Snowball Cookies: With Pecans Or Walnuts
Nutty, crumbly, not overly sweet and utterly delicious, these snowball cookies are classic festive fare. And the best part? They’re quick to prepare, egg-free and easy to make vegan. They also keep well and are ideal for gifting.
A batch of these powdery sweet white balls is almost de rigueur at Christmas. They look lovely piled up on a plate, although they’re always popular and generally don’t hang around that long. I often bake them at this time of year as festive gifts for friends and family. Everyone loves them.
What Are Snowball Cookies?
Snowball cookies are an egg-free American cookie made with pecan nuts or sometimes walnuts. They are shaped into a sphere and rolled in icing sugar after baking so that they resemble a snowball. The texture is similar to shortbread, but crumblier because of the shape and addition of nuts.
Snowballs also go by the names of Russian tea cakes and Mexican wedding cookies. Russian tea cakes are generally made with walnuts rather than pecans and Mexican wedding cakes with ground almonds. Having said that, there are no hard and fast rules.
Traditionally they are made with only four ingredients: butter, nuts, flour and sugar. However, it’s quite common to also add vanilla for a bit of spicy sweetness.
Pecan Snowball Cookies
At this very busy time of year, it’s good to have a few simple, but crowd pleasing bakes up your sleeve. These pecan snowball cookies are one of them. Having said that, I sometimes make them with walnuts instead of pecans.
In essence you only need four ingredients for these classic American snowball cookies. I’ve added a pinch of salt and a touch of allspice to enhance the flavour of the pecans.
I tend to use wholemeal spelt flour as that is my favourite flour for baking biscuits and cakes. As well being kinder to your gut than most flours, it gives an additional nutty flavour and adds to the lovely crumbly texture. It’s fine to use ordinary wholemeal flour though.
Swap the butter for coconut oil and you have a delicious vegan version with a slightly different texture and an additional layer of flavour.
The secret to these snowy balls of deliciousness, is to double dip them. Or, perhaps more helpfully, double roll them. The first coating of icing sugar soon after they come out of the oven is not enough. Once cooled, roll them in icing sugar a second time and that’s what gives them their white snowball appearance.
Snowball Cookies: Step-by-Step
Although it looks as though there are a lot of steps involved in making these snowball cookies, they’re actually very quick and simple to make and bake. I prepare them by hand as I find it’s not worth the faff of using an electric mixer. But I’ll leave that decision to you.
Step 1. Cream Butter And Sugar
In a medium or large sized mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon. This is called creaming.
Keep beating until the mixture is light in colour and fluffy in texture. Add the salt and spice at this point so that they get well integrated.
Top Tip
If your butter is fridge hard and you haven’t got time to let it go soft, I have a handy trick. Cube the butter, place it in a saucepan over a very gentle heat. As soon as the butter starts to melt, remove from the heat and tip into the bowl. This softens the butter enough to easily cream it with the sugar, but without it being totally liquid.
Step 2. Grind Nuts
Blitz the pecans, or walnuts if using, to a coarse crumb. A coffee or spice grinder is useful for this, though you can use a blender or food processor. Be careful not to over process the nuts though or they will turn into nut butter. Delicious as that is, it’s not what you want for these snowball cookies.
Stir them into the creamed butter and sugar.
Top Tip
Although it’s possible to buy ready ground nuts, it’s always better to grind your own. They will be fresher and more flavoursome. You also have more control over the texture. Ground nuts can go rancid quite quickly.
Step 3. Add Flour
Use the wooden spoon to work in the flour until you have a well combined dough. Try not to overwork it though or you might end up with tough rather than melt-in-the-mouth cookies.
Don’t worry if the mixture seems a bit crumbly. It will come together when you form it into balls.
Step 4. Shape Cookies
Have a baking tray at the ready. Either use a non-stick one, as I have done or line one with baking paper.
Take a teaspoonful of the cookie mixture and roll it between your hands into a walnut sized ball. Try to get it as smooth and as round as possible. The mixture is quite crumbly, so squeeze it tightly before rolling. Repeat until you’ve used up all of the dough.
Place the balls onto the prepared tray about two to three centimetres (one inch) apart.
Top Tip
If your kitchen is warm, the dough may be too soft for shaping and baking. The cookies are likely to either crumble or spread. If this is the case, place the dough in the fridge for thirty minutes in order for it to firm up.
Step 5. Bake Cookies
Place the tray on the middle shelf of your preheated oven and bake for twelve minutes. They should have turned slightly golden and a little brown underneath. But not brown all over. If they don’t look quite done, place them back in the oven and bake for a further two to three minutes.
Don’t worry if the cookies show cracks when they come out of the oven. This is natural. Once double rolled in icing sugar, however, you’ll barely notice them.
Step 6. First Roll
Sift a couple of spoonfuls of icing sugar into a wide shallow bowl. When the cookies are no longer super hot, about five minutes after they come out of the oven, roll them in the icing sugar.
Place four to six of them in the bowl and either give it a good shake to lightly coat them or use a spoon to roll them around.
Once they are covered, place them on a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 7. Second Roll
As soon as the cookies have cooled, repeat the rolling process. Use the same bowl, although you might need to add another spoon of icing sugar to it.
Once completely coated, place the cookies back on the wire rack until they are all done.
Step 8. Eat Or Store
Eat your snowball cookies right away or pack into suitable gift bags or tins. Store in an air-tight container and they will keep for five days or more.
Alternatively, freeze them. You can see the section on how to do this further down this post.
Vegan Snowball Cookies
It’s really easy to turn these snowball cookies into vegan snowball cookies. Follow the recipe as is, but swap the butter for coconut oil. You may need to melt the coconut oil first if it’s not soft. In which case add an additional 10g. Whisk all the other ingredients together first, then pour in the coconut oil.
If you’ve melted the oil first, you may need to firm the dough up in the fridge for half an hour or so before you shape it into balls.
Can You Freeze Snowball Cookies?
The answer to whether you can freeze snowball cookies is yes you can. Once you’ve rolled them the first time in icing sugar, place them on a tray and freeze for an hour until hard. Then transfer them into freezer bags. Make sure you squeeze all of the air out before sealing.
Once thawed roll the snowball cookies in icing sugar for the second time.
Alternatively you can freeze the cookie dough balls before you bake them. Follow the same method as above. Allow the cookies to thaw, then bake as instructed in the recipe.
Other Christmas Cookies You Might Like
- Chocolate crinkle cookies with roasted hazelnuts
- Chocolate pistachio biscotti (gluten-free)
- Christmas butter biscuits
- Vanilla almond cookies (vegan)
- Vegan amaretti (gluten-free)
- Wholemeal clotted cream shortbread
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you try out these snowball cookies, please let me know how it went in the comments. I would also appreciate it if you could rate the recipe. Do you have any recommendations or advice for making these biscuits? If you post pictures of your creations on social media, please use the hashtag #tinandthyme so I can see them.
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Choclette x
Snowball Cookies. PIN IT.
Pecan Snowball Cookies
Ingredients
- 60 g unsalted butter softened
- 30 g golden caster sugar
- 1 pinch fine sea or rock salt
- ½ tsp ground allspice or swap for vanilla extract
- 85 g pecan nuts or walnuts
- 120 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat) (I used wholemeal spelt)
- 3 tbsp icing sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
- Cream butter, sugar, salt and spice until pale and fluffy.60 g unsalted butter, 30 g golden caster sugar, 1 pinch fine sea or rock salt, ½ tsp ground allspice
- Blitz the pecans in a spice grinder or blender until they form a coarse crumb. Make sure it doesn't turn into butter.85 g pecan nuts
- Mix into the butter mixture.
- Add the flour and stir it all together until it forms a crumbly dough.120 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat)
- Take teaspoonfuls of the mixture and roll into walnut size balls between the palms of your hands. If the kitchen is warm, you may need to refrigerate the dough for half an hour or so.
- Place the balls on a non-stick or lined baking tray about two centimetres apart.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 12-14 minutes. The cookies should have turned slightly golden, but not brown.
- Place on a wire rack and allow to cool for five minutes.
- Sift the icing sugar into a wide shallow bowl, then place 4-6 cookies in the sugar and roll until they're covered. I do this by shaking the bowl, but you can turn them by hand or with the aid of a spoon instead.3 tbsp icing sugar
- Place the cookies back on the rack to cool completely. Repeat the process until all of the cookies are thoroughly covered. You should still have plenty of icing sugar left in the bowl, but if not sift in a little more.
- Store in a tin or other air tight container for up to five days.
These are one of my favorite Christmas cookies! This recipe turned out perfectly!
The recipe, either vegan or otherwise, is a particularly reliable one. Thank you for your feedback.
These are my favorites! I love the addition of allspice.
Allspice gives a subtle spicy note, without detracting from the gorgeous pecan flavour.
Yum! I love snowball cookies! They are one of my favorite christmas cookies and these were delicious! Loved the allspice flavor!
Snap. They’re one of my favourite too. Easy to make, taste delicious and simple to turn vegan. The allspice is subtle, but definitely adds something.
Yum! I used vegan butter and they turned out awesome.
Yes, I sometimes make a vegan version with coconut oil. Glad you liked them and thanks for letting me know.
how delicious! i love a nutty cookie!
Me too, especially when they’re so simple to make.
They are for sure a must for X’mas cookie tray!
Love the idea of a Christmas cookie tray Angie. I’m heading over to you for the festivities.