Cream Cheese Snowball Cookies
Melt in your mouth, sweet pecan goodness--these Cream Cheese Pecan Snowball Christmas Cookies are a fun twist to a traditional favorite. Only a few ingredients and no chilling required. These will be a new holiday family tradition!
Servings: 28 cookies (approximately)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°.
- In a food processor, pulse pecans and 2 T powdered sugar until broken down into very small pieces. (This will sweeten the pecans slightly).
- In a medium bowl, using a standing or hand mixer, cream together cream cheese, powdered sugar (1/2 cup), and butter until smooth and creamy. Add in vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- Slowly add in flour and salt and beat until fully incorporated. Add in pecans and mix together on low speed or stir them in.
- Roll into balls (approx. 1 inch) or use a 1 Tablespoon cookie scoop and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet with slight space in between(you can use a 1 ½ T cookie scoop--this will make approx. 21 cookies).
- Bake for 14-17 minutes or until the edges/bottom just start to become lightly golden. Cool for several minutes and before fully cool, roll into powdered sugar. Once fully cooled, roll again (or maybe two more times!) in powdered sugar.
- Store in an airtight container!
Notes
You don't have to make your snowball cookies with pecans. They are my personal favorite. However, pecans are not cheap. You could use almonds or walnuts, or a combination of any of these three nuts instead.
Baking these cream cheese pecan snowball cookies at lower heat for a bit longer keeps them from drying out. Keeping the heat lower when baking these cookies allows them to cook nice and even without drying out too fast. No one wants a dry cookies!
For an even better pecan flavor, toast your pecans before adding them into the food processor. It's an added step, one I did not include into the actual recipe. But lightly toasting the pecans, stove top or in the oven, brings out a rich nutty flavor that nothing compares to.
The hardest part about cookies of all kinds: you don't want to over bake these and you don't want to under bake them. With snowball cookies, you REALLY don't want to over bake them. Since there aren't any eggs, under baking isn't the worst thing. But too much makes for a dried out cookie. Keep a close eye on these and know they will bake a touch more before you move them off the pan.
If you chill the cookie dough, roll it into balls first. Bring the dough to room temperature before baking for best results.
Nutrition
Calories: 113kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 73mg | Potassium: 30mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 139IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 1mg