Snowball Cookies with Mini Chocolate Chips
These melt-in-your mouth snowball cookies with mini chocolate chips are an essential part of any holiday cookie tray! Buttery and packed with walnuts, they are completely pop-able. Vegetarian.
Note: This recipe is NOT dairy free. It was published before Cook Nourish Bliss transitioned to dairy free recipes and remains popular with long time readers. You can try using substitutions to make it dairy free, however I have not tested this myself and can’t say how it will turn out. Or, you can try these vegan snowball cookies instead!
Snowball cookies are an essential part of Christmas for me. I know they have various other names, but to me they will always be snowballs.
You see, my grandma made them every single year for as long as I can remember when I was growing up. She typically used a little food coloring to tint some of them red and green.
I always insisted that the red ones tasted best. Obviously. It makes me laugh to think about some of the silly things I did when I was a kid.
I also vaguely remember refusing to eat the white ones since they were not as festive. Oh my, I’m sure I was a pain.
I’ve tested out several recipes over the years to find the one that is closest to what I remember from my grandma’s version.
And this, my friends, is it.
I added some mini chocolate chips to the batter, because chocolate clearly makes everything better, but otherwise these are so close to the ones I remember.
They have that perfect melt-in-your mouth quality, a little crunch from the walnuts and just the right amount of sweetness from the roll in confectioners’ sugar and mini chocolate chips.
Additional Cookie Recipes You Might Enjoy:
- Caramel Latte Thumbprint Cookies
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Cookies
- Grandma’s Butter Horns
- Vanilla Chai Shortbread Cookies
Did you make this recipe? Rate and review it down below! I’d love to hear from you.
Snowball Cookies with Mini Chocolate Chips
These melt-in-your mouth snowball cookies with mini chocolate chips are an essential part of any holiday cookie tray! Buttery and packed with walnuts, they are completely pop-able. Vegetarian.
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw walnuts, divided
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- ⅓ cup superfine sugar*
- ½ of a vanilla bean
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Add 1 cup of the walnuts to the bowl of a food processor. Process for about 10 to 15 seconds, until ground to the texture of coarse cornmeal. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add the remaining 1 cup walnuts to the food processor and process for about 5 seconds, until they are coarsely chopped. Add to the bowl with the ground walnuts.
- Next, add the flour and salt to the same bowl. Mix all the ingredients to combine.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter and superfine sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds to the bowl, as well as the vanilla extract. Beat until combined.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in the walnut-flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on low speed for another 7 to 10 seconds, until the dough is cohesive. Remove the bowl from the mixer and gently fold in the mini chocolate chips.
- Scoop about 1 tablespoon of dough at a time (I used my small dough scoop) and roll into a ball. Place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 1 inch apart.
- Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking. The cookies should be a pale golden color and the bottoms should just be slightly brown.
- Let the cookies cool directly on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cool, add the confectioners’ sugar to a bowl. Gently roll the cookies in the sugar to coat all the sides. If desired, you can re-roll the cookies before serving.
Notes
*Don’t have superfine sugar on hand? No problem, you can make your own. Place regular granulated sugar in a food processor and process for 30 seconds (1 cup plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar will yield 1 cup superfine sugar).
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 218Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 68mgCarbohydrates: 21gFiber: 1gSugar: 12gProtein: 3g
Nutrition data shown is an estimate provided by an online calculator and is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered a substitute for a medical professional’s advice.
Hi Ashley, how long can I keep this cookies cause I’m thinking to make this ahead before christmas of course and what is the best way to store them? It’s around 30 degrees here in oz. Thank you n merry xmas!
Hi Angelika! These will keep well for about 3 to 5 days stored in an airtight container (I’ve always just left them at room temperature). If needed, I’ll dust them again lightly with more confectioners’ sugar before serving! And merry christmas to you as well!
Want to make these, but not to sure about certainterms. Can you expand on the ingredient that calls for 1/2 vanilla bean? Is it an actual bean cut in half? Sorry if this is a silly question.
Hi Mary! Not silly at all. Yes, so what I normally do is split a whole vanilla bean lengthwise and then scrape out half of the seeds to use in here. You can save the remaining half for something else or sometimes I’ll just put all the seeds in the cookies 🙂 Let me know if you have more questions!
Thank you for your help! I’ll send an update after I make them yum
Yes, please do! Enjoy!
I misplaced my recipe for these awesome cookies a couple of years ago. My friends mom always made these at Christmas, I was ten years old and LOVED them. I have viewed several “Snowball Cookie” recipes and if my memory serves me correctly; these seem like the same ones. I will make them next week and let you know if this is the exact recipe. Thank you so much Ashley. I will be keeping up with your blog. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2014. 🙂 🙂
Hi Betty! Yes, you’ll have to let me know if this is the recipe! I love snowball cookies for Christmas – I think they are my favorite treat to make this time of the year. Merry Christmas to you as well!
This is very similar to my grandmother’s recipe – we use 24 hersey kisses and cover them in the dough! I recently found that using the peppermint kisses makes them extra holiday-ish. I’m going to have to try the mini chocolate chips now!
I’ve never thought about wrapping the dough around kisses – love that idea!
Your grandma would be proud of you!
Thanks Aunt Angel : )
I can’t believe I’ve never made snowball cookies before. Where has this been all my life?! Looks like I know what I’ll be doing tonight 🙂
Yes! You need to make snowballs! haha. One of the all-time greatest Christmas cookies, well at least in my opinion : )
Ashley, these snowballs were just so tasty! I love that we made similar recipes! Thank you so much for sending them to me!
I’m so glad you liked them : )
These are divine! I love these type of cookies! And very nice photos, too. I just made almond crescent cookies dusted with powdered sugar and had a little hard time getting good photos of white cookies. 🙂
It took me a number of tries to get these shots : ) haha.
Hi Ashley! Delicious….They must be so addictive!!!
Was your grandmother by any chance of Greek decent? because these look a lot like Kourambiedes to me (the traditional Greek Xmas cookie) 🙂 🙂
She is Hungarian actually! I’ll have to check out the Greek version – I love any type of cookie like these : )
I love this idea!! And I love little snowballs too…so delish.
Thanks Cathy! These are definitely one of my very favorite Christmas cookies : )