Snowball Cookies

Rolled in confectioners' sugar, these sweet, nutty cookies are worth every bit of the sugary winter wonderland they'll create. Snowball cookies are an iconic Christmas cookie, and a must-have easy treat I love to serve year after year. Set them out as the cherry on top to your Christmas dinner, or as the sweetest homemade food gift for friends and family. If you've ever had snowballs before, keep reading on for all of our top tips on how to make these adorable (albeit messy) cookies.

What People Are Saying:
"My most requested recipe that my family asks me to make. Everyone loves them." - makaylar

How To Make Snowball Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• Flour: Make sure you’re measuring your flour correctly and accurately so that your cookies aren’t too cakey or dense.
• Walnuts: Walnuts are classic here, but if you’re not a fan, you can swap them out for roasted pecans, almonds, or pistachios.
• Sugar: I’ve included the perfect amount of sugar so that these cookies are just sweet enough, but not overly sweet with the confectioners’ sugar.
• Salt: A little salt won’t make these cookies salty, but will balance all of our flavors out.
• Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extract adds the necessary sweet, floral flavor to these cookies.
• Butter: To help nail the size and texture of these bite-sized cookies, make sure the butter is softened instead of melted. Melted butter will result in cookies that flatten and spread. Also, it’s important to make sure your butter is softened and at room temperature—definitely not cold—so that your cookie dough sticks together and isn’t too crumbly.
• Confectioners’ Sugar: Rolling these cookies in confectioners’ sugar is what makes these snowball cookies, well, snowballs.
  

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

First, preheat the oven to 350°, then line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Then, in a large bowl, mix together the flour, walnuts, granulated sugar, salt, and vanilla. Once mixed, add the butter and mix using your hands. Combine everything until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

Then, form the dough into small balls with your hands. Form the balls, then place on your prepared baking sheet. Then, bake for around 15 minutes.

After baking, roll each of the cookies in powdered sugar. The key to getting the powdered sugar to stick to your cookies? Roll them when they’re still warm.

Once coated, set them aside, either on a wire rack or a plate. Once they are cooled completely, dust them again in powdered sugar—we aren’t being shy here.

The full list of ingredients and instructions can be found in the recipe below.

Storage

These cookies will keep stored at room temperature in an air-tight container for 3-4 days, or frozen (baked or raw) for up to 3 months.