These copycat Starbucks Snowman Cookies are buttery, tender shortbread-style cut-outs made with white chocolate, then iced white and decorated with blue scarves, earmuffs, and orange noses. A dozen costs about $10.98, or $0.92 a cookie. Plan on baking one day and decorating the next — it’s the perfect holiday project with the kids.
My kids love the snowman cookies at Starbucks, so we decided to make them at home and had a blast decorating. They’re now one of our favorite Christmas cookies.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
- Budget Friendly. Make 12 homemade snowman cookies for just $10.98, a fraction of the cost of buying them at Starbucks.
- Tender, shortbread-style texture. Powdered sugar and melted white chocolate make a soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookie that’s close to the Starbucks version
- Fun to Decorate Together. Kids can add the scarves, earmuffs, and silly snowman faces, and no two have to match.
- Tender, Shortbread-Style Texture. Powdered sugar and melted white chocolate make a soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookie that’s close to the Starbucks version.
After 14 years of baking desserts for my family, I have learned that decorating cookies is just as much fun as eating them. I like setting out bowls of colored icing and letting everyone add their own personality to each snowman. No two cookies have to look alike, which makes this a fun activity to share during the holidays!
You may also want to try Copycat Starbucks Brownie Recipe and Starbucks Lemon Loaf Recipe.
Ingredients
- Powdered Sugar. Used in both the dough and icing. In the dough, it’s what gives these cookies their tender, shortbread-like bite.
- Egg, Baking Powder, and Salt. One egg binds the dough; baking powder gives a little lift.
- Egg Whites. Royal icing uses raw egg whites. For little ones, use pasteurized egg whites from a carton (about ¼ cup). Save the yolks for a Pudding Recipe.
- Cream of Tartar. Helps the icing whip up stiff and dry hard.
- All-Purpose Flour. Use all-purpose flour rather than self-rising flour to get the right cookie texture.
- Unsalted Butter. Soften the butter before mixing so it blends easily with the other ingredients.
- White Chocolate. Use good-quality white chocolate for the best flavor. It adds sweetness and richness to the cookies.
- Vanilla Extract. Pure vanilla extract adds a warm flavor that makes these cookies taste homemade.
- Gel Food Coloring. Use blue, orange, and brown to decorate the snowmen with scarves, noses, and earmuffs.
- White Sugar Sprinkles. Add a snowy finish to the bottom of each snowman cookie.
How to Make Starbucks Snowman Cookie
Step 1. Microwave the white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second bursts, stirring after each, until smooth. Let it cool for about 5 minutes. It should feel barely warm, not hot, so it doesn’t melt the butter.
Step 2. Next, use a separate bowl and combine the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Step 3. Get out another separate bowl and beat together the melted white chocolate, butter and powdered sugar. Continue to beat until creamy and light and fluffy.
Step 4. Add the egg and mix on high until combined, then add the vanilla.
Step 5. Now, combine the dry ingredients with the butter mixture. Gradually add both together until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.
Step 6. Cover and chill the dough for 1 hour. If it’s rock hard, let it sit on the counter for 5–10 minutes until it rolls without cracking. Roll it to ½ inch between two sheets of parchment paper so it won’t stick to the pin, then cut out the snowmen, dipping the cutter in flour between cuts. If the dough gets soft and sticky, slide it back in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Step 7. Preheat the oven to 350°F. While the oven is warming up, line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a metal spatula move the cut cookies to the parchment lined cookie sheet.
For crisp snowman shapes, pop the tray of cut-outs in the fridge for 10–15 minutes before baking. Cold dough spreads less in the oven.
Step 8. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges. Allow to cool on the pan a few minutes and then move to a wire rack.
Step 9. While the cookies are cooling, combine the icing ingredients in a bowl with a hand mixer. Beat for 4 minutes. If the icing is not stiff enough, add a little more powdered sugar.
Step 10. Get out 3 small bowls and divide the icing. You will dye one brown, orange and blue for the decorations.
Step 11. Use the remaining white to coat the cookies. Then sprinkle the white sugar sprinkles on the bottom of the cookies to look like snow. Allow to dry.
Step 12. Place the other colors of icing into piping bags with a tip (I used a Wilton #5 tip). Then use these colors to make the face, buttons, earmuffs and scarf. Let the icing dry completely, about 4–6 hours, before stacking or storing.
Ways to Coat Your Snowmen
Royal icing (the recipe card method) dries hard and matte, so the cookies stack and travel well. It’s the best choice for gifting or cookie trays. Plan on 4–6 hours of drying time.
White Chocolate Coating: White chocolate tastes closer to the Starbucks cookie, which has a white chocolaty icing. Melt 8 ounces of white chocolate with 1 teaspoon of coconut oil. Spread it over the cooled cookies and sprinkle the bottoms with white sugar right away. Let the coating set for 20–30 minutes, then pipe the scarves, earmuffs, and faces with tinted royal icing. Store somewhere cool because the coating can soften in a warm kitchen.
Our readers who’ve tried the white chocolate version say it’s the one that tastes most like the coffee-shop cookie.
Pro Tips
- Use Room Temperature Ingredients. Let the butter and egg come to room temperature before making the dough. This helps everything mix together smoothly.
- Don’t Overmix the Dough. Mix just until the ingredients are combined to keep the cookies tender and soft.
- Cool Completely Before Decorating. Let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack before adding icing so it doesn’t melt or slide off.
- Make it a two-day project. Bake the cookies one day and decorate the next. The cookies are easier to ice once fully cool, and it’s a fun way to break up the work with kids.
- Short on time? Skip the cutter and use a cookie scoop for round cookies, then decorate the tops as snowman faces. For a simpler version without white chocolate, try our easy snowman cookies.
Variations
- Various colors. Feel free to dye the icing different colors.
- Glitter. You can use glitter icing to decorate the cookies. The scarves would be pretty with glitter.
- Hat. Add embellishments such as hats using chocolate toppers or draw one with brown icing or extra chocolate. For a silly twist, make melted snowman cookies instead.”
- White chocolate coating. For a flavor closer to the Starbucks cookie, skip the white royal icing base. Melt white chocolate with a teaspoon of coconut oil, spread it over the cooled cookies, sprinkle with white sugar, and let it set before piping the colored details.
Storage
Room Temperature: Once the icing is fully dry, store in a single layer or with parchment between layers up to 1 week.
Make Ahead: Wrap the dough tightly and refrigerate up to ___ days before rolling.
Freezer: Freeze baked, undecorated cookies in a single layer, then stack them with parchment in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before icing.
FAQ
Starbucks describes the coating as a “white chocolaty icing” over buttery shortbread. Our dough has real white chocolate in it. For the topping, you can use classic royal icing, or the white chocolate coating below if you want it closer to the coffee-shop flavor.
The dough got too warm. Chill the dough for an hour, roll it cold, and chill the cut-outs on the baking sheet for 10–15 minutes before baking. Make sure the melted white chocolate has cooled before you mix it with the butter.
Usually too much flour. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off instead of scooping from the bag. Want a classic dough for other shapes? Use our Christmas cut out sugar cookies.
Yes. Follow the royal icing directions on your meringue powder package, then tint and decorate the same way.
More Snowman Desserts
Try this easy Starbucks snowman cookie recipe and come back and leave a comment.
Starbucks Snowman Cookie
Ingredients
FOR THE COOKIES:
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 6 oz White Chocolate
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Large Egg
FOR THE ROYAL ICING:
- 2 egg whites
- 1 cup powder sugar
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- Orange brown and blue gel food coloring
- White Sugar Sprinkles
See how we calculate recipe costs.
Instructions
FOR THE COOKIES:
- Melt the white chocolate by placing it in a microwave safe bowl and heating it in 20 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until fully melted.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Then set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the melted white chocolate, butter and powdered sugar until creamy and light and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs and mix until combined. Then add in the vanilla extract. Continue mixing.
- Slowly add the dry mixture to the butter mixture. Mix until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.
- Cover and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour so that the cookie dough will firm up and will be easier to work with.
- Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until the dough is approximately ½ inch thick. Then use a Snowman cookie cutter to cut out the cookies.
- Continue this process until all the dough is formed into the cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a metal spatula move the cut cookies to the parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges (just a slight change of color).
- Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes and then carefully move the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Make sure that the cookies have cooled completely before applying the frosting or it will just melt off.
FOR THE ICING:
- Combine all ingredients (except your food coloring) in a mixing bowl mixing on medium speed for 4 minutes. If icing is not stiff enough add ¼ C powder sugar.
- Portion out a small amount of the icing into separate bowls to dye brown, orange and blue for the decorations.
- Use the remaining icing (the white icing) to coat the cookies for the white portion of the cookies.
- Sprinkle the white sugar on the bottom of the cookies to look like snow. Then let that icing dry before you add the decorations.
- Place the other colors of icing into piping bags with a tip (I used a Wilton #5 tip). Then use these colors to make the face, buttons, ear muffs and scarf.
- Allow the icing to cool completely and then the cookies are ready to serve and enjoy! Then the cookies are ready to serve and enjoy!
cookies are super good! if you want them to really taste like the starbucks cookies though, i recommend skipping the royal icing and doing melted white chocolate instead.
Oh that sounds delicious. Thank you for sharing!
These are literally the best cookie that I’ve ever had. This is saying a lot because I am a good baker and came from a family with a mom that was an amazing baker. The dough is a little hard to deal with though, as it is rock hard out of the fridge but it gets sticky and mushy if it thaws even a little bit. I’ve started using a cookie scoop and just making round cookies. They taste so good though. Irresistable.
Hey Tara – Wow! Thank you so much! That means a lot. Thanks for commenting and sharing what worked for you!
These cookies are tasty for sure. I don’t think it’s the best recipe for cut out cookies, though. The dough is incredibly soft when warm and rock solid when cold. It was hard getting the dough to the right consistency where it was pliable but not too sticky. I also had to chill each batch well before baking because the amount of butter and white chocolate in the dough causes the cookies to spread while baking. I suggest rolling out between two sheets of parchment to help keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and dipping the cookie cutters in flour to help release the cookies from the cutter. It definitely was a longer process for making these cookies than typical sugar cookies. That being said, the results were delicious. I used a different icing made up of melted white chocolate and coconut oil to really try to get that Starbucks flavour.
Hey Katie – Thanks so much for your tips and feedback. I’m glad they still turned out delicious!