
My friend, Elinor, made these cookies for a church activity a couple of weeks ago. They got devoured in minutes, and even though I ate at least four myself, I was left wanting more and more and more! I begged for the recipe and was so excited to see that it is a simple recipe with only five basic ingredients that I always have on hand.
The powder sugar coated cookies have the perfect texture, and the buttery-shortbread-like flavor is very addicting! Give me all the Christmas Cookies and treats!
These pretty and festive looking cookies are definitely going on my list of things to make for neighbors and friends this year! Yummy, Yum, Yum!
More Holiday Treats for Neighbors & Friends
- Rebecca’s Amazing Caramels
- Reindeer Poop Fudge Recipe
- Christmas Marshmallow Caramel Popcorn
- Easy Chocolate Cream Cheese Truffles
- Old Fashioned Cherry Mash Chocolates
- Mom’s Best Peanut Brittle Recipe
how to make holiday snowball cookies
- In a stand mixer, cream together butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla.
- Using a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together flour and salt, and then mix into the butter mixture.
- Next, cover and chill for 1-2 hours.
- Roll dough (it will be a little crumbly) into 1″ balls and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes until set…the very bottom with be a very light brown.
- Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a cooling rack for a couple of minutes.
- While cookies are still warm, roll in additional powered sugar.
- Let cookies cool again and then roll in powdered sugar again.
- Enjoy!
Tips for making Holiday Snowball Cookies
- If you want, you can add 1 1/2 cup very finely chopped pecans to make these cookies more like a Mexican Wedding Cookie. Walnuts are another mix-in option for these cookies.
- Use a cookie scoop to begin shaping the dough into balls.
- For the first coating of powdered sugar, make sure to roll the cookies in the powdered sugar while they’re still warm. This will cause the powdered sugar to become sticky and adhere to the cookies. As a result, the second coating of powdered sugar will cling to the surface, forming a powdery and delicious covering for the shortbread-like cookie.
- The cookies with stay good in an airtight container on the counter up to four days. You can also freeze the cookies up to six months. If freezing the cookies, let them cool completely before placing them in airtight containers to maintain their shape and not crumble. You don’t want to freeze them in Ziploc bags.

baker’s tools:
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- ¾ cup powdered sugar, plus more for rolling cookies in
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp salt, scant
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- In a stand mixer, cream together butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla.
- Using a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together flour and salt, and then mix into the butter mixture.
- Next, cover and chill for 1-2 hours.
- Roll dough (it will be a little crumbly) into 1" balls and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes until set...the very bottom with be a very light brown.
- Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a cooling rack for a few minutes.
- While cookies are still warm, roll in additional powered sugar.
- Let cookies cool again and then roll in powdered sugar again.
- Enjoy!
Awesome Cookie Recipes








do you think these will freeze well?
My only concern with freezing these is that when they defrost the powdered sugar might get a little clumpy. I think it would work if you just did the one dusting of powdered sugar when they were warm, let them cool completely before freezing and then do the second coating of powdered sugar after they are completely defrosted and back to room temperature.
I made them tonight, they turned out great. I used my small pc scoop so the cookies were slighty smaller & made about 3 dozen
Awesome. I should do that next time…
I love making these! Great for holiday parties!
Yay! I love hearing that Nicole!
We need to go dairy free in my household. Do you think I can use a vegan butter or margarine instead?
Yes, you definitely can, I would add a little butter flavoring (extract) if possible to give it a little more buttery flavor!