Pecan Snowball Cookies Recipe – Running on Real Food

What are Snowballs?

Pecan snowball cookies are a variation on a traditional shortbread cookie, coated in confectioners sugar for a fairly festive impact. They’re also called Russian tea muffins, Italian snowball cookies or Mexican marriage ceremony cookies.

Snowballs are made with butter, flour and icing sugar for probably the most scrumptious melt-in-your-mouth texture. These all the time disappear fast from a Christmas goodie tray!

You’ll love this easy recipe for vacation baking. They’re enjoyable and straightforward to make too so you may even get little ones concerned, particularly within the rolling!

Please see the recipe card beneath for the whole ingredient listing with quantity. This part covers notes on particular substances used and any doable substitutions.

• Butter: Use your selection of plant-based butter. In case you’re not vegan or dairy-free, you need to use common butter.
• Powdered Sugar: Also referred to as icing sugar or confectioners sugar. Healthful makes an natural vegan powdered sugar, in any other case any model works or you can also make your individual.
• Vanilla: You should utilize pure vanilla extract, or synthetic extract, if wanted.
• All-Goal Flour: This recipe works with all-purpose flour or gluten-free all-purpose baking flour.
• Cornstarch: It’s best to have the ability to substitute tapioca starch for this.
• Pecans: Use pecans with no added salt or oil. Chopped walnuts or almonds (or any chopped nut) work as a substitution. Use toasted pecans for additional flavour!

Step-by-Step Directions

Step 1: Beat the butter and sugar collectively till mild and fluffy. This could take about 2-3 minutes.

After you’ve mixed the butter and sugar, add the vanilla and beat briefly to combine it in.

Fast Tip: In case you’d prefer to toast the pecans for additional flavour, add them to a sheet pan and bake for 5-7 minutes at 350 F when you put together the dough.

Step 3: Add flour, cornstarch and salt and begin beating on low, slowly rising the pace till every thing is mixed.

Step 4: Add the pecans and chill the dough.

Stir within the pecans or beat briefly to mix. When you’ve blended these in, cowl the bowl with plastic wrap or a dish towel and place it within the fridge for not less than half-hour.

Fast Tip: You too can put together the dough as a lot as 24 hours prematurely and chill in a single day.

Step 5: Form the cookies and bake.

Whenever you’re nearly prepared to start out baking, preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Use a small cookie scoop to make roughly 18 snowballs and place them 2-inches aside from both different on the baking sheet.

In case you don’t have a cookie scoop, you need to use your fingers to create the snowballs utilizing a beneficiant tablespoon per cooking.

Recipe Notes

1. In case you are toasting your pecans, you may put them within the oven at 350˚F (177˚C) for 5-8 minutes whereas getting ready the dough. 
2. It’s extremely advisable to make use of a digital scale to measure substances for accuracy and to make sure success.
3. For greatest outcomes, coat the cookies in sugar twice, as soon as after cooling for 10 minutes and once more as soon as totally cooled.
4. A small cookie scoop will assist you to get uniformly-sized snowballs.
5. Use room temperature butter when beginning the recipe.

Doable Variations

• Lemon Snowballs: Add 1 tbsp lemon zest to the dough if you add the cornstarch and flour.
• Almond Snowballs: Substitute the vanilla extract for almond extract and use chopped almonds as a substitute of pecans.
• Chocolate Chip Snowballs: Use mini chocolate chips as a substitute of chopped pecans.

Storing Directions

• Let the cookies cool utterly earlier than storing.
• As soon as cooled, retailer in a sealed container at room temperature for as much as 5 days.
• To freeze, cool utterly then retailer in a freezer-safe container for as much as 3 months.