Walnut Snowballs Recipes

Steps:

• Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
• Finely chop 1/2 cup of the walnuts and set aside. Process the remaining 3/4 cup walnuts with 1/2 cup of the sugar in a food processor until very finely ground, about 1 minute. Add the butter and vanilla and process until smooth, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt and process until most of the dough forms a ball and is completely combined. Scrape the dough into a bowl with a rubber spatula and fold in the chocolate chips and reserved chopped walnuts.
• Roll mounded teaspoons of the dough into 1-inch balls and space evenly apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake the cookies, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, until cracked on top and mostly firm but still slightly springy when pressed, about 18 minutes (they will firm up out of the oven). Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes; you want them to be slightly warm for the first tossing in sugar.
• Meanwhile, put the remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Toss the warm cookies very gently in the sugar until evenly coated. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes, then toss again in the sugar so they are very white. The cookies will keep in a little bit of extra sugar in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Steps:

• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread the walnuts on another baking sheet and bake until toasted, about 10 minutes. Let cool, then pulse the nuts in a food processor until finely ground. Transfer to a small bowl and add the rum and vanilla; let soak at least 30 minutes.
• Whisk the flour, 1 teaspoon nutmeg and the salt in a medium bowl. Beat the butter, egg yolk and 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the walnut-rum mixture until fluffy, about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture, then increase the speed to medium high and beat until combined. Turn out the dough onto a large sheet of plastic wrap and pat into a disk; wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
• Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into 1-inch balls and arrange 1 inch apart on the prepared pans. Bake until light golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on the pans.
• Put the remaining 1 cup confectioners' sugar and 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg in a medium bowl. Gently roll the warm cookies in the confectioners' sugar mixture. Transfer to a rack to cool completely; the cookies will firm up as they cool. Once cool, reroll in the confectioners' sugar mixture.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cream the butter with 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla. Mix in the flour, pecans, and salt. Roll about 1 tablespoon or so of dough into balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake in preheated oven until bottoms are golden, about 15 minutes. Do not allow these cookies to get too brown: it's better to undercook them than to overcook them. While cookies are still hot, roll them in confectioners' sugar. Once they have cooled, roll them in confectioners' sugar once more.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325˚F (170˚C).
• Place the walnuts in a ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them until crushed.
• In a large bowl, combine crushed walnuts, flour, sugar, softened butter, vanilla and mix with a rubber spatula until well combined.
• Roll the dough into ping pong ball-sized spheres.
• Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the bottom of the cookies is slightly brown.
• While the cookies are still warm, sift powdered sugar over the cookies.
• Enjoy!