The Best Snowball Cookies for Christmas!

These are the best Snowball Cookies you'll ever taste. It's that simple. Once you try this recipe, you won't want to try another Snowball Cookie recipe for Christmas, and you know why? This has become our family’s favorite after testing 5+ versions!

Jorge and I tested more than five different variations of this recipe until we nailed the flavor, texture, and appearance of the cookies!

Luckily for you, we photographed every step of this recipe and have all the tips you need to get everything perfect the first time, without wasting time, which is so necessary during the Christmas season.

We often serve these Snowball Cookies alongside our 4-ingredient Peanut Butter Balls. They're a wonderful combination, because of the contrast between the dark chocolate and the Snowball cookies coated in white sugar. So, if you want, I recommend you try this recipe too, it's one of our favorites to put on the Christmas table!

Without further ado, let's see how to make this recipe quickly and easily. Shall we?

Here's The Ingredients You Need

The ingredient list is simple and relatively short! The secret is using the ingredients correctly, such as using room-temperature butter or even using pure vanilla extract. Just as my mother always said, it's not the quantity of ingredients that matters, but their quality.

• 2 cups unsalted butter (450 g), softened - It's extremely important to use unsalted, room-temperature butter. This will ensure you can control the salt level in the cookies and achieve that melt-in-your-mouth texture. I really like using Plugrá European Style Unsalted Butter, it’s widely available in most grocery stores across the U.S.
• 3¾ cups all-purpose flour (480 g) - Ideally, you should opt for unbleached all-purpose flour, as it will help achieve the perfect balance between tenderness and structure.
• 3 tbsp cornstarch (25 g) - Cornstarch is one of the great secrets of this recipe! It's the ingredient that gives the cookies that delicate, powdery crumb.
• ½ tsp pink salt (3 g) - I tested this recipe with traditional table salt too, but I found it made the cookies taste a little sharper and more “salty.” Fine pink Himalayan salt gives a softer, rounder flavor that complements the butter beautifully.
• 4 tbsp powdered sugar (30 g) - Don't make the same mistake I did and use granulated sugar. You'll feel the sugar grains in your mouth when you eat the cookies, especially when you're chewing intensely. I even tried putting granulated sugar in the blender, it helped to make it more powdery, but I still couldn't get the same results as powdered sugar.
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (10 ml) - If possible, use pure vanilla extract. It gives the cookies a warmer, deeper flavor. I like Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract, which has a smooth, creamy aroma and is widely used by professional bakers.
• 1 cup chopped pecans (120 g) - Toast them at 350°F (175°C) for 5–7 minutes before chopping. This will release oil and flavor, making them much more intense. This will enhance the flavor of the Snowball cookies. If you have pecans to spare, make these Maple Pecan Blondes for dessert too!
• 1½ cups powdered sugar (180 g), for tossing - The perfect "topping" for these Christmas cookies!

Step by step

First of all, preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheating the oven will ensure the cookies bake evenly, so don't skip this step.

In a large bowl, beat the butter at high speed with a handheld mixer for 1 minute. If you have a KitchenAid (I recently bought mine!), just set it to speed 6-8.

Incorporate the powdered sugar, continue beating for another 1-2 minutes until light and fluffy and set the bowl aside.

Add the flour, cornstarch, salt, and vanilla extract to the creamed butter. Use a silicone spatula to mix the ingredients until a crumbly mixture forms. It's important to mix by hand instead of using a KitchenAid, because overmixing will make the cookies dense instead of crumbly. So, stop when you see no dry streaks!

Add the pecans and continue mixing until a rough dough forms. It's important to continue using the silicone spatula to fold the pecans into the batter, as this will ensure you can scrape the sides of the bowl and coat the pecans evenly throughout the batter. Also, if you use an electric mixer for this step, you'll end up crushing all the pecans.

Now comes my favorite part, the part where you make the famous balls!

Use your hands to gently roll it into a ball. Scoop tablespoon-sized bits of dough and roll them into balls and arrange on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 1" apart.

The cookies should feel soft, but they shouldn't stick to your hands as you roll them. It's also important, of course, that the cookies hold their shape as you roll them in your hands, that's a sign that you have the perfect cookie dough!

Quick Tip: The first few times I made this recipe I couldn't shape the cookies because the dough was sticking to my hands. Through testing, I found that refrigerating the dough for 10 minutes makes shaping much easier. Even so, if you continue to have the same problem, I recommend lightly flouring your hands with powdered sugar.

Now it's baking time!

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly golden. The cookies will be pale on top. If they brown on top, they’ve baked too long

Remove from the oven and set aside on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes. We just let it cool for 2 to 3 minutes because the goal is to coat the cookies with powdered sugar twice, first while they are still warm and again when they are cold.

So, now that the cookies are still warm, you should seize the moment! Place the powdered sugar in a large bowl and dip the cookies one by one to coat them. Now that you've gotten the "first layer" of powdered sugar off, place them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies have cooled, it's time to give them a second coat of powdered sugar! This will ensure they have that white, Christmassy look everyone loves. After that, your Snowball Christmas cookies are ready!

What Can Go Wrong When Making Snowball Cookies

One of my biggest goals is to help my followers make recipes right the first time. There's no better way to help you do that than by revealing my mistakes! See where I went wrong and take advantage of this so we don't make the same mistakes as me.

• Don't use butter that's too soft or melted - If your kitchen is too warm, it's normal for the butter to start getting too soft or melting. If this is the case, simply put the butter in the fridge for 10 minutes to harden it a bit again. If you use butter that's too soft, you won't be able to shape the cookies.
• Leaving the cookies in the oven for too long - I know it's not always easy to get the baking time right for cookies, but you need to pay attention to their color. These cookies should stay pale on top with only light golden bottoms. Once the cookies have been in the oven for 10 minutes, start watching them closely, and don't let them get too brown.
• Using granulated white sugar - This was one of my first mistakes, and one of the worst! The cookies will have a strange texture, and you'll also feel the granules of sugar as you eat them. Simply don't make this mistake!

Now that you know where I went wrong, the recipe just got easier! Speaking of easy, if you're looking for a super simple recipe for Christmas, you can try these 3-ingredient Christmas cookies!

Fun Flavor Twists on Classic Snowball Cookies!

I'll be honest with you, I don't really like changing too many ingredients in these Christmas recipes because, in reality, if we take some of them out, the recipes stop being Christmas-y. Even so, I experimented with this recipe a bit and have some variations that you're sure to love!

• Almond Snowball Cookies - I tried this variation because almond is also a typical Christmas flavor! You just need to replace the pecans with finely chopped almonds and use almond extract instead of vanilla. It's a simple variation, but it turns out perfectly!
• Lemon Snowball Cookies - Everyone in my family loves lemon and lemon cookie recipes, so I thought this variation was worth trying! Add 1 teaspoon of lemon zest and swap vanilla for lemon extract. The cookies will have a delicious lemon flavor that everyone will love!
• Cinnamon or Chai Snowball Cookies - For me, this is the best variation and the easiest to try. You just need to add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to the cookie dough, nothing more. The cookies will have a light cinnamon flavor, meaning they'll truly taste like Christmas.

If you want a Christmas recipe where you can play around a bit more, I recommend my chocolate bonbon cookies recipe, where you can place any bonbon in the center of the cookies! It's a simple and unique idea that your guests will love!

And we've reached the end of another delicious recipe! I truly hope you loved it. I look forward to your comment below.

Before you go, if you'd like some more help with your Christmas table (or even Thanksgiving), check out this recipe for make-ahead mashed potatoes and this recipe for 3-ingredient Apple Yogurt Rolls.

Merry Christmas!