Snowball Cookies (Melt-In-Your-Mouth)

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Snowball Cookies are my absolute favorite Christmas cookies! These buttery shortbread cookies will melt-in-your-mouth and always a favorite with everyone.

Snowball Cookies

Snowball Cookies

I’m sure most of you have tried a snowball cookie of some sort in your life, but this recipe is extra special. These taste amazing and will melt in your mouth. Everyone always begs for this recipe.  Some people refer to these cookies as Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes, Italian Wedding Cookies, Snowdrops and Butter Balls. However, we always call them snowball cookies because they look like little snowballs. It’s understandable where the “wedding” and “tea” labels come from because these cookies seem so dainty and fancy, along with a perfect match with a warm cup of tea. No matter what you call them, everyone loves these classic  shortbread Christmas cookies!

If you’ve never tried these cookies before, these are a rich, buttery shortbread cookie that is combined with finely chopped walnuts and rolled in powdered sugar. Another awesome thing about these cookies is that they are so EASY to make only using 6 ingredients that most of us already have on hand.

Russian Tea Cakes

How To Make Snowball Cookies

Ingredients you will need:

  • butter
  • sugar
  • vanilla extract
  • flour
  • chopped walnuts, almonds, or pecans
  • confectioners sugar

Start out by mixing the dough ingredients until combined. Then wrap and place in the fridge for 45 minutes. Roll scoops of dough into 1-inch balls.

Rolling Mexican Wedding Cookies

Bake until lightly golden brown, but make sure to not over-bake. These cookies need to bake for about 12-14 minutes, just until they look set and the bottoms are lightly browned. You don’t want to under-bake these cookies, but you also don’t want to over-bake them. Make sure watch closely towards the end of baking.

Baked Mexican Wedding Cookies

Once you take the cookies out of the oven, let cool for 2 minutes. Then place the warm cookies on a cooling rack. Dust the warm cookies with powdered sugar. Let the cookies cool completely then dust again to make sure they are well coated.

Dusting Mexican Wedding Cookies

Can Snowball Cookies be frozen?

Yes, for up to 2 months.

How to Store Snowball Cookies:

Place the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days and eat before the cookies will start to lose their fresh taste (trust me, you’ll gobble these up in a day – they are SO GOOD). If you want to keep them longer, freeze them.

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Snowball Cookies

These Snowball Christmas Cookies make wonderful Christmas gifts and a staple for Holiday cookie trays. They look so pretty and it’s a pretty much guarantee that everyone will love them!

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Snowball Cookies

Tips:

  • You can even swap out the walnuts for something else like almonds, pecans, dried cranberries or even mini chocolate chips!
  • Do not make the cookies too big, you only want about 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie. I like to use a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon to measure out the cookie dough.
  • When measuring your flour, don’t scoop it out of the container with the measuring cup. Instead, spoon the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off with the back of a knife.
  • Make sure that your cookies are the same size to make sure smaller cookies don’t over-bake and cookies that are too large under-bake.

Christmas Snowballs

You can add in Christmas M&M’s to the batter for a more Festive look. Plus, chocolate always makes everything better right?!

Christmas Snowballs

Other Christmas Cookies You Will Love:

White Chocolate Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

Best Sugar Cookie Recipe

Christmas Hot Cocoa Cookies

The BEST Peanut Butter Blossoms

Pecan Ball Cookies

Peppermint Kiss Cookies

Christmas Chocolate Chip Cookies

Snowball Cookies
5 from 60 votes

Snowball Cookies that Melt-In-Your-Mouth

Snowball Cookies are my absolute favorite holiday cookies! These buttery shortbread cookies will melt-in-your-mouth and always a favorite with everyone. 
Servings: 36 cookies
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 5 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups finely chopped walnuts, almonds or pecans
  • 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Instructions

  • Using a handheld electric mixer (or stand mixer), cream together softened butter and granulated sugar until smooth. Beat in the vanilla and salt. Gradually add flour beating after each addition. Stir in the finely chopped nuts until blended. Divide dough in half and refrigerate in plastic food wrap for 45 minutes.
  • While the dough is in the fridge, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with a cookie mat or parchment paper and set aside.
  • Remove the dough from the fridge and scoop 1-inch balls. Roll the balls with your hands to make them round.
  • Place dough balls 1½ inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake in preheated oven until the cookies are just beginning to brown around the bottom edges, about 12 to 14 minutes. Do not overbake.
  • Cool cookies on baking sheets on wire racks for a couple of minutes. Spoon the powdered sugar in a sifter and dust the cookies while they are still warm. Let the sugar-coated cookies cool completely, then dust once again with the confectioners’ sugar.

Last Step:

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Nutrition

Serving: 36g | Calories: 97kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 17mg | Potassium: 9mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 158IU | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 1mg

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Melt-In-Your-Mouth Snowball Cookies