Snow Top Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• Pulse the almonds and sugar in a food processor until very finely ground. Add the butter and process until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape the dough off the inside of the bowl, if needed. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and pulse to combine. Add the flour and salt and pulse to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a large piece of waxed paper and roll into a log about 15 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Cut the chilled dough into 1/2-inch pieces and roll by hand into balls. Space the cookies evenly on the prepared baking sheets and bake until slightly golden, rotating the sheets once, 15 to 20 minutes. Put the confectioners' sugar in a pie plate. Briefly cool the cookies on a rack, then gently toss in the confectioners' sugar until evenly coated. Return to rack, cool to room temperature, and then toss again in the confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• Make the cookies: Whisk the flour, gingerbread spice, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat the butter, granulated sugar and molasses in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Working in two batches, beat in the flour mixture until just combined. Divide the dough between 2 large pieces of plastic wrap, flatten each into a disk and wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with silicone baking mats; set aside. Roll out one disk of dough on a lightly floured surface until about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out rounds using a 3 1/2-inch cookie cutter. Arrange 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets; cut a round out of the center of each using a 1 3/4-inch cookie cutter. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. Gather the scraps and cut-out centers and refrigerate until firm; reroll to cut out more cookies.
• Bake the cookies, switching the pans halfway through, until just set, 10 to 12 minutes. Meanwhile, finely crush the candies in small batches in a resealable plastic bag. Remove the cookies from the oven and fill the centers of two-thirds of the cookies (about 12) with some of the crushed candies. Return all of the cookies to the oven and bake until lightly browned around the edges and the candies are bubbling, 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool 10 to 15 minutes on the pans, then transfer to racks to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining disk of dough and candies. You should have about 24 candy-filled cookies and about 12 empty cookies; you'll need 2 candy-filled cookies and 1 empty cookie to assemble each snow globe.
• Make the icing: Whisk the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl. Beat in the water with a mixer on medium-high speed until soft glossy peaks form, 3 to 5 minutes. (The icing should be pipeable but not runny.) Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface until ready to use.
• Assemble the cookies: Transfer the icing to a resealable plastic bag and snip a corner. Lay out 12 candy-filled cookies upside down. Pipe icing around the edges (don't get too close to the candy). Top each with an empty cookie; fill the cavities about halfway with sprinkles. Pipe icing around the edge of the empty cookies and set the remaining candy-filled cookies on top to create 12 snow globes. Let set 10 to 15 minutes. Pipe the remaining icing on the top of each cookie.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven 325 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Place the nuts in the bowl of a food processor, and process until finely ground or the texture of coarse cornmeal, 10 to 15 seconds. Transfer to a large bowl, and stir in the flour and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes. Beat in the vanilla, then reduce the speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Roll the dough into balls (about 24 dough balls) and place about 1 1/2-inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until lightly golden and the bottoms begin to brown, 18 minutes.
• Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 20 minutes. Roll the cookies in the confectioners' sugar just before serving.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Dust a work surface with flour, then flatten the cookie dough into a rectangle and roll to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. (If the large piece dough is hard to work with, cut it into 2 equal pieces.) Use a 3 1/2-inch circle cutter to cut as many rounds as possible (you should get about 10). Transfer to a baking sheet.
• Use a 2 1/2-inch round cutter to cut the centers from the larger circles to make "O's". Using the bottom of a small gingerbread woman cutter (or other cutter with a flat base), cut the rolled center scraps into bases for the snow globes. Place the bases on the baking sheet touching the bottom of each "O" (they will fuse together when they bake). Place the cut cookies in the freezer for 20 minutes. Pat the dough scraps into a disc and chill until you can roll again and cut out more cookies to make about 1 dozen snow globes. When ready to bake, transfer the frozen cookies to 2 room-temperature baking sheets lined with parchment paper, evenly spacing 5 cookies per sheet. Bake the cookies, rotating halfway through cooking time, until crisp and golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
• For the glass centers: Set up a workspace with your decorations and cooled cookies. (You will have to work fast once the glass syrup is made.) Transfer the cookies to clean pieces of parchment set on baking sheets. Stir together the sugar and corn syrup in a 2-cup or larger glass liquid measuring cup until it looks like wet sand. Microwave until the sugar is completely dissolved and is bubbling but still clear with no caramel color, about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Stir and microwave 30 seconds more. (This will depend on the power of your microwave, you want the syrup to be bubbling rapidly, but before it begins to caramelize).
• Pour the syrup into the center of 2 or 3 cookies, letting it spread to fill the entire opening. Working quickly, while the syrup is still hot and has not yet begun to harden, sprinkle with the decorations of your choice. Continue, filling a few cookies at a time and reheating the syrup in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds to keep it pourable, as necessary, until all of the glass centers have been poured.
• For the icing: Combine the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder in an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk to combine. With the mixer on low, add the lemon juice and 3 tablespoons water. Mix until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, and add about 1 to 3 tablespoons more water, a little at a time, to make an icing that drizzles slowly from a spoon dipped into the bowl. Increase speed to high and beat until the icing is very smooth, about 1 minute. Spoon half the icing into a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip. (Alternatively, transfer to a resealable plastic bag and snip off a corner.) Color the remaining icing in the bowl with red food coloring and transfer to another piping bag fitted with a small plain tip.
• Pipe the white icing on the top of the snow globes, leaving a little in the bag to decorate the glass, if desired. Pipe the red on the bases. If desired, use the remaining white icing to pipe small snowmen in the glass part of the snow globes. Let sit until the icing hardens, 20 to 30 minutes.

Steps:

• In a microwave, melt 1 cup chocolate chips; stir until smooth and set aside to cool. , In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the melted chocolate chips and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the remaining chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle. , Roll into 1-in. balls, then roll in confectioners' sugar. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until edges are set and centers are almost set. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cream the butter with 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla. Mix in the flour, pecans, and salt. Roll about 1 tablespoon or so of dough into balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake in preheated oven until bottoms are golden, about 15 minutes. Do not allow these cookies to get too brown: it's better to undercook them than to overcook them. While cookies are still hot, roll them in confectioners' sugar. Once they have cooled, roll them in confectioners' sugar once more.

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar together. Add in egg, dry ingredients and vanilla. Mix well. Refrigerate for a while if dough is too warm.
• Roll out on lightly floured surface and cut in shapes. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Do not allow to brown. Cool on wire rack and decorate if desired.

Steps:

• Combine flour, baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt, set aside.
• In a saucepan heat 1 cup of chocolate pieces over low heat until melted, stirring constantly.
• Beat butter with a mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Beat in granulated sugar until combined. Add in melted chocolate, eggs, vanilla, and mint flavoring. Mix until combined.
• Stir in flour mixture and remaining chocolate pieces.
• Wrap dough in plastic wrap.
• Freeze 30 minutes or until firm enough to shape.
• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Shape dough into 1" balls; roll balls in powdered sugar. Place balls about 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until tops are crackled.
• Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet.
• Transfer to wire racks; cool.

Steps:

• Mix butter and sugar together. Add cocoa, baking powder, milk, vanilla, salt, and eggs. Last add flour slowly. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until mixture can be rolled into balls. Roll into small balls and coat with powdered sugar. Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes.

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Add chocolate chips and, if desired, walnuts; mix well. Divide dough in half. Shape each into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 30 minutes., Preheat oven to 325°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-in. triangle-shaped cookie cutter. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until edges begin to brown, 10-12 minutes. Cool on pans 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., Meanwhile, in a microwave, melt white baking chips; stir until smooth. Dip cookie tops in melted chips; sprinkle with nonpareils. Let stand until set.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla and milk. In another bowl, whisk oats, flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Stir in potato chips, pretzels, chocolate chips and M&M's., Drop dough by scant 1/4 cupfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets; flatten slightly. Bake 14-16 minutes or until edges are golden brown (centers will be light). Cool on pans 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. In another bowl, whisk flour and baking powder; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Refrigerate, covered, overnight., Preheat oven to 325°. Shape dough into forty-eight 1-in. balls, forty-eight 3/4-in. balls and forty-eight 1/2-in. balls. On ungreased baking sheets, place one ball of each size, side by side, for each snowman., Bake 18-20 minutes or until light brown. Remove from oven; cool on pans 2 minutes. Press on chocolate chips for eyes and M&M's for buttons. Carefully remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely., For frosting, in a small bowl, beat confectioners' sugar, extract and enough milk to reach a piping consistency. If two colors of frosting are desired, transfer half of the frosting to another bowl and tint each with a different food coloring., Cut a small hole in a corner of a food-safe plastic bag; fill with frosting. Pipe scarves on snowmen. Use frosting to attach chocolate kisses for hats.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, cream the shortening with the sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Sift the flour and salt into the creamed mixture and stir in gradually. Chill dough for at least one hour.
• Roll the chilled dough out to 1/8 inch thick and cut into desired shapes. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 6 to 8 minutes. Allow cookies to cool before decorating.

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line a large baking tray with baking parchment. Tip the pecans into a food processor and blitz until they resemble a rough powder. Tip into a bowl and stir in the flour.
• In a separate bowl, beat the butter, caster sugar and orange zest together with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Add the flour and pecan mix and stir with a wooden spoon until everything comes together in a rough dough. Shape into 10 even-sized balls and put on the tray.
• Bake for 15 mins until set but the top is still pale in colour. Leave to cool on the tray for 5 mins, then, once cool enough to handle, gently roll the balls in the icing sugar and return to the tray. Leave to cool completely. Will keep in an airtight container for up to five days. Dust with more icing sugar just before serving.