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Desserts

Snowball Cookies

Snowball cookies are crumbly, snow-white treats that look like little snowballs. Made with chopped walnuts, they are perfect with coffee.
Recipe Snowball Cookies
  • Difficulty Easy
  • Preparation 30 minutes
  • Cooking 12 minutes
  • Servings for 30 cookies

If you’re looking for elegant little sweets to go with coffee or to serve at the end of a lavish dinner, this recipe for Snowball Cookies is just what you need. It takes only a few steps and simple ingredients to make these snow-white cookies with the aroma and flavor of butter; in fact, they taste a lot like Shortbread (the classic Scottish cookies).

Snowball Cookies are enriched with chopped walnuts, which add a crunchy note. The dough for these white cookies contains no eggs and is extremely crumbly and tender. If you’re looking for a very similar alternative, we suggest trying Palle di Neve Cookies, which however are made with eggs and almond flour.

Because they look like little snowballs, these sweets make a striking display during the Christmas holidays on silver platters or decorated cake stands. All that’s left is to arrange these cookies, covered in fine powdered sugar, on a pretty tray, perhaps with other Christmas treats. For more sweet ideas, here are the Must-Try Christmas Dessert Recipes and The Best Christmas Cookie Recipes

Ingredients for 30 cookies

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Method

  1. To make the Snowballs, put the softened butter, the granulated sugar and the vial of vanilla extract in a medium bowl, then beat them with an electric mixer until fluffy.
    Snowball Cookies, step 1: softened butter, sugar and vanilla beaten until fluffy
  2. Gradually add the flour and a pinch of salt, continuing to beat with the mixer. Finally, chop the walnuts and add them to the mixture, then stir.
    Snowball Cookies, step 2: flour and chopped walnuts mixed into the dough
  3. Shape the dough into a log and wrap it in plastic wrap; put it in the fridge to firm up for about an hour.  
  4. After the dough has rested, shape it into lots of balls about the size of a walnut. Place the balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten them slightly. Bake in a conventional oven at 160 °C (325 °F) for about 12 minutes, making sure they don’t get too dark.
    Snowball Cookies, step 4: balls of dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
  5. Take your Snowballs out of the oven and let them cool completely on a wire rack, then cover them generously with powdered sugar. Finally, remember to download our App with exclusive content and fewer ads!
    Walnut snowball cookies covered in powdered sugar

Variations and Alternatives

For a vegan version of this recipe, you can replace the butter with a non-hydrogenated margarine.

Tips

Keep an eye on them while they bake: if you notice the Snowballs starting to crack, take them out of the oven, otherwise they will crumble. Use top-quality butter, such as butter made from centrifuged cream: you will gain in flavor.

Storage

You can keep these cookies in a cookie tin for a couple of days.

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