I love making snowball cookies during the holidays! They’re also known as Mexican Wedding Cookies or Russian Tea Cakes but snowballs feels more Christmas-y. Typically raw walnuts or pecans are used, but I was given the loveliest basket of assorted candied nuts from Santé Nuts and chose my favorite, candied pecans.
The toasted nuts add warmth to the cookies, and to account for the sugar coating, I adjusted the amount of powdered sugar in the dough so it wouldn’t overpower the nutty flavor. With the sweet, there’s also a little spice, in the form of cardamom. A dash of it makes these cookies very festive. Happy holidays!
Pecan Cardamom Snowball Cookies
Makes 40
Ingredients:
3/4 cup Santé candied pecans
2 cups all purpose flour, divided
1 1/3 cup powdered sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter, 1/2” cubed, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
In a food processor, add pecans and 1/2 cup flour. Pulse until coarsely ground. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/3 cup powdered sugar, cardamom and salt. Pulse until incorporated. Transfer to a medium bowl.
Add the butter to the food processor and blend until creamy. Add vanilla and blend till incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the food processor. Add the nut mixture and blend until dry ingredients are incorporated and dough starts to clump together. Spoon the dough into a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.
Roll 1” tablespoon-sized balls and space them 1” apart. See note below for crescents.
Bake about 18 minutes, until pale and firm on top and golden underneath. Cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes. Then transfer to a rack to cool for 30 minutes.
Place remaining 1 cup powdered sugar in a bowl. Whisk to remove any lumps. One at a time, coat each cookie in powdered sugar. Place on a rack to cool completely. The cookies will continue to develop flavor the longer they sit. I prefer to eat them the next day.
When ready to serve, sift remaining powdered sugar over cookies.
Note: For the crescents, roll each into a ball, then form a log about 3/4″ thick. Pinch the ends and curve slightly to form a crescent shape. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Refrigerate on the prepared half sheet, for about 10 minutes, so when baking, they hold their shape. Proceed with the baking time above.
If you make these cookies, I’d love to see! Share with me on Instagram by tagging @pastrywithjenn.
This post is sponsored by Santé Nuts. All opinions are my own.
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