I love this game!! I became a member just so I could play it!! LOL
If you are working on your badge and not concerned about ingredients at the time, you only have to sweep the first snowflake.
If you see the snowflake behind the timer, start your sweep off to the side, then go in and get it.
That first sweep usually gives me over 1200 points and the option to chose 1 pine needle or 2 snowflakes.
You can also, if you computer doesn't bog down, sweep to two different bags at the same time. If you sweep to one, don't wait for all of them to go in - go work on the other bag (if there is more than one bag).
You also get an extra 1000 points for not melting a snowflake or sweeping it into a tree. Also getting the falling timers helps add to your score.
Hope this made sense!
Dreamer