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These melted snowman cookies start with a soft, buttery peanut butter cookie, get a white chocolate peanut butter cup pressed on top while they’re still warm, and finish with a pour of melted white chocolate and a little candy face. They’re the cutest thing on a holiday cookie tray and so easy to make with kids!
The only thing better than peanut butter is peanut butter with chocolate, and these melted snowman peanut butter cookies take it one step further with a creamy white chocolate coating. Make them for yourself, or fill your Christmas cookie boxes and gift them to friends and family. Watch them disappear in no time!
Why This Recipe Works
- A soft cookie base. A spoonful of cornstarch keeps the peanut butter cookies tender, so they don’t turn dense or crumbly.
- Warm cookies, perfect melt. Pressing the peanut butter cup on after a 10-minute rest gives you that slumped, melting snowman look.
- Simple ingredients. Everything is easy to find at the grocery store, and the dough comes together in one bowl.
- Made for little helpers. Kids love pouring the white chocolate and piping the faces, and every snowman comes out a little different.
Key Ingredients
- Smooth peanut butter: Use regular processed peanut butter, not natural. Natural peanut butter is too oily and makes the cookies spread.
- Butter: Gives the cookies their rich flavor. The better the butter, the better the cookie.
- Cornstarch: Just 1 tablespoon balances out the heavy peanut butter and keeps the cookies soft.
- White chocolate peanut butter cups: The key ingredient that gives these snowmen their white faces, plus an extra layer of peanut butter flavor.
- White chocolate chips: Melted and poured over the peanut butter cup so it spreads across the whole cookie.
- Candy melts: Black for the eyes, mouth, and buttons, and orange for the carrot nose. Add red if you want to pipe a little scarf.
Sugars, egg, vanilla, flour, leaveners, and salt round out the dough. Full ingredient amounts are in the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Substitutions and Decorating Ideas
- Mini chocolate chips: Use them for the eyes and buttons instead of piping.
- Orange sprinkles: An easy carrot nose if you don’t want to melt orange candy melts.
- Peanut butter cup hat: Half of a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup makes the cutest little hat.
- Different cookie base: Love Reese’s? My thick Crumbl peanut butter Reese’s cookies are packed with chopped peanut butter cups, and my peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are my go-to when I can’t pick between the two classics.
How to Make Melted Snowman Cookies
- Make the wet dough. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Cream the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar, then mix in the egg and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients. Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt just until the flour disappears.
- Scoop, flatten, and bake. Scoop 9 equal dough balls, flatten them to about 3/4 inch thick, and bake for 9 minutes. Let them cool on the sheet for 10 minutes so they’re still warm when you decorate.
- Add the peanut butter cups. Unwrap the white chocolate peanut butter cups and press one upside down into each warm cookie.
- Pour on the white chocolate. Melt the white chocolate chips in 30-second bursts, spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons over each cookie, then gently tap the baking sheet on the counter so it spreads into that melted snowman look.
- Pipe the faces. Melt the candy melts in a piping bag or zip-top bag, snip the tip, and pipe the eyes, smile, buttons, and orange nose. Let everything set.
Expert Tips
- Set a timer for the 10-minute cool. If the cookies cool all the way, the peanut butter cups won’t sink in and the chocolate won’t melt as nicely.
- Mix the dry ingredients in just until the flour disappears. Overmixing makes the cookies tough.
- Melt the white chocolate in short bursts and stir in between. White chocolate scorches fast.
- Melt the candy melts right in the piping bag and massage it between bursts. No bowls to wash!
- Let the decorations set completely before stacking or packing the cookies into tins.
Holiday Cookie Box Ideas
These snowmen are the star of any cookie box. Pair them with my Grinch sugar cookies, a batch of peppermint chocolate chip cookies, and my festive marbled Christmas sugar cookies for a colorful mix. Peppermint bark cookies add a chocolatey crunch, and if you’re baking with little ones, my no-bake Christmas treats to make with kids are perfect for the youngest helpers. Find the rest of my holiday baking in my easy Christmas recipes.
Melted Snowman Cookies FAQs
Store melted snowman cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. For longer storage, keep them in the fridge for a week or two. Wrapping them in plastic wrap first keeps them extra fresh.
Yes! Once the decorations are fully set, wrap melted snowman cookies in plastic wrap, place them in an airtight container, and freeze them for up to a couple of months.
Regular chocolate peanut butter cups work for melted snowman cookies since the white chocolate covers them anyway. I use the white chocolate ones to keep the flavor the same. For an extra cute version, spread the white chocolate on first, then add a medium marshmallow on top and decorate it.
Decorate melted snowman cookies with mini chocolate chips for the eyes, an orange sprinkle for the carrot nose, half of a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup for a hat, or a little red candy melt scarf.
No. You can melt semi-sweet chocolate chips in place of black candy melts for the faces on melted snowman cookies. Candy melts just set a little firmer and come in fun colors like orange for the nose.
More Christmas Cookies You’ll Love
If you made these Melted Snowman Cookies, I want to see your snowmen!! Leave a ⭐ star rating and tell me how your little faces turned out in the comments!
Melted snowman peanut butter cookies
Ingredients
Peanut butter cookie base
- 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 & 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1/4 tsp salt
Decoration
- 9 white chocolate peanut butter cups
- 2/3 cup white chocolate chips melted
- 3 tablespoons black candy melts or semi-sweet chocolate chips melted
- 1 tablespoon orange candy melts melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F then line a baking sheet with parchement paper and set aside.
- Cream the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Add in the egg and vanilla extract then mix until combined.1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, 1/2 cup butter , 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 egg at room temperature, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Add in the flour baking powder, baking soda, corn starch, and salt, and mix just until the flour mixture disappears.1 & 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tbsp corn starch, 1/4 tsp salt
- Using a large cookie scooper, scoop out 9 equally sized cookie dough balls, place them on a baking sheet, and gently flatten to about 3/4 inch in thickness. Bake in the preheated oven for 9 minutes.
Decorate the cookies.
- When the 10-minute timer is up, take your white chocolate peanut butter cups out of the wrapper and place one upside down on top of each cookie. Gently press it down into the cookie.9 white chocolate peanut butter cups
- Pour your white chocolate chips into a bowl and microwave it in 30-second increments while stirring in between until it's melted. Scoop and pour 1-2 tablespoons of melted chocolate on top of the cookie.2/3 cup white chocolate chips
- With oven mitts, carefully grab the sides of the baking sheet and gently tap it up and down on the counter. This will help the melted chocolate spread more evenly across the top creating that melted snowman look.
- Finally, melt your colored candy melts in the microwave in 15-30-second increments. I like to do this in a piping bag or ziplock bag before I cut the tip-off. Massage the chocolate until fully melted then snip off the edge and create the eyes, smile, and buttons. Do the same with the orange candy melts and create the nose. Allow everything to set and enjoy!3 tablespoons black candy melts or semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 tablespoon orange candy melts
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made these for Christmas and they were a hit! I never thought PB & white chocolate would pair well together. I had to use thin PB cups instead of regular, but they still tasted really good. You can also use writing gel for baking if you don’t have dye or melting chocolate – which us what I did.