Snowball Cookies are a delectable concoction of butter, flour, and sugar. This no-nut version of the classic recipe is a delicious must-make for your cookie plate.
A recent poll of my progeny as to their favorite holiday traditions revealed that cookies top the list. And not just any cookies, mind you. We don’t need no stinking packaged cookies here.
No, indeed.
Only homemade will do at the holidays, and we’ve got some family favorites that we make every holiday season. Chocolate Chocolate Chip Biscotti, Double Chocolate Toffee Cookies, Chocolate Mint Snow Top Cookies top the list, but man (or woman) cannot live on chocolate cookies alone. Oh no.
We need a few Sugar Cookies to balance things out. And Snowball Cookies, too, of course.
You’ve had these traditional holiday cookies before, I’m sure. They’re known by other names: Mexican Wedding Cakes, Swedish Teacakes, Russian Teacakes. At our house we call them Snowballs. And they are a favorite, indeed.
These classic Snowball Cookies are soooooo good. I mean, butter, flour, sugar and nuts? You really can’t go wrong with that combination.
Except for the nuts — in a nut allergy home. Years ago, I decided to omit the nuts from my favorite cookie recipe so that my daughter could enjoy them along with the rest of us. If you’re avoiding nuts as well — or even if you’re not — I nominate these Snowball Cookies as a must-make on your cookie plate this holiday season.
I do recommend that you weigh the flour to get the proper ratio of flour to butter. If you scoop the flour, you risk having a very dry dough. It’s not the end of the world, just pack the dough with your hands to get it to stick together. Weighing your flour is simple and easy, though, so go with that!
How to make Snowball Cookies good and cheap:
Here are some of the strategies you can use to make this recipe more economical:
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. When I find regular kitchen staples on sale, I buy a lot. I’m currently using a price book to track prices and that’s saving me money. For this recipe, keeping an eye on the price of flour, powdered sugar, and butter can help keep the price down. And yes, you should use butter!
- Buying in bulk – It’s rare that I would buy just one bag of flour. Instead I stock up when I see a sale. I also have gotten into the habit of buying cases of flour from Bob’s Red Mill. I practice the same bulk buying for all my baking ingredients.
How I make this recipe easy:
This Snowball Cookies recipe really couldn’t be easier than it is, but having the right kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs.
Here are the tools that I use for this recipe:
- food processor – This makes the process so quick and easy.
- parchment paper – I hate washing pans. Parchment paper makes clean up a breeze.
- sheet pans – I LOVE my set of steel sheet pans. They make such a difference in baking.
- cookie scoop – This tool makes cookie-making so easy!
Snowball Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar plus additional powdered sugar for rolling
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Line sheet pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Combine the butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a food processor (or in a mixing bowl with a mixer). Add the flour and salt. Pulse until coarse crumbs forms. Shape the dough into walnut-sized balls, pressing to pack your own snowball cookies.
- Place the dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet or one lined with a silpat baking mat. Bake until set about 9 minutes. Do not brown. Roll the warm cookies in powdered sugar.
Notes
Nutrition
Do you make snowball cookies? What’s YOUR name for them?
Don’t forget to check out The 12 Days of Christmas Cookies.
Originally published December 14, 2010. Updated December 16, 2017.
Debbie
You make a point about weighing the flour (and sugar), yet the recipe calls for cups. What are the weights?
Jessica Fisher
This link explains the reasoning behind that: https://goodcheapeats.com/how-to-measure-flour-properly/
Each cup should be 4.5 ounces of flour.
Debbie
thanks for the super-fast reply!
Christine
Mine sort of flattened. I think I used too much flour because I did not weigh it. I am going to dip them in sugar and try to save them.
Jessica Fisher
A kitchen scale is one of my favorite things! Hope they turned out okay.
Sandra Petrovich
When I baked these cookies and rolled them in powder sugar they stayed tacky why is that? I love them but they make your fingers a mess when you pick them up.
Jessica Fisher
Powdered sugar is a kind of melting sugar. If there’s any moisture there, it will absorb it and melt. Sometimes I roll them a few extra times in the sugar.
Ana baca
Hi, I was wondering if I could incorporate maple in to this recipe. Do you know what I could do?
Jessica Fisher
As a flavoring or as a substitute for the sugar? I’m thinking yes as a flavoring. As a substitute, it would need to be maple sugar not maple syrup as the extra liquid would throw off the recipe.
Donna
I add mini chocolate chips and brickle bits. Soooo good. I call these dirty snowballs. Lol
Jessica Fisher
Haha! Great name.
Anne B
Hi,
A question about your “snowball cookies”. Do I HAVE to use powdered sugar? This ingredient has cornstarch in it and my daughter and I shouldn’t have (allergic sensitivity) corn/maize of an kind. Do you think this would work if I rolled them in coconut for the Snow?
Jessica Fisher
Unfortunately, the powdered sugar is a pretty big part of the recipe. You could certainly roll in coconut, but it might not stick. Rolling the warm cookies in the powdered sugar melts the sugar a little so it sticks. I have seen versions where they made the cookie into sticks (not balls) and dipped one end in chocolate and then sprinkles. They are no longer “snowballs” at that point, but a very tasty cookie!
Jennifer
You can make your own powdered sugar by putting regular sugar in a blender 🙂 The blender makes it fluffy, vs using a food processor.
Jessica Fisher
Yes! Great hack. I add a little cornstarch to keep it from clumping.
Elle W
BUTTER BALLS: We all have always made them without the nuts and have always called them butter balls. My mother always purchased margarine for day-to-day use, but, she never failed to purchase butter for these cookies during the holidays.
We always coat the freshly baked cookies with powdered sugar a first time, let them cool, and toss them a second time into that powdery sugary goodness.
Thanks to these cookies, when I grew up and had my own home, I never purchased margarine for anything, Ha ha!
Jessica Fisher
Love it! They are a favorite here.
Marisa
Hi, do you use salted or unsalted butter? I always use salted and am wondering if I would still need to add the extra salt? I have never made these before but have enjoyed eating them (with nuts). I think my kiddos would like them much better without. Thanks!
Kristina
I made these last week and they were delicious and very similar in taste to how I remember them being as a kid…they were just a bit hard to roll into balls without the balls breaking apart. I found I needed to hold the dough in my hand a minute for the butter to melt enough to be able to roll it into a ball without it breaking. I wondered if adding an egg might help with that? So then I tried my mom’s snowball cookie recipe which had less butter, granulated sugar, an egg, and I omitted the pecans and they were surprisingly very greasy to roll out and smooshed down when baked whereas yours held their rolled shape nicely even after baking. I also preferred the taste of yours better than my mom’s recipe. Have you ever tried adding an egg to your recipe? How did it change things?
Jessica Fisher
My guess is you just might have had too much flour. How you measure flour, what brand you buy, and the humidity in your home can all effect the final product. We just made these last month and didn’t have that trouble. In fact, they were pretty moist. I don’t recall ever making them with egg, but when I created this post, we were struggling with an in-house egg allergy. We’ve made them this way for as long as I can remember.
Kristina
Funny you should say that…I did make sure to measure exactly 2 1/4 cups flour but I used white whole wheat flour instead of bleached enriched flour, as an attempt to make them healthier! And have less guilt over eating them! Lol! Maybe that is the difference! Maybe I should increase the butter if I do that flour again?….but then the benefits of having whole wheat might be offset by the health costs of additional butter! Lol!
Kristin
To make these a little more Christmasy I added 1 tsp. of peppermint extract. Next batch I am going to add food coloring to make some red and green cookies with the white powdered sugar snowflake cover.
Jessica Fisher
Sounds fun! We’re making these tonight!
abigail harvey
I call the snowball cookies little white moments
kim
Is it a mistake in the recipe? Using powdered sugar in the recipe or is it regular sugar and powdered for dusting?
Jessica Fisher
It’s powdered sugar for both. I just made these a couple weeks ago and they disappeared in a flash.
Dawne
I call them Russian Teacakes but I also add Crushed Pecans to the mix.
summer
I love to add a mint extract to half the batter so i havee some reg and some minty,,yum and if you use cake flour the cookie is much less dense.
Carolyne
I made these tonight. Came out great! Thanks!
alyssa
I call them white snow men my little sister helped me make them ,she being 4, wanted to make them chocolate we added a little coco power now she calls them little pine cones she still loves them 🙂
<3
Jamie Sonnentag
I like to make them in batches of three; chopped almonds & almond flavoring, chopped pecans with vanilla flavoring & a chopped candy cane with a little extra vanilla. Its so yummy when you’re taking a bite & your not sure which one you have! I’m making them with my 3 year old for the first time this year!!
Jessica
Sounds delicious!
Valerie
I love how simple these are and yummy in my tummy. but was said because they are a perfect size for my toddler nephew but he is alergic to nuts. So this is perfect, i am toying with the idea of the hershey kiss or another min chocolate in the center or may be peppermint because of the season.
Mary
An easy nut-free way to make these is to put mini chocolate chips in the batter prior to rolling & baking. We do both w/nuts & w/out but since I have a couple of kids who don’t like nuts, they especially enjoy the chocolate chip snowballs! A very yummy way to round out a cookie platter for sure!
Amy
My all time favorite cookie ever!!! I don’t care what you call them, I will eat them. All of them! I will never make them because I have no self control over these cookies. I will easily put away 4-5 in a matter of minutes. I have cleverly stayed away from this recipe, now I see how easy it is.