Whether you know them as Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cookies or snowballs, you know you crave them! Beware of their melt in your mouth buttery sweet flavor with a hint of nuts because you can't just eat one! Trust me!
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Why Choose This Recipe
- Melt in your mouth, irresistible flavor!
- Just as easy as my other Cookie Recipes!
- Costs less to make than buy from the store!
Ingredient Notes
- Almonds -you can substitute pecans or walnuts if you wish
- Unsalted Butter - no substitutes!!! This recipe is dependent on butter for flavor! If all you have is salted butter just omit the salt from the recipe.
- Vanilla - pure vanilla is best
Step by Step Instructions
- Start by finely chopping the almonds or running them through a nut grinder.
- Set them aside for now.
- Begin preheating your oven to 350 degrees and line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl, cream the unsalted butter and powdered sugar.
- Add the vanilla and salt and mix well.
- Add the chopped nuts and the flour.
- As you can see in picture 7, this is a dryer cookie dough. It should not be sticky.
- Scoop dough out my ½ Tablespoonfuls and roll into a nice, round ball between your hands. They should end up about the size of a gumball.
- The dough should not be sticky but should be moist enough to roll into a ball. If you dough is crumbling instead of shaping add ½ Tbs of water to the cookie dough, mix it and try again. I find I need to do this when the humidity in the air is very low.
- Place each dough ball on your prepared baking sheets.
- These cookies don't spend much so you can place them closer to each other than you would regular cookies. I put 20 per baking sheet.
- Bake for 13 minutes at 350 degrees. These cookies won't brown other than right on the bottoms.
- While baking put some powdered sugar in a shallow dish like a pie plate.
- Roll the baked cookies through powdered as soon as they come out of the oven and set on a wire rack to cool completely.
- After the cookies have cooled completely roll them through the powdered sugar again. Enjoy!
Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips
They are a delicate nutty butter cookies that don't flatten out. You roll the hot butter cookie balls through powdered sugar to add a little sweetness. These are more commonly made with ground pecans, but I like almonds better.
Not a thing! Other than the names, they are all the same thing.
You surely can! Make sure they are completely cool before placing them in an airtight container and placing them in the freezer.
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Almond Snowball Cookies Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 23 minutes
- Yield: 60 Snowballs 1x
- Category: Cookies and Bars
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Whether you know them as Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cookies or snowballs, you know you crave them! Beware of their melt in your mouth buttery sweet flavor with a hint of nuts because you can't just eat one! Trust me!
Ingredients
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter ((no substitutes))
- ½ cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 cup finely chopped Almond Slivers
- 2 ¼ cups Flour
- 2 cups Additional Powdered Sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper or lightly spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
- Finely chop the nuts and set them aside for a moment.
- Cream the butter and powdered sugar.
- Add the vanilla and salt.
- Add the almonds and flour. Mix until everything is well combined.
- Scoop out dough in ½ Tablespoon scoops.
- Roll into balls with your hands. (see note) They should be about the size of gumballs.
- Place on baking sheets. I put 20 on a pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 13 minutes. These cookies won't brown other that the very bottoms.
- Roll baked hot cookies through the powdered sugar as soon as they come out of the oven. Set on a wire rack to cool.
- Once completely cool, roll the cookies through the powdered sugar again. Eat!
Notes
- If all you have is salted butter don't worry. Just omit the ¼ tsp of salt.
- The dough should not be sticky but should be moist enough to roll into a ball. If you dough is crumbling instead of shaping add ½ Tbs of water to the cookie dough, mix it and try again. I find I need to do this when the humidity in the air is very low.
Keywords: snowball cookies, almond snowball cookies, pecan snowball cookies
ANY NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS ON THIS SITE IS BASED ON AN ESTIMATE, CALCULATED BY NURTIFOX PLUGIN (OR OTHER THIRD-PARTY SOURCE) FROM THE INDIVIDUAL INGREDIENTS IN EACH RECIPE. VARIATIONS MAY OCCUR FOR VARIOUS REASONS, INCLUDING PRODUCT AVAILABILITY AND FOOD PREPARATION. WE MAKE NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF THE ACCURACY OF THIS INFORMATION.
Jeremiah
These came out so good and were easy to make. Always been a favorite of mine and my partner but we can never find them anywhere and they're so expensive to order online. Thanks!
★★★★★
Mindee
That's awesome! Glad you enjoyed them!
Jeremiah
What's a good way to mix the butter and powdered sugar? Should the butter be room temperature? Don't have access to a standing mixer.
Mindee
Yes, have the butter at room temperature. You don't need a stand mixer to make these. You can mix them with hand beaters or just by hand as well.
Nicole
Can you make the dough a day ahead and keep in the fridge to roll and bake them the next day? Anyone tried this?
mindeescookingobsession
Yes, but it would be better to roll them into balls before putting them in the fridge and then baking them the next day. This dough is a drier dough so it gets really hard when chilled. It takes forever to warm up enough to roll into balls.
Claudia
I did, I have even froze them for a few days worth of baking
G. T.
Can't stop eating these!!!
★★★★★
Christine
Does it matter if you use salted or unsalted butter for this recipe?
mindeescookingobsession
Either works fine!
Allison
Delicious!!!!
I like more of almond flavor so I used almond extract instead of vanilla
★★★★★
Donna
That's what I was wondering, adding almond extract for the vanilla or at least some of it. Did it turn out good??
★★★★
Mindee
I've added almond extract for half the vanilla and it turned out delicious!
janette civitello
There also knownanett as Russian Tea Cakes and Swedish Heirloom cookies !!
★★★★★
mindeescookingobsession
I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing!