250gramslightly salted butter, softenedat room temperature
35gramsconfectioners sugar / icing sugar, siftedapproximately 60 ml or 4 tbsp
5mlvanilla extractapproximately 1 tsp
260gramscake flourapproximately 500 ml or 2 cups
115gramspecans chopped, approximately 250 ml or 1 cup
Decoration
140gramsconfectioners sugar / icing sugar, siftedapproximately 250 ml or 1 cup
Instructions
Cream the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla extract, flour and nuts and mix to a ball. Allow the dough to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes as it will be very soft and difficult to shape.
Shape small pieces of dough into balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet, with space between them. I use a small ice cream scoop to ensure even sized balls.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes before baking to ensure a good shape and texture during baking.
If using mini chocolates instead of chopped nuts, place one in the center of each ball.
Heat the oven to 170C / 150C fan; 340 F or gas mark 3. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes. It should be light golden and not dark brown.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and sift half the icing sugar over the hot cookies.
Leave to cool and repeat one more time after 10 minutes.
Notes
Variations of Snowball cookies
Replace the dairy butter with vegan butter for Vegan Snowball cookies.
Replace the chopped pecans with chopped walnuts for Walnut Snowball cookies.
Replace the chopped pecans with chopped almonds for Almond Snowball cookies
Replace 65 grams or 1/2 cup cake flour in the cookie dough with cocoa powder for Chocolate Snowball cookies.
Add 1 teaspoon of mixed spice to the flour for Spiced Snowball cookies.