These buttery pecan snowball cookies are straightforward to make and excellent for Christmas!

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!
Recipe Highlights
- Vegan (dairy-free and no eggs).
- One bowl recipe.
- 6 easy substances.
- Could be made gluten-free and nut-free.
- Straightforward to organize & could be prepped prematurely.
- Nice for Christmas and gifting!
- Soften-in-your-mouth texture.
- Could be frozen.
Ingredient Notes

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.

Step 7: Cool and coat.
Cool the cookies for 10 minutes on the baking tray. Put together a bowl with powdered sugar then coat the cookies in sugar, putting every on a cooling rack.
Fast Tip: Place the cooling rack on high of a baking pan to assist catch any extra sugar.

When you’ve coated all of the cookies, allow them to cool utterly on the cooling rack.

At this level, you may take pleasure in your cookies however I desire so as to add one other coating of sugar after they’ve cooled.
The primary coating will considerably soften into the cookies and make them a bit sticky, which is ideal for including a second coating and the prettiest snowball impact!
Coat to your liking then take pleasure in your cookies!

Recipe Notes
- 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.
- It’s extremely advisable to make use of a digital scale to measure substances for accuracy and to make sure success.
- 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.
- A small cookie scoop will assist you to get uniformly-sized snowballs.
- 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.
Steadily Requested Questions
Chilling the cookies helps the creamed butter (fats) solidify so the cookies preserve their traditional snowball form.
You don’t have to relax the dough however we desire these cookies after chilling the dough half-hour. With out chilling, the cookies will unfold extra and be denser.
No. You’ll be able to omit the pecans for normal snowballs and to make the cookies nut-free!
In case you don’t want them to be nut-free, you can even substitute walnuts, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts or every other nut you take pleasure in.
Sure. You can also make these cookies gluten-free by substituting a gluten-free all-purpose 1:1 baking flour akin to Bob’s Crimson Mill.

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.
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Description
Basic shortbread pecan snowballs made with toasted pecans and coated in powdered sugar for a festive end.
- Beat Butter and Sugar: In a mixing bowl, beat the plant-based butter and sugar utilizing a hand mixer or stand mixer with a paddle attachment till mild and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add Vanilla: Add the vanilla and beat till totally mixed.
- Add Flour, Cornstarch & Salt: Slowly beat within the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Begin at a low-speed and enhance to excessive till you could have a uniformly blended dough.
- Add Pecans: As soon as the dough is uniformly blended, briefly beat or stir within the chopped pecans.
- Chill Dough: Cowl the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and place within the fridge for not less than half-hour (or as much as 24 hours).
- Put together for Baking: Preheat the oven to 350˚F (177˚C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Bake Cookies: After chilling, take away the bowl from the fridge and use a small cookie scoop to create roughly 18 cookies, putting them on the ready baking sheet 2-inches aside from each other. Bake for 13-Quarter-hour, till bottoms are simply calmly browned. I baked mine for Quarter-hour.
- Coat in Powdered Sugar: Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Whereas they’re cooling, add the remaining powdered sugar to a bowl. Coat every cookie in sugar, transferring every to a cooling rack after coated to complete cooling. As soon as totally cooled, coat once more in powdered sugar (non-obligatory). The primary layer of sugar will considerably soften into the cookies and the second coating will create that fairly snowball impact!
Notes
Storing: As soon as cooled, place cookies in an hermetic container and retailer at room temperature for as much as 5 days. For long-term storage, baked cookies could be frozen in a freezer-safe container for as much as 3 months.
Toasted Pecan Snowballs: Preheat the oven to 350 F when you’re getting ready the substances. Toast the pecans on a sheet pan for 5-7 minutes when you’re getting ready the dough.
Diet
- Serving Dimension: 1 snowball
- Energy: 93
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 81 mg
- Fats: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 12 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 1 g
Key phrases: pecan snowball cookies, snowball cookies with pecans