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 often known as Russian tea desserts, 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’ll be able to even get little ones concerned, particularly within the rolling!
Recipe Highlights
- Vegan (dairy-free and no eggs).
- One bowl recipe.
- 6 easy substances.
- Will be made gluten-free.
- Straightforward to organize & might be prepped prematurely.
- Nice for Christmas and gifting!
- Soften-in-your-mouth texture.
- Will be frozen.
Ingredient Notes
Please see the recipe card beneath for the entire ingredient record with quantity. This part covers notes on particular substances used and any doable substitutions.
- Butter: Use your alternative of plant-based butter. When you’re not vegan or dairy-free, you should utilize common butter.
- Powdered Sugar: Often known 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-Function Flour: This recipe works with all-purpose flour or gluten-free all-purpose baking flour.
- Cornstarch: You must 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 further flavour!
Step-by-Step Directions
Step 1: Beat the butter and sugar collectively till gentle 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: When you’d prefer to toast the pecans for further 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 growing the velocity 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 combined these in, cowl the bowl with plastic wrap or a dish towel and place it within the fridge for no less than half-hour.
Fast Tip: You may also 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 begin 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 other than both different on the baking sheet.
When you don’t have a cookie scoop, you should utilize 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, one after the other, inserting them on a cooling rack.
Fast Tip: Place the cooling rack on prime of a baking pan to assist catch any extra sugar.
When you’ve coated all of the cookies, set them apart to chill on the rack.
At this level, you’ll be able to take pleasure in your cookies however I choose 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! When you’re not serving them straight away, see the storage directions part for one of the best ways to retailer them for later.
Recipe Notes
- In case you are toasting your pecans, you’ll be able to put them within the oven at 350˚F (177˚C) for 5-8 minutes whereas getting ready the dough.
- Gluten-free all-purpose flour works nicely on this recipe, too.
- Please think about using a digital scale to measure substances for accuracy and to make sure success.
- Coat the cookies in sugar twice, as soon as after cooling for Quarter-hour and once more as soon as absolutely cooled.
- A small cookie scoop will assist you to get uniformly-sized snowballs.
- Use room temperature butter when beginning the recipe.
Recipe 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.
Often Requested Questions
Chilling the cookies helps the creamed butter (fats) solidify so the cookies keep their traditional snowball form.
You don’t have to sit back the dough however we choose these cookies after chilling the dough half-hour. With out chilling, the cookies will unfold extra and be denser.
No. You may omit the pecans for normal snowballs and to make the cookies nut-free!
When 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.
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 gentle and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add Vanilla: Add the vanilla and beat to completely mix.
- 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 combined dough.
- Add Pecans: As soon as the dough is uniformly combined, 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 no 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 scoop the dough into 1 tbsp balls utilizing a small cookie scoop. Place balls 2 inches other than each other on the baking sheet. Bake for 13-Quarter-hour, till bottoms are simply calmly browned.
- 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 shallow bowl. Coat every cookie in sugar, transferring every to a cooling rack after coated to chill utterly. As soon as absolutely cooled, coat once more in powdered sugar (non-compulsory). The primary layer of sugar will considerably soften into the nice and cozy 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 might 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 Measurement: 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