5-Ingredient Pecan Snowball Cookies

These sweet, soft, buttery pecan snowball cookies taste like melt-in-your-mouth shortbread coated in powdered sugar! With only 5 simple ingredients and their adorable snowball shape, they’re the perfect easy Christmas cookies you can whip up in just 30 minutes.

What are snowball cookies?

Also known as Mexican wedding cookies or Russian tea cakes, snowballs are essentially nutty shortbread cookies made with butter, flour, powdered sugar, vanilla, and finely chopped nuts. They’re famous for their soft, meltaway texture, and their round shape and powdered sugar coating also make them look like festive Christmas snowballs!

I love decorating sugar cookies or making cute tree-shaped spritz cookies during the holidays, but snowballs are some of the quickest and simplest Christmas cookies you can make. And they’re always a crowd favorite! I’ll walk you through how to make your own easy snowball cookies at home, along with my best tips to keep them round, fluffy, and scrumptiously soft.

Ingredients for Christmas Snowball Cookies

• Pecans or Nuts of Choice. Instead of a traditional pecan snowball cookie recipe, I decided to make my snowball cookies with pecans and pistachios for a flavor twist. Feel free to use any nuts you like—just make sure they’re finely chopped.
• All-Purpose Flour. The most reliable flour option for soft snowball cookies that maintain their round, fluffy shape. I haven’t tested making gluten-free snowball cookies yet, but I’d recommend using a 1-to-1 GF baking flour if you’d like to try it out.
• Salted Butter. If you’re using unsalted butter, add ¼ tsp salt. For the best & fluffiest texture, let your butter soften to room temperature before making the cookie dough.
• Powdered Sugar. The superfine texture of confectioners sugar is the key to making melt in your mouth shortbread cookies like these. Half of the powdered sugar goes into the dough, and you’ll use the other half to coat your snowballs after baking.
• Vanilla Extract. A dash of vanilla gives these Christmas cookies another layer of sweet, comforting flavor, or substitute with almond extract for a tasty alternative.

How to Make Snowball Cookies

I love Christmas snowball cookies because they look so elegant & festive, but they’re so freaking simple—no complicated steps or fancy equipment required. All you’ll need is an electric hand mixer to make the dough, a small cookie scoop, and a couple of baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

1 Toast & Chop Nuts

First, I recommend toasting your pecans or nuts of choice in the oven at 350°F (180°C) for 8-10 minutes, then let them cool to the touch before chopping. (This is optional but can add loads of comforting flavor!)

Then, you can either pulse the nuts in a food processor until you’ve got a fine texture or finely chop them by hand. It’s okay to have some larger chunks, but smaller pieces are ideal for this recipe.

Tip: Soften butter—but don’t let it get too soft.

Softened butter will trap pockets of air when creamed together with powdered sugar, giving your cookies a light, fluffy texture. But if the butter is too soft or melted, it can cause snowball cookies to spread & flatten in the oven. To prevent this, let the butter sit at room temperature for around 30-60 minutes—until it’s soft & pliable, but not yet melting or collapsing.

2 Combine Dry & Wet Ingredients Separately

In one bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour and finely chopped nuts. 

In a separate bowl, use a hand mixer to cream together softened butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. (Add ¼ tsp salt if you’re using unsalted butter.) Beat for 1-2 minutes on medium speed, until the wet mixture is fluffy & creamy.

3 Add Dry Mixture into the Wet

Pour the flour mixture into the wet mixture and beat on low speed for a few minutes, until a dough forms. Once all the flour is integrated, use your hands and/or a rubber spatula to collect & press the dough together.

Tip: Chill dough if needed.

If your dough feels too soft or too sticky (or if the temperature is quite warm in your kitchen), consider chilling it in the fridge for 30-60 minutes before rolling it into balls. This will make the dough easier to work with and can help prevent the cookies from spreading in the oven.

4 Portion Dough into Balls

Use a small cookie scoop (#50 or 1.2-Tbsp) to portion the dough, rolling each scoop between your hands to form ~1-inch balls. Transfer the dough balls to baking sheets lined with parchment paper, leaving some space between them.

5 Bake Until Undersides are Lightly Browned

Bake snowball cookies for 14-16 minutes at 350°F (180°C), being careful not to overbake. The bottoms of your cookies should be lightly browned, but the tops will still be light. Don’t wait for the tops to brown if you want soft, melt in your mouth snowball cookies!

Tip: Underbake rather than overbake.

I find that a little undercooked is better than overcooked for this recipe—15 minutes was the sweet spot for me.

But even though I ended up overbaking my first batch, they still tasted delicious! The longer bake time just made the texture a bit less melty & a bit more firm like a true shortbread.

6 Coat with Powdered Sugar

Once the undersides start to brown, remove your snowball cookies from the oven and let them cool on the pan for 1-2 minutes. While they’re still warm but cool enough to handle, roll each cookie in powdered sugar until well-coated. Then, you can enjoy them while they’re warm or transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Storage

Once cooled, store pecan snowball cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 7-10 days. These are great holiday cookies to give as edible gifts or to keep in your pantry throughout the season because they taste just as amazing even after sitting for days!