Nutty Snowball Cookies

Connect with Hefty @ How to freeze cookies and other holiday treats and Printable Treat Bag Toppers.

My 236th recipe, "Nutty Snowball Cookies", an easy Christmas themed Cookie. When I grew up, I have seen my mom make sweets and snacks during festivals like Diwali and Krishna Jeyanthi. While I used to enjoy eating them, she always made sure that she shared them with our neighbors, friends and family too. After marriage, I too started to follow in her foot steps and tend to share snacks and sweets with my friends.  To me, homemade goodies make the best gifts. I love the holiday season. Starting from about the time of Thanksgiving till about New Year, the whole city turns festive. I too get excited and start baking a lot during the month of December. Especially, I tend to make stuff like gingerbread house or other cookies and then use it as a small gift to show my love for my friends around here.

Similar to my cooking, while I am baking too, I tend to stick with simple recipes but ones which are super delicious. Since it has already started snowing in most parts of the country here, I decided to bake something white, resembling the snow which would be perfect for Christmas as well. These Nutty Snowball Cookies were inspired by the Lime meltaways I had posted a couple of months ago. These are very simple to make and has a wonderful nutty flavor. Also, just as pretty as it looks, it also tastes amazing. To top it all, it just melts in your mouth and you can never stop with just one. Also, if you want to give yourself a head start and avoid the last minute rush, these snowball cookies are the best one to make ahead and freeze. You can find helpful tips about freezing cookies on Hefty's website.

Since the recipe is easy to make, I always make a large batch of it and keep it handy at home. While I have tried many other ways of storing cookies, I used to always fail at retaining the freshness. Once I started using the Hefty Slider Storage Bags, I no more have that trouble. I can store the cookies fresh for atleast a few days. This also help when I have to send the cookies to my friends via the postal service. And the Hefty's Printable Treat bag topper's make it even more easier to turn the storage bag into a gift bag.  All you need is a Quart sized Hefty Slider Storage Bag and then just download and print your favorite design from their website. I love their Happy Holiday theme which is bright red and beautiful. You can check out their other themes from their website. They have Christmas tree, Snow flakes, etc. which is perfect for the season.

Nutty Snowball Cookies

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Prep Time 40 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Ingredients

  

• All purpose Flour - 1 ¾ Cup + 2 Tbsp *Refer notes
• Corn Starch - 2 Tbsp
• Nuts - 1 Cup Finely chopped - I used a mix of cashews, pistachios, almonds and pecans.
• Butter Dairy/Non Dairy - 2 sticks / 1 Cup (softened, at room temperature)
• Sugar - ¼ Cup
• Vanilla Extract - 1 Tbsp
• Powdered Sugar - As needed for dusting.

Instructions

 

• First, add the all purpose flour, corn starch and chopped nuts into a mixing bowl. Combine well and keep aside.
  
    
• Add the softened butter to a large mixing bowl along with the sugar and vanilla extract. Using a hand/stand mixer, beat until pale and fluffy.
  
    
• Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture little by little and beat in low speed until combined. You can also switch to a spatula/fork to mix in case you are not able to do it with the hand mixer. Once mixed, refrigerate the dough for about 15 mins.
  
    
• Pull the dough out of the refrigerate and take a small portion of the dough and shape it into a ball. Place it on a greased or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Repeat for the remaining dough and once done, refrigerate the dough balls for 15 mins.
  
    
• Preheat an oven to 325 F. Bake the cookies for about 20 mins until it starts to turn slightly golden. Pull them out of the oven and let them cool at room temperature.
  
    
• Take a Hefty Storage Slider Bag and add about ¼ cup of powdered sugar. You can add more if needed. After 5-10 mins, when the cookies are still slightly warm, drop them gently into the Hefty Storage Slider Bag and turn them around so that they get coated with the powder sugar. Remove the cookie from the bag and place it on a cooling rack / plate and let it come to room temperature. Once the cookies are cooled completely, repeat the process one more time for a second coating of powdered sugar.
  
    
  
    
• Store the cookies in a Hefty Storage Slider Bag and it would stay good for a few days to enjoy.
  
    

Notes | FAQ

- 1 ¾ cups + 2 Tbsp of all purpose flour = 2 Cups - 2 Tbsp of flour. You can just measure 2 Cups of flour and then remove 2 Tbsp from it.
- Refrigerating the cookie dough is essential to make sure that the cookies retain their shape while baking. If not they will flatten out while baking.
- The cookie will appear soft and undercooked when you pull it out from the oven. But it will solidify after cooling.
- The baking time completely depends on the size of your cookies. It can take anywhere from 12 mins to 25 mins. So look out for the color of the cookies while pulling them out.
- The cookie tastes best after cooling for a few hours.
- You can use a quart sized Hefty Storage Slider bag to gift these cookies. You can download the Printable Treat Bag Toppers from the Hefty Site.
- The cookie can also be put in a freezer and then when needed you can thaw it a bit and then bake. You can visit the Hefty site to learn about cookie freezing tips.

 
If you want to see how I did my Happy Holiday gift bag decoration, it is right here.

- Visit Hefty's site, download your favorite holiday bag topper template and print it out.
- Fold it in the middle and cut the excess paper.
- Staple or stick it on top of your Hefty Slider bag.
- Optionally, punch holes on the top and thread a nice ribbon.

The bright red color Happy Holiday theme was my favorite. Do check out their website and let me know which one is your favorite ?