I don’t know about you but in my house there are certain cookie recipes which get made year after year at Christmastime. My Mom’s Nut Snowballs is one of those recipes. This is a popular recipe made around the world. You might know them as Mexican wedding cookies or Russian tea cakes. They’re all similar in their crumbly, melt in your mouth texture and powdered sugar coating.
This recipe is so old the ingredients list “butter, margarine or shortening” — I wouldn’t be surprised if the oldest recipe of nut snowball cookies used lard. I’m not sure where Mom got the recipe, but it was obviously when Crisco was in just about every kitchen. During the other eleven months of the year we used Crisco for frying or making biscuits. Come December, my mother would buy the Crisco in sticks for our holiday baking.
Mom preferred to use walnuts for these, but our neighbor had a huge pecan tree so more often than not my sister and I would shell the pecans for use in holiday baking. When our Nana was down for a visit she would crack nuts with us.
My preference for these buttery cookies is to use pecans. When we first moved to Spain they were very difficult to find, but in recent years I’ve been able to count on two of the many stores I shop regularly to carry them.
Whichever I choose, the act of cracking the shells, removing the nut meats and chopping them finely brings back good memories. When growing up my mother, sister and I filled several containers with our favorite cookies. I remember layering them in a huge Tupperware container that was probably comparable to a 2 gallon bucket in size.
This recipe will make about five dozen bite sized cookies, depending on how large you make them. I get more cookies when I use a knife to portion the dough into six pieces and then make ten nut snowballs from each portion. The dough stores well in the refrigerator if it’s not convenient to bake the cookies right away.
I like to dredge the cookies in powdered sugar twice. The first time when they’re still warm from the oven and later when they’ve cooled all the way down. The amount of sugar is up to you. I’ve never coated mine thickly, but they still leave powdered sugar everywhere.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter 170 grams
- 1/2 cup sugar 118 grams
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 10 ml
- 2 cups flour 300 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 grams
- 1 cup nuts chopped fine
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- If making cookies right away, preheat the oven to 350F/180C
- Cream the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until fluffy.
- Add the flour, salt and nuts. Mix until a ball forms. I often use my hands to help bring the dough together.
- At this point you can chill the dough for a day or so if it’s not convenient to make them right away.
- Otherwise, form the dough into marble sized balls (a scant teaspoon), place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 15 – 17 minutes. Start checking around 12 minutes.
- Roll in powdered sugar as desired.
More cookies!
The original version of Mom’s Nut Snowballs was published in December 2013. They’re my favorite holiday cookies. For posterity’s sake (and my own amusement), here’s one of the photos from the original post.
My grandma made some like this and I haven’t had them for 20 years! I’m going to make them this holiday season.
I was thinking I’d like to try your cherry cookies! Thanks, Ali 🙂
Our favs but mine are in the freezer so I don’t eat them all at once!
Good idea! I’m afraid our are all gone 🙂
Hi Lidya,
I think I’ve seen similar cookies as Russian tea cookies, but I never got to make them. I’m from Russia, but nobody in my family ever made these.
I also have a lot of pecans, as my husband’s millionaire aunt is a bit crazy. She likes to peel pecans, so she orders huge bags of them, peels and gives to family members in sealed half gallon bags.
It will be a nice kids activity. I sent the recipe to print at the office.
Happy Holidays!
Thank you
When we first moved to Spain it was very difficult to find pecans. They either came from South Africa or California and were very expensive. I’d hoard mine like gold! This year it has been very easy to find them and many other ingredients that are commonly found in the US but unheard of in my corner of Spain just five years ago.
Lydia, I remember these from my childhood, but I’ve never made them. Perhaps this is the year to do that!
I hope you enjoy them!
This is such a classic cookie recipe. I have some of those old ones from my grandmother that call for Crisco, too. These are a tasty addition to a Christmas treats table.
Can you believe I have never made these? I loved reading about your experience with different nuts. Thanks for sharing with the cookie exchange.
I don’t think these cookies will last long with my family 🙂
They’s be a hit
On years when I get carried away with making cookies, I’ll make multiple batches of these. 🙂
I just pinned this. I love nut cookies and these look like winners!
They are really good. Now my daughter is making them for Christmas in her house. I love passing on the traditions 🙂
Lydia,
Visiting from Inspire Us Thursday linky party. These look great and I love family recipes. I make a similar cookie in a crescent shape but they tend to spread. I can’t wait to try your recipe. Pinned.
Annamaria
I love the crescent cookies with the cardamom, not sure if we’re talking about the same thing, but know I’m thinking about ’em! Thanks for dropping by 🙂
These sound fantastic! Thanks for sharing on the weekend re-Treat link party! Hope to see you again Thursday at 7PM.
Britni @ Play. Party. Pin.
They’re delicious! Thanks for dropping by 🙂
These look delicious especially with the nuts! Seems so easy to make and I almost always have all the ingredients listed including nuts, on hand. So I will try these out sometine. Thank you for sharing!
Linking up from “Family Fridays”.
Have a great day 🙂
Let me know how they turn out! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment 🙂
i love cookies rolled in powder sugar and they sound delicious with pecans. We have certain cookies from my Mom’s recipe book that we make every Christmas too! I can’t imagine having a Christmas without them. Thanks so much for sharing on the Four Seasons Blog Hop.
Thx for sharing on 4 Seasons Blog Hop. The cookies look wonderful. I have made a few different versions of nutty snow ball cookies, and wouldn’t you know, I can not find the recipe that was our favorite. They melted in your mouth with buttery, nuttery, scrumptiousness. Perhaps this time I will try your recipe!
I know what you mean! Short bread goodness 🙂
I love nuts and these cookies sound marvelous! I’m pinning the recipe to try soon.
This cookie recipe is almost exactly the one belonging to my Aunt Bibi, born about 1909. She did not use an egg or salt. The cookies were rolled long and lean to make”fingers” as in pecan fingers, and cooked at about 350 degrees, until browned and then cooled. She rolled them in powdered sugar. Absolutely delicious. Used finely chopped pecans in place of walnuts. Her daughter makes a similar recipe using the butter, and she adds chopped dates, which are hard to mix. Those are also delicious. Thank you so much for this recipe. Perfect for Christmas.
There are a ton of variations on this recipe. And they’re all so incredible good! I like the idea of adding dates. I always have some around, so I’ll try to remember to add some next time. 🙂