Pecan Snowball Cookies are easy to make with 6 ingredients. They are buttery, nutty, and melt-in your mouth delicious. These butterball cookies are an old family recipe, and a must-make Christmas cookie!
In a small bowl, combine flour and sea salt, set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat butter until fluffy (about 1 minute).
Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract and beat for 1 minute.
Add flour/salt mixture and beat on low speed, then increasing to medium-high until the mixture consists of large, coarse crumbs (about 60 seconds).
Add pecans and stir until evenly distributed.
Transfer dough to an airtight container and chill for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove dough from the refrigerator and use a 1 TBS measuring spoon to measure out 1 TBS portions of dough.
Roll each portion of dough into a ball and place them evenly spaced on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10-13 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly browned and tops are set. The dough should not spread, it should remain a ball shape.
Remove cookies from the oven and let cool on the baking pan for 5 minutes.
Transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool for 15 additional minutes.
After 10 minutes, place powdered sugar in a shallow bowl and coat each cookie in powdered sugar while they are slightly warm, then return them to the cooling rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Ingredient Substitutions:
Salted butter. Unsalted butter can be used in place of salted butter.
Powdered sugar. I do not recommend making substitutions for powdered sugar.
All-purpose flour. I recommend unbleached, all-purpose flour for the best results.
Fine sea salt. Regular, iodized table salt can be substituted.
Pecans. You can substitute walnuts or almonds for the pecans. You can also leave them out and increase the flour by 1/4 cup, if desired.
StoreStore these snowball cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. FreezeYou can freeze baked pecan snowball cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 month. You can also freeze the dough balls and bake them fresh (preferred).