snowman faces

These cookies I made last year for the first time after seeing something similar on a blog.  I used sugar cookies cut into circles and decorated them with royal icing.

cookies ready to decorate

outlining the faces with white royal icing

flooding the outlined areas with thinned icing

the icing is drying

Outlining and flooding the stocking cap with blue royal icing

adding a cuff to the cap with a star tip and white

adding a face with edible marker

painting on a carrot with food coloring and brush

snowman faces cookies

1 recipe vanilla-almond sugar cookies 

1 recipe royal icing (divided)

6 Tbsp meringue powder

scant 3/4 cup water

1 1/2 pounds confectioners sugar

1/2 tsp corn syrup

few drops clear extract

Combine the meringue powder and water in bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment and mix until foamy.  Add the sifted confectioners sugar, extract and corn syrup and mix until stiff peaks form.  Do not over beat.  Cover until ready to use so it doesn't dry out.  Use as is in decorating bag for outlining and thin with small amounts of water at time to make flood icing for filling in the outlined areas.

When decorating these cookies I used part of the icing in a decorator bag with a round tip to outline the white faces and allowed that to dry. 

I then thinned some of the white with small amounts of water to make flood icing and I used a squeeze bottle to fill in the faces and allowed that to dry.

Next I colored some of the icing with blue food coloring and put some of the blue in a decorating bag with a round tip and outlined the hats which then were left to dry.

The remainder of the blue icing  was thinned to flood the hats and allowed to dry.

Once the hats and faces were dry I used the original white icing with a star tip and piped a cuff on the hats.  I think you could also use the blue for a cuff. 

I used an edible marker to dot on the eyes and smiles.  Some of my cookies were further along in the drying process and the marker made a small dot on top of the cookie surface.  Some of the other cookies were slightly less dry and the marker made a colored depression on the cookie surface. 

Next I mixed a drop of red liquid food color with two drops of yellow to form an orange color and used a small artist brush to add a carrot to the faces.

on a cookie tray

Source for royal icing (recipe and tutorial) here,