This cookie recipe is made with pecans and exhibits an almost shortbread-like texture that we LOVE. With just 6 ingredients and 10 minutes of active work, you’ll love these melt-in-your-mouth Buttery Pecan Snowball cookies!
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This cookie recipe is something that my family enjoyed around Christmas time a few decades ago, before I was born. For the last twenty years, though, we haven’t put it on our Christmas menu!
A few months ago I was thumbing through an old family cookbook, and found a bunch of old Italian Cookie Recipes, like these Walnut Cookies, this Traditional Italian Biscotti Recipe, and this Traditional Italian Pizzelle Recipe. The recipe that really stood out to me, though, were these Buttery Pecan Snowball Cookies that my grandmother put in our family recipe book! Every time I make them these days, my mom closes her eyes, sighs, and says they taste just like her childhood. She loves when I make them!
These Buttery Pecan Snowball Cookies are different than the typical cookie recipes that I’m used to making (think Soft and Chewy Monster Cookies, Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies, or even these Fast and Easy Maple Cookies).
They’re stiffer and more crumbly than the cookies I typically make, but around Christmas time, we just love them. These melt-in-you-mouth cookies remind us of familial traditions of the past. 🙂
What are Pecan Snowball Cookies?
Pecan Snowballs are a shortbread cookie filled with chopped pecans. They are formed in the shape of small spheres and coated with powdered sugar that make them resemble small snowballs!
These Buttery Pecan Snowball Cookies also go by many other names, including Russian Tea Cakes, Butterballs, Snowdrops, Pecan Butterballs, and Mexican Wedding Cookies. These cookies might have slight variations from one another, but their main ingredient make-up is the same!
Why Make this Recipe
- Great with Coffee: Whenever I make this Pecan Sandies Recipe, my mom will make a pot of coffee in the morning just so that she can eat her cookies with her coffee. Italian cookies tend to be crumblier than our typical choice of cookie, so a great way to soften them up is to eat them alongside a warm beverage.
- Delicious Shortbread: We looove shortbread here on The Foreign Fork, especially these Shortbread Cookies with Jam! It’s just so easy to throw together! There is no resting time or refrigeration time necessary. Instead, just cream some of the ingredients together and hand mix in the rest, and you’ll be ready to enjoy your cookies soon!
- Pecan Cookies: Pecans are my absolutely FAVORITE nut (try them out in my Instant Pot Sweet Potato Casserole), so I love that these cookies feature the delicious pecan flavor! These Buttery Pecan Snowball Cookies are crunchy from the pecans but then, upon your first bite, quickly turn soft and buttery. You’re going to love them!
Ingredients for Pecan Snowball Cookies
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Butter: This recipe is best with unsalted, softened butter. I always use unsalted butter for baking as it is much easier to control the salt concentration in the cookie that way. Make sure to leave your butter out on the counter for a few hours before baking so that it can soften to room temperature. The perfect internal temperature for softened butter is between 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Pecans: I love the pecans that are featured in this recipe! The original recipe from my grandmother called for 4 cups of pecans instead of 2, so that the cookies could also be rolled in pecans. If you’d like to add more pecans than what this blog post calls for, you are welcome to do so! I used pre-minced pecans, but you can also chop them in a nut chopper.
- Granulated Sugar: Many recipes for this type of cookie call for adding confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar) into the dough, but my grandma always used granulated sugar. They turn out great!
- Powdered Sugar: This is just for sprinkling on top of the baked cookies.
How to Make this Recipe
Step 1: Make the Dough
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Use an electric hand mixer to cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix again.
Sift together the flour and salt. Stir into the butter mixer.
Use a wooden spoon to mix in the pecans. The dough will be crumbly, like sand, but you should be able to form it into balls.
Step 2: Form the Cookies
Form the cookies into balls about 1 inch across. They will not grow or spread in the oven, so whatever size you form them is the size they will stay.
Step 3: Bake
Put the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes.
Once cooled, dust the cookies with powdered sugar and enjoy!
Variations
I love this Buttery Pecan Snowball Cookie recipe the way it is, but you can always try changing it up with these different variations:
- Nuts: I absolutely love Pecans! However, some recipes for this type of cookie call for using almonds instead! You can use whatever type of nut sounds good to you. Other great options are almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts or even chopped up macadamia nuts.
- Extra Pecans: The original version of this recipe from my grandmother includes 2 extra cups of pecans to roll the cookies in. I ended up cutting out this portion of the recipe, as I found that the dough was a little too dry to allow the pecans to stick. However, if you would like to roll the dough in additional pecans, chop up an additional cup or so, and you can!
- Extracts: Want to make the flavoring of this cookie even more exciting? Change up the type of extract you use! Don’t want to use vanilla? Try Almond Extract, Vanilla Butternut Flavoring, or anything else that sounds delicious to you!
Expert Tips
- Make sure to measure your flour correctly, using the scoop and level method!
- Allow the pecan snowball cookies to cool completely before dusting them with powdered sugar. If you dust them when they are still warm, the powdered sugar will melt into the cookie!
- Use a 1 Tbsp cookie scoop (#60) to get the best sizing for your Butterballs!
Recipe FAQs
These snowball cookies can be saved in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days!
This is a good question and one there could be many answers to. If your butter was too melted, it is likely that your cookies spread and went flat. This is why it is important to leave the butter on the counter to soften instead of attempting to soften it in the microwave (and risk some melted butter).
My family’s recipe also calls for granulated sugar and this has always worked well for us. If you are truly having issues and you’re positive that your butter is softened correctly, you can try subbing powdered sugar as this could help as well!
You may also need to chill the dough. This recipe should be fine without chilling, but if your cookies are spreading inexplicably, a 30-minute rest in the fridge might help them out.
It depends on who you ask and what you call them! When living in Italy I often found cookies very similar to these in the Italian Bakeries.
However, if you ask where Mexican Wedding Cookies originated, you’ll more than likely hear Mexico.
An article from TravelTips explains that both of these answers may be incorrect. The ingredients and techniques of the cookies date back to medieval Arab cooking!
Yes! Pecan Sandies, Mexican Wedding Cookies, and Pecan Snowball Cookies are terms all used interchangeably when discussing a recipe very similar to this. Most Pecan Sandies Recipes will instruct you to form the cookies into a disk instead of a ball. However, the concept, texture, and taste are normally very similar.
Pecan Snowball Cookies and Mexican Wedding Cookies are practically indistinguishable.
Ready for more festive baking? This ones a great kid recipe because you’re making Melted Snowman Cookies – so fun!
- Albanian Shortbread Cookies
- Algerian Shortbread Cookies with Jam
- Alfajores: Argentinian Cookie Sandwiches with Dulce de Leche
- Maamoul: Bahraini Cookies with Date Filling
Buttery Pecan Snowball Cookies
Equipment
- Wooden Spoon
- Cookie Sheet
- Oven Mitt
- Electric Hand Mixer
- Sifter
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 cups pecans, minced
- Powdered Sugar, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Use an electric hand mixer to cream together 1 cup butter and ¼ cup sugar until fluffy. Add 2 tsp vanilla and mix again.
- Sift together 2 cups flour and ½ tsp salt. Stir into the butter mixer.
- Use a wooden spoon to mix in 2 cups pecans. The dough will be crumbly, like sand, but you should be able to form it into balls.
- Form the cookies into balls about 1 inch across. They will not grow or spread in the oven, so whatever size you form them is the size they will stay. Put the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes.
- Once cooled, dust the cookies with powdered sugar and enjoy!
Notes
- Butter: This recipe is best with unsalted, softened butter. I always use unsalted butter for baking as it is much easier to control the salt concentration in the cookie that way. Make sure to leave your butter out on the counter for a few hours before baking so that it can soften to room temperature. The perfect internal temperature for softened butter is between 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Pecans: I love the pecans that are featured in this recipe! The original recipe from my grandmother called for 4 cups of pecans instead of 2, so that the cookies could also be rolled in pecans. If you’d like to add more pecans than what this blog post calls for, you are welcome to do so! I used pre-minced pecans, but you can also chop them in a nut chopper.
- Granulated Sugar: Many recipes for this type of cookie call for adding confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar) into the dough, but my grandma always used granulated sugar. They turn out great!
- Powdered Sugar: This is just for sprinkling on top of the baked cookies.
- Make sure to measure your flour correctly, using the scoop and level method!
- Allow the cookies to cool completely before dusting them with powdered sugar.
- If you dust them when they are still warm, the powdered sugar will melt into the cookie! Use a 1 Tbsp cookie scoop (#60) to get the best sizing for your Butterballs!
Jackie Ertz says
My absolute favorite cookie! My recipe that I’ve had for 50 years is about the same as yours and I make it several times a year. Yum!
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
Hi Jackie, this is my grandma’s recipe, so it is an extra special compliment that you like it 🙂 Thank you for letting me know, I hope you continue to enjoy the cookie for years to come!
Rebecca Lucille Hayes says
Love these cookies. Easy to make and taste so good. Hard to stop eating them.
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
So glad you liked them Rebecca! Thank you for leaving a review and letting me know 🙂
Cindy Hicks says
These cookies were my favorite Christmas cookies — and still are! This recipe brings back so many fond memories of my mom’s ‘ pecan sandies!’ That’s what we called them. From now on this will be my go to pecan sandies or Christmas snowballs recipe! Thank you for bringing back those great memories!
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
Hi Cindy, I love when my recipes bring back good memories for my readers! This recipe was my grandmother’s so it is special and nostalgic to me, too 🙂 I hope you enjoy them!