First things first–Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  I sure did!  Lots of friends and family–and I’m officially tired!  My kitchen is a mess after a week’s worth of baking–but I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas treats!  I wish I could show you how many boxes of butter I went through this Christmas.

Prebaked cookies

 

I love these cookies with a passion.  They’re amazing–and they don’t even have a hint of chocolate in them.  Says something, doesn’t it?  My sister in law first introduced them to me when I was just a kid–a good 15-16 years ago.  (Oh my gosh! That makes me sound/feel so old!  Bygones.)  To this day, they are still one of my favorite wintertime treats.  Call it nostalgia if you want–because it’s certainly 15% of why I love these things so much–but the bulk of it certainly rests on the fact that these are just pure sweet butter balls of goodness.

After rolling in sugar...you can see the warmth turns the sugar into a light shell.

 

I made three batches of this for my coworkers this year for Christmas.  Time consuming? You bet.  Getting to taste test a few cookies while dusting in powdered sugar? Sooo worth it.  And well, I love watching Mike giddily eating cookies with his coffee while flying his modified indoor helicopter.  Oh, and Mike is my fiance–not my son.

Snowball Cookies

makes approximately 12-16 cookies

Ingredients

1/2 c unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 milk
3/4  cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cups finely chopped nuts (I like almonds)
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar (or enough for rolling)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat (I LOVE my silpat!).
  2. In a stand mixer (or hand mixer if you don’t have one), cream butter and sugar until mixture becomes a pale yellow (about 5 minutes)
  3. Add milk and vanilla. Mix well.
  4. Blend in flour, cornstarch and nuts.
  5. Chill dough in fridge for about an hour.  This will make the dough firm enough for you to roll into balls.
  6. Once chilled, you can roll dough in bite-sized balls.
  7. Bake cookies for 15-20 minutes.  Cookie bottoms should be golden and cookies will be firm (though still fragile) to the touch.
  8. Carefully remove cookies and transfer to cooling rack. Allow cookies to cool slightly.
  9. Now, roll each cookie in powdered sugar. Make sure cookies are covered well.

When done correctly, once cookie is cooled, the slightly melted powdered sugar will have formed a wonderfully tasty shell.

Allow cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.