Few holiday cookies are as simple yet delicious as Pecan Snowball Cookies or Russian tea cakes. They’re the perfect way to spread holiday cheer!

These delightful cookies are tiny spheres of buttery and sweet vanilla shortbread with a slight crunch thanks to the pecan dispersed throughout the dough. To give your cookies a more decadent flavor, you can roast the pecan pieces for 10 minutes before adding them to your shortbread mixture.

Our easy snowball cookie recipe makes four dozen cookies you can keep for yourself or share with friends at a cookie swap. These cookies pair well with coffee for a sweet treat you can enjoy throughout the holiday season.

Pecan Snowball Cookies Ingredients

• 2 cups of pecans finely chopped
• 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• Powdered sugar to coat the cookies

Pecan Snowball Cookie Recipe Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the chopped pecan in a metal baking dish and roast them in the oven for 6-8 minutes or until they have a nutty aroma and feature a lightly toasted look. Remove the pecans from the oven and set them aside to cool completely.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl until they become light and creamy. Use your spatula to scrape down both sides of the bowl before adding vanilla extract and salt. Beat the ingredients again until they combine. Add the flour and toasted pecans and mix on low while scraping any excess down the sides of the bowl.
3. Take two baking sheets and line them with parchment paper. Scoop the dough into 1-inch balls you form with your hands. The dough is crumbly, so you must press the dough balls into spheres rather than rolling them. Place the cookies 1/2 inch apart on the baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes or until the cookies become light brown.
4. Set the cookies aside and let them cool until you can safely handle them but they’re still warm. Place the powdered sugar into a bowl and roll each cookie in the powdered sugar. After thoroughly coating the cookie, place it back onto the baking sheets. Allow the cookies to cool completely before covering them in powdered sugar again, serving them or storing them in an airtight container.

One of the many great things about these buttery pecan snowball cookies is that you can create variations based on the holiday or what you are craving. Shop our pecan flavors to find the perfect addition to your snowball cookies.