Frozen panes of glass shield your face from the cold wind. A fresh field of snowflakes fills the ground as the scraping of a shovel rings against the pavement. Your eyes widen as your parents shovel the driveway and paths. Excitement bubbles in your mind as your stomach fills with joy. The falling flakes resemble glitter, refracting the light, a sight only a child could fully appreciate. Bundled up in a scarf, hat, and mittens you could barely move in, you finally make it outside, ready to face the sparkling snow.

You and your friends walk down the path into your backyard, leaving little footprints in place of the snow. A snowball whacks the back of your head, leaving a trace of white on your hat. A fight begins, but ends in a truce. The snow crunches under the weight of you and your friends. Before long, the sun begins to set, leaving only an hour before you are called back inside the house. The smell of fresh cookies and hot chocolate wafts from the kitchen windows; even so, you decide to build a snowman with the remaining time. Using sticks as arms and stones as eyes and a smile, the snowman is complete. Behind it, a sunset emerges, leaving a golden glimmer on the body of the wobbly sculpture. The snowman smiles, seemingly knowing that this childlike innocence doesn’t last for very long.

The original sugar cookie recipe can be found here, thanks to Cooking With Karli.

Yield: 30-40 cookies

Ingredients:

• ½ cup softened butter
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 small egg
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

Decorations (optional):

• Sugar cookie icing (store-bought or homemade)
• Orange and blue sprinkles
• Chocolate chips (melted)

Step 1:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Step 2:

Cream the butter and sugar together using a stand mixer for around two minutes until fluffy.

Step 3:

Using a spatula, scrape the sides of the bowl and add in the vanilla extract and egg. Continue to mix with the stand mixer until combined.

Step 4:

Add flour, baking powder, and cinnamon to the bowl gradually until the texture becomes clay-like. If needed, add a little flour or water to get a soft, pliable dough.

Step 5:

Using a rolling pin and a surface dusted with flour, roll the dough to about ¼ of an inch thick and using a circular 2-inch cookie cutter, cut out as many as you can. Repeat with the remaining dough. (You can cut these out into any desired shape, but cut them into circles for the snowman cookies.)

Step 6:

Bake the cookies for 7-9 minutes and allow them to cool completely before decorating.

Step 7:

To decorate, use white icing and create a puddle-like shape on top of your cookie. Once the icing is touch-dry, pipe a circle onto the puddle-shaped icing to create the head of the snowman. While the icing is touch-dry, but still tacky, place the sprinkles to act as the nose and buttons on the snowmen. Lastly, pipe the arms, eyes, and mouth with melted chocolate.

Step 8:

Enjoy!