Snowball Cookies

Pecan Snowball Cookies — They go by many names, but one thing for sure is that they’re a holiday FAVORITE! Super buttery with a lightly crunchy interior from chopped nuts, and dusted with confectioners’ sugar for a snowy look! These classic Christmas cookies just melt in your mouth and belong on your holiday baking list and are great for cookie exchanges! 

Snowball Cookies Recipe

It’s hard to think of a Christmas cookie that’s more iconic than these classic snowball cookies.

Every Christmas season from my childhood I remember helping my mom and grandma make dozens and dozens of snowball cookies, or Russian tea cakes as my family tends to call them. More on the name game below.

My Christmas snowball cookie recipe produces cookies that are intensely buttery and rich. The cookies have a lightly crunchy texture from chopped pecans in the cookie dough, and after baking I like to double-roll them through plenty of confectioners’ sugar.

They’re fairly dense, yet somehow seem to just melt in your mouth!

Snowball cookies aren’t an overly sweet cookie and are great with a cup of coffee or tea – hence the Russian tea cake name I presume.

There are only 6 key ingredients in these easy cookies that are perfect for setting out at your Christmas parties, holiday entertaining events, for giving as hostess gifts, or for including in cookie exchanges.

They keep very well, making them a good make-in-advance holiday recipe.  And everyone who nibbles on a bite-sized snowball cookie will have a hard time resisting a second one!

Other Names for the Same Cookie

In case you’re thinking these snowball cookies look and sound familiar to you, that’s because there are many names for the same cookie.

These cookies are all the same:

• Snowball cookies
• Russian tea cakes
• Mexican wedding cookies 
• Butterballs
• Snowball Pecan Cookies
• ….And more!

Ingredients in Pecan Snowball Cookies

For this classic Christmas cookie recipe, you only need 6 extremely common fridge and pantry ingredients.

Fun Fact: There are no eggs, milk, nor leaveners (baking soda, baking powder) in this cookie recipe.

• All-purpose flour
• Pecans (or walnuts)
• Salt
• Unsalted butter
• Confectioners’ sugar (for the dough and for rolling)
• Vanilla extract

Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

How to Make Snowball Cookies

Making the best Christmas snowball cookies is fast and easy. Here’s how you do it:

Step 1: If you’re going to toast the nuts, do that now. If not, simply combine chopped nuts (either by hand or in a food processor or high speed blender) with the flour, salt, and stir to combine.

Step 2: To a large mixing bowl, add the butter, and beat with a stand mixer or hand mixer until smooth and creamy.

Step 3: Add the confectioners’ sugar and beat to combine.

Step 4: Add the bowl of dry ingredients to the butter and sugar, and beat to incorporate. 

Step 5: Use a small cookie scoop and form the snowballs.

Step 6: Roll them through your palms to smooth them, place them on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 to 60 minutes, or up to 3 days.

Step 7: Bake the snowball cookies on parchment or Silpat lined baking sheets at 400F for about 7 to 10 minutes, or 375F for 10 to 15 minutes. 

Step 8: After they’ve cooled slightly, roll through a bowl of confectioners’ sugar. And repeat for the most snowy looking snowballs. Serve and enjoy! 

Can I Make Snowball Cookies with Walnuts Instead of Pecans?

Traditional snowball cookie recipes tend to have finely chopped nuts. Specially, chopped pecans.

However, frequently you’ll see recipes call for finely chopped walnuts instead. It’s really personal preference whether to use pecans or walnuts.

Additionally, some recipes even omit the nuts altogether. However, without the addition of the 3/4 cup of chopped pecans (or walnuts) that I use, the dough will be extremely thick and dense, but still workable.

You can chop the nuts by hand with a sharp knife. Or you can use a food processor or high speed blender. 

Should I Toast The Nuts?

It’s really up to you if you want to toast the nuts.

Toasted nuts will have, a well, nuttier and more intense flavor since heat activates their natural oils and intensifies the flavor.

If you decide to toast the nuts, you can either:

• Add the finely chopped nuts to a dry skillet, and heat over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until very lightly toasted; stir very frequently.
• Scatter the finely chopped nuts to a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes in a 300F oven, or until very lightly toasted; open the oven and stir and scatter the nuts a couple times to ensure even toasting.

However, not toasting and adding them directly into the cookie dough is just fine, too. 

Do I Have to Chill the Dough for Snowballs with Pecans?

Yes,  you need to chill your snowball cookie dough for optimal results. Namely, so these butter laden cookies don’t spread into buttery puddles in the oven.

I recommend:

• Bare minimum of 30 minutes
• 1 to 2 hours is better
• You can chill them for up to 72 hours if you want to make these as a make-ahead cookie recipe so that when you’re ready to bake them, that’s really all you need to do.

If you do chill them for longer periods, allow the dough to come to sit at room temp for 20 to 30 minutes before baking those days-long chilled cookies if you go that route because they will be very firm and very cold.

If you only chilled for a few hours or less, pop them right into the oven after you take them out of the fridge. You don’t want to let them sit out as that defeats the purpose.

Chilling Tips

Do NOT chill the whole mixing bowl of dough and then later on try to scoop out the cookies.

It’ll be rock hard, it’ll crumble, and will turn into a mess as you futilely attempt to chisel it out.

Instead, chill individual balls of dough. Make some space in your fridge for a large dinner-sized plate. That’s all you’ll need to accommodate 24 small mounds of cookie dough.

Can I Double the Snowball Cookie Recipe?

Yes of course you can. Double all ingredients.

Make sure to chill appropriately and then bake the cookies for the amount of time listed – about 7 to 10 minutes at 400F no matter how many cookies you make. 

Tips: Even if you’re doubling a recipe, you never double the baking time! This goes for casseroles to CrockPot recipes to cakes to cookies. You may double the size of the pan from an 8×8 to a 9×13 which allows the baking time to remain roughly the same, or a bit more, but definitely not doubled!

How To Actually Bake Holiday Snowball Cookies

I always advise baking one sheet of cookies at a time, in the center rack of your oven, and rotating the pan once midway through the baking time for optimal results.

I’m not a fan of baking two sheets of cookies in the oven at one time. The sheet underneath always turns out paler and just a bit “off”. 

Now if you’re going to be a quadruple batch or something, okay maybe you can cut some corners, but for just one batch as the recipe is written I like to bake one sheet at a time.

Because these snowball Christmas cookies really don’t spread much, you can bake about 12 cookies per sheet, and the batch only yields 24 cookies total. Totally do-able! 

Tips for the Best Snowballs Cookies

These little snowball cookies are such easy Christmas cookies and with just 6 ingredients, there’s really not too much that can go wrong! But here are my final tips and tricks to ensure perfect snowballs for your cookie boxes!

Room Temperature Butter – It goes without say, you need to use room temperature butter for the best snowball cookie results. If your kitchen is cooler this time of year like mine is, I suggest taking the butter out about 1 hour before you plan to start the recipe.

Don’t Over-Pulse the Pecans or Walnuts – As I mentioned above, you can hand chop or pulse the pecans or walnuts for the snowballs in a food processor or high speed blender. But make sure not to overdo it. You want little bits, not fine dust.

Dry Looking Dough – Don’t be nervous if the dough seems dry as you’re trying to combine the flour and chopped nuts mixture with the creamed butter and confectioners’ sugar. It’ll eventually all combine.

Have patience, and if you have a stand mixer, use it! Although a hand mixer will work, too. 

Cookie Scoop – Using a 1-tablespoon or small cookie scoop is optimal for the snowballs so that they turn out to be a couple satisfying bites, and not bigger. While you could potentially make them bigger, it’s not traditional, and I worry that the outsides may burn before the interiors cook through with bigger sized cookies. 

A cookie scoop will keep them all looking uniformly sized as well.

Watch them VERY Closely – This is a very hot oven (400F) but it’s the way my grandma always baked her snowball cookies so it’s what I am sharing as well here. The bottoms will be prone to darkening in the final moments of baking so I recommend keeping a very close eye on them! All ovens vary and in some ovens 7 minutes is all you’ll need, and in other ovens 10 minutes may be more appropriate.

You can also turn the temp down to 375F and plan to bake 10 to 15 minutes, depending on your oven, if you don’t want to be quite as preoccupied about burning them in a hotter oven.

Roll Twice in Confectioners’ Sugar – Rolling the cookie dough balls in powdered sugar as soon as they come out of the oven which soaks in and absorbs into the warm cooking.

Then repeat and roll them a second time for the best results in terms of taste and really “snowy looking” snowball cookies.

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4.83 from 17 votes

Snowball Cookies

By Averie Sunshine

They go by many names, but one thing for sure is that they're a holiday FAVORITE! Super buttery with a lightly crunchy interior from chopped nuts, and dusted with confectioners' sugar for a snowy look! These classic Christmas cookies just melt in your mouth and belong on your holiday baking list and are great for cookie exchanges! 

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes minutes

Additional Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 8 minutes minutes

Servings: 24

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Ingredients  

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• ▢ 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ ¾ cup pecans, or walnuts, finely chopped; toasted optional*
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ▢ 1 cup confectioners’ sugar for the dough, sifted (plus more for rolling)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

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Instructions 

• To a large bowl, add the flour, chopped pecans or walnuts, salt, and whisk to combine; set aside.
• To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric handheld mixer), add the butter, and beat on high speed for about 1 to 2 minutes, or until soft, fluffy, and creamy. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• Add 1 cup confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, and initially beat on low speed to incorporate the sugar, and then ramp up to high speed until the mixture is soft and fluffy. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• Add the dry ingredients mixture (flour, nuts, salt) and mix to just incorporate; don't overmix.
• Using a small 1-tablespoon cookie scoop or similar, form approximately 24 equally sized mounds of dough, place them on a large dinner plate, cover with plasticwrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or longer (up to 3 days**). Tips – Do NOT chill the whole bowl of dough and then later on try to later scoop it out because it'll be dry, crumbly, difficult to work with, and this chiseling method is not advised. Use a large dinner plate and find some space in your fridge for 30 to 60 minutes to chill the dough.
• While the dough is chilling or before you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 400F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats; set aside. Note – You can also use a 375F oven rather than 400F. The cookies will take longer to bake but will be less prone to burning on the bottoms and you won't need to watch them quite as carefully.
• Place the chilled cookie dough mounds on the baking sheets. Tips – I bake about 12 cookies per sheet. They don't spread much. I bake them one sheet at a time in the center oven rack, rotating the pan once midway through baking, for optimal results. I try to avoid baking two sheets of cookies at once because the sheet baking on the bottom tends to not turn out quite as well as the other sheet.
• If you're baking at 400F, the cookies will bake for about 7 to 10 minutes. At 375F, they'll bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Tips – Because this is quite a hot oven cookies, keep a very close eye on the cookies, especially the bottoms, and bake just until they are barely golden browned and the tops are set. The cookies will continue to firm up as the cool and the bottoms will also darken a bit more, so if in doubt, I recommend pulling them out sooner rather than later. Watch your cookies, in your oven, and not the clock when determining doneness since all ovens, baking sheets, climates, etc. vary so much.
• Allow the cookies to cool for about 10 minutes on the baking sheet before rolling them in confectioners' sugar.
• Add a generous amount (at least 1 cup) of confectioners' sugar to a small bowl, and roll each baked cookie though the sugar. Repeat, assembly line style, until they are all rolled.
• Optional but recommended, roll all the cookies through additional confectioners' sugar a second time. Tips – I do this because in the first round of sugar rolling, the sugar tends to melt into the warm cookies a bit and while delicious, it doesn't give the visual cues of a really snow-covered snowball. For this reason, I roll twice. First round of rolling is for sweetness, second round also adds sweetness but adds the visual effect, too.
• Cookies will keep airtight at room temp for up to 10 days. Obviously cookies are best totally fresh, but as cookies go, snowballs are good keepers, making them great for cookie exchanges or as make-ahead cookies.** Baked snowball cookies will keep airtight in the freezer for up to 4 monhts.

Notes

*Type of Nuts – I use pecans, but you can use walnuts, or even omit the nuts altogether. However, without the addition of the 3/4 cup of chopped pecans (or walnuts) that I use, the dough will be extremely thick and dense, but still workable.

You can chop the nuts by hand with a sharp knife. Or you can use a food processor or high speed blender. Just be careful to not overmix or over-pulse them because you don’t want too fine of a dust. Small bits work best in terms of flavor, texture, and the overall cohesion of the dough.

Toasting or Not – It’s really up to you if you want to toast the nuts.

Toasted nuts will have, a well, nuttier and more intense flavor since heat activates their natural oils and intensifies the flavor.

If you decide to toast the nuts, you can either:

• Add the finely chopped nuts to a dry skillet, and heat over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until very lightly toasted; stir very frequently.
• Scatter the finely chopped nuts to a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes in a 300F oven, or until very lightly toasted; open the oven and stir and scatter the nuts a couple times to ensure even toasting.

**Chiling Time – You must chill the dough or these buttery cookies will spread into pools of butter in the oven. 30 to 60 minutes should do the trick. However, if desired, you can make the dough, form into balls, and chill for up to 3 days in your fridge. This is good for make-ahead situations where you just want to bake the cookies off for a particular party or event. If the dough has been chilling for day(s) in your fridge, give it 20 minutes or so on the countertop at room temp before you bake them since it'll be very cold and stiff.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 172kcal, Carbohydrates: 18g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 11g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 15mg, Sodium: 84mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 5g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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