Melt in Your Mouth Snowball Cookies
I’m hoping that by posting this recipe today, I’m putting it out there in the universe that we could really use some snow. I checked the weather this morning and I can’t believe it’s early December and it’s raining. To be quite honest, I’m not sure how I feel about that. A couple of weeks ago it was a little chilly and I bought a new winter jacket, but jokes on me because I’ve only been able to wear it once. Maybe I’ll re-watch the “Winter” episode of the Gilmore Girls Revival on Netflix and hopefully, that will set off something (PS: those #finalfourwords, am I right?).
While it doesn’t look like December outside, it’s starting to feel like the holiday season in our little condo. We haven’t yet made the trip down to our storage locker to get our Christmas decorations, but I’m already starting to prep some holiday treats and make lists for the upcoming cooking and baking I need to do. My office is holding it’s annual cookie exchange in a couple weeks and I’ve already signed an armload of cookbooks out of the library to conjure up some inspiration. During our weekend cleaning, I also found a couple of old holiday magazines from 2013/2014 that may come in handy. Hoarding magazines for the win!
These snowball cookies I’m sharing today are my Mom’s favourite holiday recipe and one that my Grandma used to make every year. And I’m not exaggerating in the title either, they really are melt in your mouth delicious. The ingredient list is short (only 6 – whoo!), but my biggest takeaway for this recipe is don’t skip on using butter. For true, honest to goodness real snowball cookies, please, please PLEASE bypass using those baking margarine squares and use real, unsalted butter. It’s that wonderful time of year where you can indulge a little and I promise, one bite of these cookies and you won’t regret it.
Regarding the nuts, I used walnuts since that was all I had in my freezer, but feel free to substitute pecans or almonds. For a real time and sanity saver, I recommend gently pulsing the nuts in a food processor or high-speed blender for a few seconds to achieve finely chopped, uniformly sized pieces. Or if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can get a good arm workout in by chopping them by hand using some patience and a sharp knife.
Melt in Your Mouth Snowball Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1/2 cup powdered icing sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp water
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
- Additional powdered icing sugar for rolling
Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 300*F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick silicone liner.
- Using a stand-up mixer or handheld beaters, cream together butter (always butter!) and powdered icing sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla extract and water and beat until all the ingredients are well-combined.
- Gradually add flour and chopped walnuts to the butter mixture until the flour has disappeared. The dough will gradually become thick, but should not be sticky.
- Shape the dough into one-tablespoon-sized balls and place them on your baking sheet. These cookies will not spread during baking, so you can place them fairly close together so long as they are not touching. Bake for 30 minutes (yes 30) until the tops of the cookies are set. The cookies will still be white and this is normal (you don’t want brown cookies). Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on a wired rack.
- Before serving, roll each cookie in powdered icing sugar. Store cookies in an air-tight container on the counter and always roll in fresh powdered icing sugar before serving.
Alternatively you can freeze the cookies (unpowdered) in an air-tight container and pull out a couple hours beforehand to thaw and roll in powdered icing sugar.
I’m sure our neighbours in Atlantic Canada would love to share their snow with us!! We don’t have much here in Winnipeg but I would rather have these snowballs than real ones!!
My sister-in-law used to make these and I haven’t had them for years. I am going to try them. I love that they look like snowballs and will add some interest to a cookie platter! And such simple ingredients!
I use Swan’s Down Cake Flour (same amount as you would flour) and get a much smoother consistency and the snowballs do not have ‘holes’ or empty spots inside of the cookie. Never use Self Rising as you’ll have a flat cookie that’s only fat in the middle and those are basically useless. Lessons learned. Also try to get Madagascar Vanilla (I get mine on ebay) and use a pecan grinder.
Ahhh, these are by far my fave Christmas cookie. My Mom has made them every year since I was a little girl, and I know she’s whipping up a batch for me when I go visit at Christmas this year. These look perfect!
Family holiday recipes are the best of all! Thank you for sharing this wonderful delight of a cookie. It is on my make list!
I don’t know what it is, but I’m a total sucker for cookies and pastries covered in powdered sugar. It’s funny because I’ve never really been interested in powdered sugar on breakfasts (pancakes, French toast, etc), but if you coat a cookie or a little donut in one, I’m all over it. This is to say that I would eagerly gobble up a whole tin of these. They’re cute, festive, and delicious. Great recipe, and great job!
These are everything I ever want in a holiday cookie. Festive, sweet and simple. I can almost taste them already!
Dear Karly-I just made this recipe and the cookies look wonderful and the texture is what I remember making with my mother. One major difference I noticed was cooking time. All other recipes for these snowball cookies have basically the same ingredients in the same proportions. I noticed that you cooking time was the longest I have seen and at the lowest temperature-which made me suspicious. Luckily, I checked the cookies after 13/15 minutes and they were already done! Even brownish on the bottom. Other than oven failure, type of pan and altitude-what else can account for this big difference in cooking time??? Thank you