Buttery Pecan Snowball Cookies
These Buttery Pecan Snowball Cookies are tender, nutty, and coated in powdered sugar—an easy, classic treat perfect for any occasion.
Servings: 48 cookies
Calories: 89kcal
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups pecan halves
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, divided 1/2 and 1 1/2
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, divided 1/2 and 1
Instructions
- Toast pecans: place pecan halves on baking sheet and roast for 7-10 minutes. Allow to cool.
- In food processor, grind pecans and measure out 1 cup.
- Place the 1 cup pecans back in food processor and add 1/2 cup flour. Pulse until mixed.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, vanilla, salt, and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Blend until creamy, then add the remaining 1 1/2 cups flour. Blend until just mixed and add the ground pecan mixture.
- Mix on medium until the dough is well-blended and stiff. Scrape dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and cover completely.
- Chill for at least 30 minutes. The dough can be made ahead to this point and refrigerated for several days or placed in freezer.
- When ready to bake, scoop off tablespoons of dough and roll into balls. Place balls about an inch apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat.
- Bake at 325 degrees F for 17-19 minutes, until tops are golden and bottoms just starting to brown. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.
- Place remaining 1 cup powdered sugar in a small bowl. Gently roll each cookie in the powdered sugar until covered.
Notes
- Don’t skip toasting your pecans. Toasting them will release even more of a nutty flavor and will make your cookies taste so good!
- You can omit the almond extract but we feel it adds an incredible extra layer of flavor.
- When you roll the cookies the dough will inevitably stick to your palms which can make them difficult to roll. In which case, just wash your hands every now and then to make the rolling process easier!
- Be sure to completely cool the cookies before tossing them in powdered sugar. They can be quite fragile so you might find it’s easier to pack the sugar on with your hands.
- You can add more powdered sugar before serving if you find it has been knocked off the cookies. The more powdered sugar the better!
