MAKES 56 • PREP & CHILL: 1½ HR • BAKE: 8 TO 10 MIN • DECORATE: 1 HR
3 sticks (1½ cups) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp each ground allspice and cloves
¼ tsp salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
DECORATING ICING
(Makes 2½ cups)
1 lb confectioners’ sugar (3¼ cups)
3 Tbsp Just Whites (powdered egg whites, see Note)
6 Tbsp water
You also need: 4-in. snowman cookie cutter with arms and legs; red, green and black paste food colors; fine white decorating (crystal) sugar (see Note); orange sprinkles (jimmies); and small ziptop bags
1 Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with mixer on low speed until fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla, spices and salt. On low speed, beat in flour until just blended.
2 Gather dough together and divide in thirds. Shape each portion into a 1-in.-thick disk and wrap separately. Chill 1 hour or until firm.
3 Heat oven to 375°F. Have baking sheet(s) ready.
4 On floured surface with floured rolling pin, roll out 1 disk at a time (keep rest refrigerated) to ¼ in. thick. Using floured cookie cutter, cut out snowmen. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheet(s). Reroll and cut scraps once.
5 Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until bottoms and edges are just brown. Cool on sheet on a wire rack 2 minutes before removing to rack to cool completely.
6 Decorating Icing: In a large bowl, with mixer on low speed, beat confectioners’ sugar and Just Whites until combined. Add water; beat until blended. Increase mixer speed to high and beat 8 minutes or until icing is very thick and white.
7 To ice and decorate: For each color, put a small portion of Decorating Icing into a cup. Stir in food color. Leave remaining icing white.
8 Spoon some white icing into a ziptop bag. Cut tip off a corner; pipe outline on areas of snowman that will be white. To thin icing for coating: Add drops of water to white icing in bowl until thin enough to spread without dripping. Dip a brush into thinned white icing. Spread to piped border; sprinkle hands and feet with decorating sugar. Let dry 3 hours.
9 Put colored icing into bags, cut a corner off each bag; pipe in hats and scarves. Thin remaining colored icing; fill in. Pipe buttons and eyes and insert orange sprinkles as noses. Let dry at least 6 hours before storing in a single layer.
PER COOKIE: 124 cal, 1 g pro, 19 g car, 0 g fiber, 5 g fat (3 g sat fat), 17 mg chol, 17 mg sod
