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Snowball cookies are a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookie, just like Grandma used to make. Snowballs can be made at any time, of course, but they are most popular in the winter.
Remember when you were a kid and your mama or daddy would bring home a big box of powdered sugar donuts?
It was the best! It was like eating snow. Sweet, sugary, and totally messy snow. I loved it more than life.
I’m much more likely to reach for a glazed donut these days, but any time I eat something covered in powdered sugar, I feel like a kid.
These snowball cookies aren’t donuts, but they are rolled in powdered sugar and that means I’m a sucker for them.
Even though these snowball cookies are rolled in powdered sugar, they aren’t tooth-achingly sweet.
The cookie dough itself really isn’t sweet until it’s coated in the powdered sugar, which gives it the perfect balance. It’s a bit like a shortbread cookie, but it’s absolutely loaded with ground pecans. The texture is just perfect – soft with a slight crunch.
We absolutely LOVE these snowball cookies! They’re a classic for a reason!
Ingredient Notes:
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Butter – You’ll start with softened butter. We use salted, but if you use unsalted, just add a tiny pinch of salt to the dough.
Flour – All-purpose flour is what you’ll need here.
Pecans – These cookies aren’t big so you are going to need finely diced pecans, not large pieces. You can buy them like this or dice them up yourself!
Sugar – You’ll need both granulated white sugar and powdered sugar for these snowball cookies.
What We Love About This Recipe:
- These snowball cookies are so quick and easy to prepare with just five simple ingredients!
- They’re a Christmas classic and we love to serve them up at holiday gatherings.
- Grandma used to make these every Christmas and we love keeping the tradition alive.
- These are the type of cookie that you could sit an eat a whole plateful. Not too sweet or rich, just the perfect balance of goodness!
How to Make Snowball Cookies:
Mix: To get started add your butter, flour, sugar, and chopped pecans to a bowl and mix them all together.
As it is mixing, you will need to scrape the sides down of the bowl to make it mix well.
This dough doesn’t come together quite like a traditional dough. It will be very crumbly, but as you shape it, the heat from your hands will help bring it all together.
Scoop: We use a cookie scoop to get the perfect amount of dough and then drop it into our hand and roll into a ball.
Bake: These snowball cookies will take about 20 minutes to bake at 325 degrees.
You’ll want to let these cool a bit on the baking sheet. I love how they hold their shape so perfectly!
When they are done, roll them in powdered sugar and you are ready to go.
Tips and Tricks:
For this recipe, it is helpful to have a stand mixer as the dough is a bit thick and crumbly. A hand mixer will work as well.
I use this stand mixer nearly every day. It works for cookies and so much more!
A cookie scoop is always helpful for making sure your cookies are the same size – this ensures they’ll bake evenly too!
These cookies are prone to crumbling if you don’t let them cool before rolling them in cookie dough. It is best to not move them from the cookie sheet at all until they have cooled down.
Substitution Options:
Powdered sugar is the most popular coating of these cookies for sure. However, you could also cover them in cinnamon and sugar if you wanted. So tasty!
Skip the powdered sugar and drizzle with melted chocolate or white chocolate, if you like.
Trying to cut the sugar? Try using powdered monkfruit in place of the powdered sugar.
Karly’s Tips & Tricks For Perfect Cookies:
- Flour: Make sure you measure your flour properly by spooning flour into a dry measure and then leveling it off with the back of a butter knife. Do not pack the flour or you’ll end up with dry, crumbly cookies.
- Rolling the Dough: We use a cookie scoop to ensure we have evenly sized cookies, but you’ll want to drop the scoop of dough right into your other hand. The dough may be a bit crumbly, but the warmth and pressure of your hands will help shape the dough into a ball. Don’t be shy about squishing it together.
- Coat the Cookies: We tend to only roll our snowball cookies ONCE in powdered sugar, but if you roll them TWICE, you’ll have full coverage and they’ll look like, well, a snowball! The choice is yours.
Snowball Cookie Recipe FAQs:
These cookies need to be stored in a sealed container, like these festive Christmas cookie tins! You can keep them at room temperature on the counter for about 5 days. You may also freeze these, before coating in powdered sugar, for up to 3 months.
They’re a very simple, easy to make buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookie loaded with chopped pecans. They are rolled in powdered sugar after baking, which is how they get their name, and they are usually served around Christmas!
MORE FAVORITE HOLIDAY COOKIES!
- Peppermint Cookies: They’re perfect for the holidays!
- Air Fryer Christmas Tree Cookies: Cookies made easy in the air fryer.
- Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps: These make for a unique holiday treat!
- Peppermint Patty Cookies: A homemade version of the classic.
- Chocolate Christmas Cookies: These are loaded with chocolate!
- Ginger Molasses Cookies: These cookies have lots of holiday flavor!
Snowball Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups finely diced pecans
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Add the butter, flour, pecans, and granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on low speed until well combined. Scrape the bowl as needed.
- Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. The dough will be very crumbly but should come together in your hands as you roll.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Cool on the pan for 5 minutes and then roll in the powdered sugar.
- Store tightly covered for up to 5 days.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This post was originally published in December, 2013. It was updated with new pictures in October 2019.
Mandy says
How do I store these so I can make them before Christmas?
Karly says
They will store in an airtight container for 4-5 days at room temp or up to 2 weeks in the fridge.
Mandy says
Thanks Karly
Barbara Green says
I just now made this exactly the way it is listed on this page. I wish I could attach a picture of this mess. They all flattened out when baking. Such a waste of products. No way to roll them in powdered sugar cause they CANT ROLL, they are FLAT! Very disappointing, no Christmas cookies now.
Karly says
Oh no, I”m sorry to hear that. Was your dough real crumbly before rolling them into balls? It isn’t supposed to be like a traditional cookie dough, so if you added extra ingredients to bring it together that would cause them to flatten out. Otherwise, I’m not sure what would have happened. We make these quite often and have never had this issue.
dee says
can these be frozen after they are baked?
Karly says
Hi Dee! I think they’d freeze fine, though I haven’t tried it.
Nancy Armbruster says
One of my favorite cookies
Rosa says
Delicious,I just made 2 batches the only changes I made is I roasted the pecans which it gave a very testy test and I added Hershey kisses in the middle
The 2nd batch I used roasted hazelnut instead of pecans and I added dates in the middle so so good
Karly says
Sounds delicious!!
Connie Kelley says
I have frozen the dough before And they freeze good too after cooled
Teresa H says
My favorite cookie. This is how I make them too, with regular sugar instead of powdered. I do double roll mine though in powdered sugar, that gets them pure white, and I love all the sugar! I really like your idea of using the scoop.
Thanks, Karly!