Easy Christmas Pecan Balls
These snowball cookies are surprisingly easy to make. Pecans can be finely chopped or coarsely ground in a food processor and toasting them first makes all the difference. I could not find a way to make these with less butter, I tried! (RECIPE CAN BE DOUBLED) - Jenny Jones
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Makes: about 2 dozen
Ingredients:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 stick butter (1/2 cup/4 ounces/113 g), softened (I use unsalted)
- 1 cup finely chopped toasted pecans (walnuts work too)
- 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar for rolling
Instructions:
- Put all ingredients except powdered sugar into a large bowl.
- Mix thoroughly by hand, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Roll cookies by hand into 1-inch balls.
- Place on ungreased or parchment-lined cookie sheet an inch apart.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until set but not brown.
- Let stand on cookie sheet about 2 minutes, then gently roll each one gently in powdered sugar. Let cookies cool.
- Once they cool (15-20 minutes), roll again (gently) in powdered sugar. Store loosely covered.
To Toast Nuts: Place on ungreased baking pan and bake at 350° F for 8-10 minutes. Keep an eye so they don't burn. Cool, then chop.
Want to Freeze Them? Click here to see how.
So good! My mother-in-law make these every Christmas and I’ve been eating them for 20 years. I can’t see her this year unfortunately, but I decided to try yours. They were amazing and so easy! I’m making my second batch for New Years Eve later. Thank you for the tip on roasting the pecans. Have a great 2021!
I just made them . They are amazingly delicious. I love them and unfortunately I couldn’t stop eating them. Thanks fir sharing thus recipe. 😋
Jenny is right , anyone can make these . I made them with some pecans from Tennessee that my Dad in law gave us . So delicious 12/30/20.
Thanks Jenny you’re a gem💕be well.
Mahalo Jenny for the easy yet awesome recipe!
I didn’t have pecans but used macadamia nuts instead.
Stay safe and Aloha to you & yours!
Sasha G
Can you substitute with walnuts? Merry Christmas Jenny!!
Hi Jenny! My son and I loved your pecan balls; I just made them tonight for the first time. I hope you have a great holiday.
Hello Jenny thank you for sharing this recipe. I love these cookies but I will use powdered sugar instead of regular sugar next time!
Jenny, I love you! These cookies are so easy and so delicious. There are lots of videos out there, but I just love watching yours.
Jenny
I’ve been making your cookies for years and this is my all time favorite cookie to make at Christmas
I love all your recipes and miss your you tube channel
Omg! Just made these today 12/23/20 so good. They turned out perfect and so soft. I followed the recipe to a T!! Yummy!! I will be making these every year from now on I always thought they was hard to make. You made it so easy for me. My mom use to make these every year but she always made it look hard. LOL Thank you so much!! Merry Christmas!!
Easy peasy! Came out perfect. I had no idea these were so easy to make. Thank you Jen and have a Merry Merry Christmas!!!
We made cookies. Turned out crumbly,so added a pinch more butter to foam dough. After baking and sugering twice, cookies tasted dry. Pecans smelt wonderful after toasting for 8 minutes.
Thanks Jennie for all and merry Christmas.
Make sure to aerate your flour before measuring. Using too much flour might cause the pecan balls to be crumbly. Also, try letting them cool longer than 2 minutes (try 5 minutes) and handle them very gently when rolling.
Can these be frozen once prepared? (After dipping in sugar coating twice)?
We did, Mom made 10 doz ands sometimes they didn’t last. Day bought a deep freezer with a lock. My brother figured it out. Merry Christmas
Can I use self rising flour. Don’t have any all purpose
That was so cute when all the cookies were gone then you were eating the cookie and as you talked so cute. I laughed so hard. Thank you for your video.
Can I make it with walnuts instead of pecans?
Yes you can use walnuts in place of pecans
Made these cookies today bit substituted granulated suger with Stevie. They are delicious and as easy as Jenny says! Thanks Jenny.
Thanks for the video, we use to call them Butter Balls and they are so good
My neighbours comment after she could not stop eating them.
They were DEADLY
Can you make these cookies with almond flour or half it with all purpose flour? I love working with Almond Flour.
I substituted half of the flour with almond flour and it came out just as delicious!
I made a batch but not sure if I got the texture right. Should it be a bit dry with very fine crumbs? What should the final texture be like?
Hello Manny,
The same thing happened to me. Not sure what went wrong. I think I may have over baked them because my oven is a little bit tricky. At 350 for 15 minutes they were not cooked at all.
I too made them today 12/22/20 i doubled up on the batter and they were very crumbly. Almost under cooked but boy were they delicious.
Hi Manny, I just made mine today ( 12/22/20), and have the exact same problem. Mine came out of the oven so crumbly, that I couldn’t even pick them up to roll them in powdered sugar. They just literally crumbled. Even the crumbs sure are tasty though!
Can I make the dough the night before?
Yes I do that all the time
Jenny, Love your easy homemade recipes! My older sister used to make Snowball cookies every Christmas. When she passed away years ago I misplaced the recipe but from memory yours seems pretty much the same.
Thanks so much for reminding me of these wonderful treats and my sister!
Carol
Happy Holidays Jenny, my family and I really enjoy your recipes easy to follow and very tasty Thank you from all our tummy’s ?
Hi Jenny, I love your recipes and your videos, tey are always a big hit in our home! Thank you!
Can you please tell me where you find your gloves? The colors are so much fun to cook with!
Love ya Jenny! Keep cooking.
I love this chick!
Jenny,
I miss your talk show. Keep up the recipes. I will be making the pecan cookies this afternoon. I’ll have to hide them from my husband. Maybe I won’t cuz they’ll already be in my stomach. Ha!
Can I use King Arthur’s unbleached flour instead of the pastry flour?
Thank you
The recipe calls for all purpose flour, not pastry flour and I believe KA unbleached is all purpose flour.
Your ideo popped up n I watched it. After you snuck the cookie, you had my heart… then I made the cookies. Now you have my gratitude. Both were just what I needed to help with the times… I work at a sr retirement home n we were not even out of a lockdown due to one resident when 1 of staff n 5 more residents were positive.. they just, of course dont understand!!! But they will understand this when I get the kitchen to make them for me to take as afternoon snack!!!
I just wanted to say what a kind person you are! These are tough times & you CAN make it through this. You CAN do hard things! One day at a time & you share your time & love with us! Thank you! Love Lisa
I was always afraid to make these, never knew how easy they could be! Made exactly as directed and turned out fabulous thank you!
Jenny
I love these cookies. I have never made them before and they are great.
Good holiday fun.
Could I substitute honey for sugar n not roll my daughters in powdered sugar?
Hi Jenny, I’m half Italian so I make very difficult cookies and pastries for Christmas, but now that I have arthritis, I’m looking for more simple ones. Yours look so easy compared to my usual rolling, frying, twice baked, grating, not easy to do recipes.
I’ve always called these wedding cookies, but never tried making them. I will make 2 batches; one with walnuts, one with pecans. I send baked goods to my children every year (one is 3,500 miles away, the other a 5 hour drive). I can’t visit them this year so I will be including them in my cookie tray. Thanks so much for showing us how to make them!
To Debbie who asked about using honey instead of sugar, that probably would not work if you tried to roll them. They would fall apart. What you could do is mix a half cup of honey, a tsp. granulated sugar, 1 tsp. water, heat on stove and cook on med- low 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly (do not burn). Let cool, then drizzle the honey over the cooled balls as a glaze.
I use Lankato sweetener in all baking/cooking that requires sugar. You can buy granulated and they even have powdered sugar. Some stores have it or Amazon.
I make these every year for Christmas… it’s a family favorite. My recipe calls for powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar but I think this year I might try your recipe. Because my son has nut allergies, I leave out the nuts but flatten out the dough to a disc, hide 4 or so chocolate chips inside, roll into balls and bake cookies as directed. I finish them off with the powdered sugar coating as the recipe directs. My daughter loves Andes mints, so I chop up mints and use those instead of chocolate chips in her batch.
Absolutely delish! Will make them over and over again.
It’s easy to see that the cookies disappear quickly so I was wondering if they
can be frozen. Thanks.
Please see my note in the recipe on freezing.
Thank you so much for this easy but delicious recipe! It has become a staple not just for Christmas but anytime!?
Love it thanks so much You’re the best ???
I am thinking Kahlua instead of the vanilla. We called them Swedish Wedding Cookies. I think they are sort of universal and have all kinds of names and variations.
I am thinking Kahlua instead of the vanilla.
Hello Jenny,
I made these three times during the Christmas holidays and everyone was asking me to do more for the next family gathering. Thank you!! Love your energy and the work you do to make simple easy recipes for everyone to enjoyed!
Take it to another level….Try baking at 325 degrees for 30 minutes until bottoms are golden brown for a fabulous, melt-in-your-mouth texture and buttery taste!
Add cardamom ground to it. About a tea spoon and thank me later ?. Thank you Jenny for making baking a fun thing. Always been intimidated by baking.
I love cardamon and that sounds amazing!!! Thank you!!
Love these. Would almond extract work as well?
Yes, my Norwegian grandmother made these with Almond extract instead of vanilla all the time, just what I’m used to, otherwise basically the same cookie. 🙂
Hello, I enjoyed making snow ball cookies. I enjoy watching you show us exactly how to make them. I am making tonight for my myself, husband and good friends who are coming over for Christmas tomorrow. I was laughing how you are eating the cookie and talking saying you want a cookies sorry they are all gone. I want to wish you a Happy & Healthy Xmas & New Year.
Laurna Calabrese’Coluni 12/24/19
I followed the recipe exactly, but my dough was very crumbly and barely stuck together. Like very course beach sand. Now that they’re cooked, they’re extremely fragile. What on Earth did I do wrong?
I found that I could clutch the dough in my palm and the heat of my hand would soften the butter and allow me to compress it into a ball like shape. Not like working with Play Dough.
You probably used too much flour … stir your flour with a fork and gently spoon flour into a measuring cup and level with a knife. Do not tap cup to use more flour …. I am sure that is why your dough was so crumbly and sandy. This is a common problem with measuring flour, it is why professional bakers weigh their dry ingredients.
When butter marries pecans, only good can come of it. We call these “Russian Tea Cakes”. As easy as these are, I always go into slight panic mode over the powdered sugar ratios and the whole too hot/too cool dynamic with sugar not sticking if too cool and the 2nd roll of sugar gumming up because I didn’t let them cool before the second rolling and so end up rolling in too much sugar.
First roll, warm…second roll, cool…that’s the take away for me here!
I made them tonight, and realized the recipe has a few differences than Russian Teacakes…and I am going to say…THEY ARE BETTER!
Love and so easy to make with out breaking the bank. Thank you sooo much for sharing.
Merry Christmas
Thank u so much jenny,ur an awesome teacher, luv u always and much respect ??,ur the best
Love U Jenny! For many years. ❤
Make these snowballs just now in oven.
I luv them
Merry Christmas and thank you Beautiful ❤️
These Christmas cookies look so delicious and good.
I love these Christmas cookies they look so good
Thank you so much Jenny and that was actually Ava and yes I am going to well maybe make things I don’t know if I can. But thank you very much!!
Love your style! Can you dump stuff in a bowl? Of course I can-about the only thing I can do in the kitchen. These are yummy wonderful cookies. I am going to add chocolate chips to the walnuts for my next batch.
I love these cookies and always thought they would be too hard to make. I just tried them and it was sooo easy. They are delicious. Thank you!!!
I followed the directions how to make the Cookies,they came out hard?They went felt not round what did I do wrong?
Maybe you skipped the step of chilling them in the fridge?
Here is the Keto pecan bars that were a hit to the keto dieters here.
1/2 cup each of almond and coconut flour
4 oz or 1/2 cup softened butter OR 1/4 cup ea butter and cream cheese and one egg*
1 cup finely chopped toasted pecans
3 tbsp Xyla
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
Powdered Xyla
* egg is needed to make ball less sandy. It might also make them more chewy.
Instructions:
1. Put all ingredients except powdered sugar into a large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly by hand, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350° F. Roll cookies by hand into 1-inch balls.
4. Place on ungreased or parchment-lined cookie sheet an inch apart.
5. Bake for 15 minutes or until set but not brown.
6. Let stand on cookie sheet about 10 minutes (the balls fall apart if touched in 2 minutes), then gently roll each one in powdered Xyla or your choice. Let cookies cool.
7. Once they cool (15-20 minutes), roll again (gently) in powdered sugar d substitute. . Store loosely covered.
To Toast Nuts: Place on ungreased baking pan and bake at 350° F for 8-10 minutes. Keep an eye so they don’t burn. Cool, then chop.
Thanks so much for taking time to share this recipe. I also added it to the “Your Recipes” section of my blog. Merry Christmas! ?
Jenny – you are awesome!!
I have been baking a few of your recipes and taking them into work. They are extremely popular with my colleagues. (I always share that I got the recipe from you!)
I would like a recipe like this using Sweetened Condensed Milk. I lost a recipe that I just loved.
Just made these with gluten-free flour and they came our perfect! They are so good! Thank you Jenny!
Can I make these with finely chopped maraschino cherries?
Can these be made with Almond flour or coconut flour?
It’s that ol’ Gluten thing. Yuck!
Have you tried Bob’s Red Mill Gluten free 1 to 1 baking flour?
My sister has been quite happy with the results she has gotten with it.
See the keto recipe I posted
You are the cutest thing! My family has morphed into food snobs so I quit cooking. Since trying your recipes, I’m having some successes again! (My recipe box was lost when l had to move.) Anyway, you on are the best!!! Keep smiling!
My Grandma made the same cookie. She called them “Nothings”. She used what ever nut she had or what was given to her for free. Normally Black Walnut. This is a wonderful cookie.
I can’t wait to make these!!
I just love these there so easy to make thank you so much for the recipe please make some more???????
I made these today and when I picked them up to roll them, they fell apart. Any suggestions?
Did you use the right amount of unsalted butter? Important that it’s just left out to soften, not melted. And I chilled mine in a large zip lock bag shaped into a loaf when in the back. Easier to work with when it’s cold. Good luck!
You may have to bake them a bit longer.
If they don’t quite set up from baking them
They probably just need a bit more time in the oven.
The dough should be well chilled and then roll each one gently into a ball. Pressing them too hard when rolling might cause them to crumble. Also, follow the recipe exactly.
Jenny did mention to let them set for a minute or two after you take them out of the oven, so that they won’t fall apart. Perhaps this will help.
It was the ( raw) dough not holding together during the rolling process, before baking… not rolling them in the powdered sugar.
i just made this last night and also found the dough didn’t seem right. I wrapped it in plastic wrap and put in refrig for 40 min and it worked fine. I made a 2nd batch and worked the dough a little longer and the texture was better.
Let them cool longer I would say
This happend to me also, I believe they needed to cool more. After the first two broke and I had to eat them ?, what I did was dusted them with powdered sugar, let them cool completely, then rolled them and they were fine……taste great too!!!!
Sounds like they’re too dry…you likely added too much flour or ground nuts, or not enough butter. That can happen with measuring cups, and spacing out. Also, did you maybe put the powdered sugar into the dough? That is meant for rolling baked cookies only….
Add one egg. OR, a few drops more of water or milk.
Could Almond flour substitute for the wheat flour 1 to 1?
Does anyone know if these can ge made without any nuts for soneine who is allergic to nuts?
I am also allergic to nuts. I would use pumpkin seeds, and some sesame seeds instead of the pecans. Toasted as well but probably not for as long. If you want to add another taste, use cranberries. I made a pumpkin seed and cranberry biscotti that everyone swore had nuts.
Yes! They absolutely can be made without nuts!
It’s how I make mine every year!
Whar Kind of gloves are you using?
I would like to have a receipe for embossed cookie
Are you talking about Springerle cookies? They are an anise/cardamum dough rolled out w/ special rolling pin that has reverse embossed designs that imprint the dough as you roll. Then you cut each into squares where the border edging is. My Mom made these 60-70 yrs ago.
I can’t wait to make these pecan cookies. I sent the recipe to my granddaughter. Like me, she likes cookies made with nuts.
I have made these for years and if you want to make them drop dead good, add a bag of Heath bits without the chocolate coating!!