Nutella Snowballs

It’s my last day of work for 2018! It’s crazy how fast this year has gone by and I can’t believe Christmas is just days away.

If you’ve been following me for a while then you know every year my mom and I make a ton of Christmas cookies. And I’m not exaggerating. We make hundreds of cookies and all different kinds! There are some that we make every year like sugar cookies, apricot cookies, rugelach, etc. and some we make some years and not others depending on what we’re in the mood to make. Usually every year we try out a new cookie too and this year I wanted to try making Nutella Snowballs since I saw a photo of them online. The recipe looked almost identical to the mexican wedding cookies we make – the only difference is that the snowballs use a little more flour in the dough, they’re in the shape of snowballs instead of crescents, and of course they have Nutella.

I followed this recipe and the cookies came out great! I didn’t change anything about the recipe. The recipe says it makes 16 cookies but I think I got 21 out of the recipe. This happens to me a lot – I always make more than is estimated in a recipe. I guess I make things smaller than other people? Some of my cookies also look to have less Nutella inside than in the photos for the recipe, but that’s ok. While I love Nutella (who doesn’t?), the cookies are already sweet from the powdered sugar so I don’t need a ton of chocolate inside.

So first you put drops of Nutella on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I tried to make them as round as possible but Nutella is so creamy! Then, put them in the freezer to set for at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, you make your dough.

Since I used the exact recipe linked above I won’t go into all the measurements, but basically you cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add in vanilla and slowly add in the flour. Once that’s all done mixing, pour in your chopped pecans and slowly mix.

Take some dough in to your hand and create a ball to flatten in your hand. Place one of the Nutella drops in the center and then take some more dough to place on top, roll it in to a ball and put it on another lined baking sheet. You need to work quickly because the Nutella melts so fast!

Once you’re all done making the balls, put the tray in to the fridge for another 30 minutes. Next, bake in the oven at 350 for 14-15 minutes. The bottoms should be just lightly brown. When I took them out after 14 minutes they were still pale, but the bottoms were light brown so I took them out. Also, halfway through the baking time rotate the pan.

After a few minutes, roll the cookies in confectioner’s sugar. Do this while the cookies are still warm but not so hot that you’re burning your fingers. Allow the cookies to cool on a cooling rack. I put the rack on top of a sheet pan for all the powdered sugar that would inevitably fall down. Then, once the cookies are completely cooled roll them in sugar again.