring. Be careful to just add a small amount so it will stay a pastel pink. This is why I recommend using a liquid food coloring instead of a gel, as the gels tend to be very intense color.
To dip the cookies, you can place one cookie face down in the glaze and dip it.
Then lift it out of the glaze, let the glaze run off of the cookie and place it on a rack to allow the glaze to set.
Apply the Gold Powder
If you'd like to add gold to the surface of your cookies, make sure the glaze has fully set before adding gold.
I have a detailed tutorial in my Painted Watercolor Cookies post.
Briefly, add some edible gold dust powder to the well of a food-safe paint palette. I use a disposable transfer pipette to place a few drops of Everclear in the well and mix with a food-safe paint brush.
I have tried other alcohols and have the best luck with Everclear due to the high alcohol percentage. It evaporates very quickly so it does not create pits in the icing.
Gently brush the gold liquid across the surface of the cookie in broad brush strokes until the surface is covered. You may need multiple coats.
Add the Royal Icing and Sugar
After the glaze has fully set, it's time to add the royal icing details.
Mix up the royal icing base using meringue powder. Then, add about a half cup of the base icing to a small bowl. Add small amounts of warm water to the icing to thin it slightly so it is a pipeable consistency through a #2 size round tip.
Transfer the icing into a disposable piping bag fitted with a #2 tip. A tip coupler is helpful for securing the tip on the bag. It also allows you easily to switch tips if the #2 tip is too small and you want to bump it up to a #3 or even a #5.
Locate your sugar pearls and sanding sugar so you can use them immediately after piping the icing. Depending on the temperature and humidity of your kitchen, the icing can set quickly so you want to get them on immediately.
Carefully pipe the lines across the the cookie, crossing over in the center. For my cookie cutter which had snowflakes with 6 points, this required 3 lines that cross the center of the cookie.
Then pipe small "v" shapes along the lines to make the snowflake pattern.
If you are adding sanding sugar, immediately sprinkle it over the whole cookie, specifically over the royal icing, then shake off the excess in a small bowl. This will allow you to reuse the excess sugar that doesn't stick to the cookie for subsequent cookies.
Immediately place a sugar pearl in the very center of the design, right into the royal icing.
Set the cookie aside on a baking rack to allow the icing to dry and repeat with remaining cookies.
Because you are working quickly and doing only 1 cookie at a time, you may need to cap off your piping tip between cookies or place the tip in a tall glass with a moist paper towel in the bottom. This should help prevent the icing from crusting over the tip.
Make sure to check your tip for crusting each time before you begin piping the design. Sometimes I will just squeeze out a little icing onto a paper towel or waxed paper to make sure it's flowing properly before proceeding to the cookie.
Storage
You can leave the cookies out for many hours at room temperature for the icing to dry. To store, place in single layer in an airtight container. I do NOT recommend stacking the cookies. This can crush the design and cause the grease from the top cookie to disrupt the design on the bottom cookie.
If you must stack your cookies, I highly recommend placing pieces of aluminum foil between the layers. I have used waxed paper in the past and the grease still leaks through.
In my experience, these Shortbread Cookies get stale faster than Sugar Cookies. Plan to serve the shortbread within 1-2 days of making. For the sugar cookies, plan to serve anywhere from 1-5 days of making.
Technically you could freeze these cookies in a single layer in an airtight container. I always worry about freeze/thaw affecting the texture of the cookie, but the design should be ok as long as they are not stacked.
📖 Recipe
Snowflake Cookies
Equipment
- 1 snowflake cookie cutter
- 1 disposable transfer pipette
- 1 food grade paintbrush
- 1 food safe paint palette
- disposable piping bags
- small round tip plus coupler
Ingredients
- 1 batch your favorite shortbread or sugar cookies (rolled and cut into snowflakes)
For the Icing Glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- pink liquid food coloring
For the Royal Icing:
- 6 ounces warm water (¾ cup)
- 5 tablespoons meringue powder
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2¼ pounds powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
Optional Decoration:
- gold luster dust (plus Everclear)
- sparkly sanding sugar
- pink or white sugar pearls
Instructions
Glaze the Cookies:
- To make the glaze, stir together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract in a medium sized bowl. If necessary, add more milk or powdered sugar to achieve a dippable consistency.
- Add a small amount of pink food coloring liquid if desired. Cover bowl with a damp paper towel to prevent crusting.
- Place a wire rack over a parchment or waxed paper lined cookie sheet or work surface.
- Gently stir the glaze to make sure it's fully mixed. Dip the top surface of each cookie into the icing and place the cookies on the wire rack to allow excess glaze to drip off. Use a toothpick to pop any bubbles on the surface of the glaze immediately after dipping.
- Allow glaze to fully set before decorating. Meanwhile, make the royal icing.
Make the Royal Icing:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand or with the whisk attachment until it is frothy and thickened, about 30 seconds.
- Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds. Pour in the powdered sugar and, using the paddle attachment, mix slowly on the lowest speed for a full 10 minutes. The icing will get thick and creamy. Cover the bowl with a dampened tea-towel to prevent crusting and drying, or store in an airtight container, until ready to decorate.
Add Gold Luster Dust (optional)
- Add some edible gold dust powder to the well of a food-safe paint palette. Use a disposable transfer pipette to place a few drops of Everclear in the well and mix with a food-safe paint brush.
- Gently brush the gold liquid across the surface of the cookie in broad brush strokes until the surface is covered. You may need multiple coats.
Add Snowflake Details:
- To thin the royal icing, remove about ½ cup of the icing base to a small bowl. Add small amounts of warm water (~1 teaspoon at a time) to reach the desired consistency that is easy to pipe but not runny. If you have gone too far and it's too thin, add more of the original "stock" to make thicker.
- Transfer the icing into a disposable piping bag fitted with a #2 tip. A tip coupler is helpful for securing the tip on the bag. It also allows you easily to switch tips if the #2 tip is too small and you want to bump it up to a #3 or even a #5.
- Locate your sugar pearls and sanding sugar so you can use them immediately after piping the icing. Depending on the temperature and humidity of your kitchen, the icing can set quickly so you want to get them on immediately.
- Carefully pipe the lines across the the cookie, crossing over in the center. For snowflake cookie cutters with 6 points, this required 3 lines that cross the center of the cookie. Then pipe small "v" shapes along the lines to make the snowflake pattern.
- If you are adding sanding sugar, immediately sprinkle it over the whole cookie, specifically over the royal icing, then shake off the excess in a small bowl. This will allow you to reuse the excess sugar that doesn't stick to the cookie for subsequent cookies.
- Immediately place a sugar pearl in the very center of the design, right into the royal icing.
- Set the cookie aside on a baking rack to allow the icing to dry and repeat with remaining cookies.
- Because you are working quickly and doing only 1 cookie at a time, you may need to cap off your piping tip between cookies or place the tip in a tall glass with a moist paper towel in the bottom. This should help prevent the icing from crusting over the tip. Make sure to check your tip for crusting each time before you begin piping the design.
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