✔ Updated · new copycat recipe with step photos
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This copycat Starbucks Snowman Cookie is buttery vanilla shortbread cut into snowmen and decorated with smooth white icing, chocolate eyes and buttons and a little carrot nose. A great holiday baking project with kids.
How Do You Make Starbucks Snowman Cookies? (Quick Answer)
Mix a buttery shortbread dough, roll it 1/4 inch thick, chill, cut snowmen and bake at 325°F for 11 to 13 minutes. Flood the cooled cookies with white royal icing, press in chocolate chip eyes and buttons, pipe an orange nose and let them dry overnight.
At a glance
The one tip that matters: Bake at 325°F. The low heat keeps the shortbread pale and tender, like the bakery cookie.
Why You'll Love These Snowman Cookies
- Melt-in-your-mouth tender shortbread with lots of butter.
- Hold their shape no spreading, crisp snowman edges.
- Fun to decorate a great project with kids.
- Make ahead they keep for 2 weeks.
- Gift ready they stack and travel well once the icing dries.
What Is the Starbucks Snowman Cookie?
The Snowman Cookie shows up in the Starbucks bakery case every holiday season: a big buttery shortbread snowman covered in white icing with a cute decorated face.
The cookie itself is simple. The trick to the look is smooth flooded icing and a dough that doesn't spread, so the snowman keeps its shape.
Ingredient Notes
Exact amounts are in the recipe card below.
- Butter: soft but still cool, for a tender shortbread.
- Powdered sugar: makes a finer, more delicate crumb than granulated sugar.
- Cornstarch: keeps the cookies soft and sandy.
- Meringue powder: helps the icing dry smooth and hard.
- Mini chocolate chips: easy eyes and buttons.
Step-by-Step Photos
Here's how it comes together. Exact amounts, times and temperatures are in the recipe card below.
Tips for Success
- Chill the rolled dough. Cold dough cuts cleanly and holds its snowman shape in the oven. A 4 inch snowman cutter like this Ann Clark snowman with hat cutter gives you the same shape as the Starbucks cookie.
- Cornstarch for tenderness. Two tablespoons give the shortbread its soft, sandy bite.
- Two icing thicknesses. Thick icing for the outline, thinner icing to flood.
- Decorate while wet. Chocolate chips stick best in wet icing.
- Clear vanilla keeps it white. Regular vanilla tints the icing slightly beige.
- Lucy's favorite job. Lucy does the faces on ours, and every snowman ends up with a slightly different personality.
Starbucks Snowman Cookie
12
cookies45
minutes12
minutes290
kcal2
minutesA copycat version of the Starbucks Snowman Cookie: buttery vanilla shortbread cut into snowman shapes, flooded with smooth white royal icing and decorated with chocolate eyes and buttons and a little orange carrot nose. Makes about 12 large cookies.
Ingredients
- For the Shortbread
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
- For the Icing and Decorations
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons meringue powder
5 tablespoons warm water
1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips or black icing, for eyes and buttons
2 tablespoons orange icing or orange candy melts, for the nose
Directions
- Make the Shortbread
- Beat the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt until creamy, about 2 minutes. Mix in the flour and cornstarch on low until a soft dough forms.
- Roll the dough between 2 sheets of parchment to 1/4 inch thick. Chill flat for 30 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Cut out snowmen with a 4 inch cutter and set them on a lined baking sheet. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, until set and pale with barely golden edges. Cool completely.
- Decorate
- Beat the powdered sugar, meringue powder, water and clear vanilla until smooth and thick. Thin part of it with a few drops of water until it flows like honey. Outline each cookie with thick icing, then flood the inside with thin icing.
- While the icing is wet, press in mini chocolate chips for the eyes and buttons. Once it sets, pipe a small orange carrot nose. Let the cookies dry for 6 hours or overnight.
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Storage
Let the icing dry completely, then store the cookies in a single layer or between sheets of parchment in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
More Starbucks Holiday Treats
Bake a holiday tray with my Starbucks cranberry bliss bars and Starbucks gingerbread loaf. For a drink on the side, make my Starbucks sugar cookie latte or Starbucks gingerbread latte, or browse all my Starbucks copycat recipes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Starbucks Snowman Cookie?
It's a holiday bakery cookie: buttery shortbread in a snowman shape, covered in white icing with a decorated face. This copycat uses a tender vanilla shortbread and royal icing.
Is the Starbucks Snowman Cookie shortbread or sugar cookie?
It eats like a buttery shortbread cookie, which is why this recipe uses shortbread dough with no egg or baking powder, so the shapes stay sharp.
Can I use store-bought icing?
Yes. Cookie icing in a pouch works, though royal icing dries harder and stacks better.
How long do snowman cookies keep?
Up to 2 weeks in an airtight container at room temperature once the icing is fully dry.
Can I freeze the cookies?
Freeze undecorated baked cookies for up to 3 months. Thaw, then decorate.
Do I need meringue powder?
It helps the icing dry hard. Without it, mix powdered sugar with milk and a little corn syrup; it stays softer.
