Pecan Snowball Cookies
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These melt-in-your-mouth pecan snowball cookies have an irresistible moist center like a chewy shortbread cookie. It’s the perfect to bake these holidays.
I love this recipe for pecan snowball cookies. I used to find my buggy steering towards the grocery store each year for the store-bought ones. I’ve always wanted to make my own and wondered if they would be even better at home. Well, the good news is, a few years ago I FINALLY got a recipe for them from Mama! The bad news is, they taste even better than store-bought snowball cookies.
Fortunately, it takes a small list of simple ingredients to make these buttery pecan snowball cookies, like flour, sugar, vanilla extract, butter, salt, and finely chopped nuts. While I use pecans, hence the name, you can use whichever nuts you prefer. All you have to do is slowly combine the ingredients, bake the cookies, and roll them in confectioner’s sugar once cooled, so they get that snowball effect!
Trust me, the inside of these pecan snowball cookies is an absolute delight! It’s like a yummy buttery shortbread with finely chopped nuts inside.
If you’re in the market for other holiday cookies to bake this year, check out this post, which features 14 of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes. Happy baking!
Recipe Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Butter
- Finely chopped nuts of your choice (I chop mine in the ).
- Salt
How To Make Pecan Snowball Cookies
Place your softened butter, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl and cream it until it’s git up and go done got up and went.
Like this.
Next, add your flour to the wet ingredients.
This is where the original snowball cookie recipe said to sift the flour. Pfft. Right. I have a sifter and it sits upon a pretty little shelf in my kitchen where it collects dust. I don’t sift. It is against my personal convictions.
Just dump your flour in there. Be rebellious with me.
Pour in your vanilla extract.
The recipe calls for two teaspoons but y’all know I just kinda pour and leave it up to the good Lord how much ends up in there.
It’s called divine baking – and I just made that term up. How cool is that? Stick with me, we’ll be the cool kids, even if no one knows it but us!
Oh, you’re gonna need to scrape down the sides of your bowl some but you’ll figure that out…
Dump in your finely pecans.
Oh, now you need to mix it all up again until well combined.
Like this.
Go ahead and get you a pinch of that dough and taste it. Be sure to save some to bake though…I know it will be tempting.
It’s baking time!
I used my little cookie dough scoop and made some pretty generous-sized cookies. You can just make them with your hands and make little one-inch balls and have twice as many as I did.
However, I was in a lazy, cookie dough scoop kinda mood and when I’m in those moods I try not to deny myself the pleasure of indulging in the easy way out.
Now, bake ’em at 325 for 20 minutes, ensuring you don’t overbake them.
I made about 30 but you can easily make 50 or so instead.
After they cool, roll each in powdered sugar.
These pecan snowball cookies are absolutely, melt in your mouth, delicious.
Here is what the inside of one would look like if your teeth were actually a butter knife.
What pretty little snowballs! One bite and you’ll be making this every year from here on out!
Storage
- Store your cookies in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- You can also freeze either the unbaked cookie dough or the baked cookies for up to 3 months. Once you thaw the baked snowball cookies, roll them in sugar once more.
Recipe Notes
- Make sure to use in the and not , as we want the batter to be nice and smooth.
- If you have time, you can toast the pecans in the oven for about 10 minutes before chopping them and adding them to the cookie dough. It really elevates the flavor!
- Don’t be afraid to double-roll your snowball cookies in powdered sugar so they truly resemble snowballs!
- Besides pecans, you can use walnuts, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, or cashews. Just ensure they’re roasted and finely chopped before adding to the cookie dough.
- If you opt for almonds, you can also add 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract to the recipe to enhance the flavor. Another option is substituting the vanilla extract for lemon juice and adding 1 tablespoon of lemon zest to make almond lemon snowballs.
- Speaking of almonds… substitute the all-purpose flour for almond flour to make gluten-free snowball cookies.
- Here are more additions to add to your cookie dough when you fold in the pecans:
- 2/3 cup of sprinkles
- 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips to make chocolate snowballs.
Recipe FAQs
What are some other names for snowball cookies?
Snowball cookies are also called Mexican wedding cookies (which we have a recipe for right here), Russian tea cakes, snowdrop cookies, Southern Butterballs, Pecan Sandies, and Italian butter cookies. But no matter what you call them, they’re utterly delicious!
You may also like these other holiday cookie recipes:
Candy Cane Cookies (Elf Favorite!)
Thumbprint Cookies with Jam or Preserves
Southern Plate’s Must-Make Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups finely ground nuts of your choice I'm using pecans
- confectioner's sugar
Instructions
- Cream together the butter, sugar, and salt until fluffy. Add the flour and vanilla extract and mix well, scraping down the sides as needed. Add finely chopped pecans and mix until well incorporated.1 cup softened butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 cups finely ground nuts of your choice
- Shape into one-inch balls of cookie dough (mine are bigger because I use a little cookie dough scoop) and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes, but don't let them brown.
- Cool the cookies. When cooled, roll each snowball cookie in confectioner's sugar.confectioner's sugar
Video
Nutrition
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over….
it became a butterfly!”
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I made these your way and they are yummy! We always called them Mexican wedding cookies…who cares what they are called they are goooood! Thanks Christy <3
You are so welcome! And really, I don’t think the name matters much either, so long as there are lots of them.
how long will they keep (if I can keep dh & I away from them)? I like to start
my baking a little early so I don’t spend too much time in the kitchen when
the family starts arriving –
I do so love your style Christy – feels just like I’m with a friend and having a
great time here in Louisiana
They will keep for awhile if you put them in an airtight container, assuming of course you can resist them. I can’t say for sure exactly how long they will keep since they never last long at all around here.
Hi Joyce, I made some for a wedding reception & I had some large cookie
tins from the hollidays. Place waxed paper in the bottom of the tin & place your cookies in them. I froze mine like that. Could not taste any
difference. I love these cookies & have heard all the different names
for them. For just normal storing, I put them in Tupperware or any plastic
container or zipper bags. They last a long time as they are very sturdy. cookies. I also roll mine while warm & then again before storing. Yummie !!
They are Oh, so good !!
yes they are evil! AND darlin you are MORE evil for giving us this recipe! I grew up on these in CA. and the bakery would never give out the recipe! Seriously, when somebody goes back out to CA. to see family they bring them back on the plane, they’re SO good.
And those bags, darlin I got 5 of em on my pantry shelf right now, cause when our store gets them, its for ONE shipment oNLY-how evil is THAT?
We call them the devil cookies, cause they take you under their spell and you dont realize youve eaten the whole bag in like 10 minutes….SIGH….
Now I have to go try this recipe this week and unless more evilness in my house- GRIN!!!!!!!
THANKS
~GRIN~ it is only fair to share the evilness of them.
These are so awesome, I have made them as well but I wrapped the dough around a chocolate kiss. The recipe I have calls them Mary’s Mothers Cookies. They are heavenly. Thanks Christy!
Ohhh, chocolate. Didn’t think these could get much better, now I am not so sure.
hello, I’m from spain, and I’d love ti know on this reciper in 1 cup how many grams they are???? thank you, I’ll wait for your answer , because I want to make those cookies
I have no idea on that one but I am sure that you can find a metric convertor online somewhere.
When I was growing up my grandmother made she called them Mexican Wedding Cookies. Southern Living calls them Pecan Sandies. No matter what you call them, they are my absolute favorite Christmas Cookie and seemingly oh so Southern! Thanks for sharing, the post brought back fond memories of baking them with my Grandmother when I was a child. She’s been gone almost 30 years now so it’s good to think of the nice times we shared. Wishing you a blessed holiday season!
BTW, how many does this recipe yield?
That would depend on how big or small you make your cookies.
Merry Christmas to you too Jamie. I hope you will be able to make these this year and share your memories with your family.
Our family calls them Russian Tea Cakes.. walnuts our choice. BUT we do one thing different.. we roll them while warm off the pan & then reroll when cooler to give it extra sugary coating. Also, seems to make it extra melt in your mouthy.. if that is a word. ha ha
~giggles~ I like new words and it fits perfectly. I am going to have to try them that way. Thanks for the tip!
Amy, I was just about to say the same thing. My grandmother’s good friend, Sweet Brown, used to make Russian Tea Cakes every Christmas! In Louisville, KY in the 50s and 60s.