6 Ingredient Snowball Cookies

Hi hi! I am just popping in to share this recipe for snowball cookies with you! These cookies are also sometimes called Russian Tea Cakes or Mexican Wedding cookies - whatever you choose to call them, they are so, so good.

This Snowball cookie recipe uses one bowl, and takes about 10 minutes to put together, and another 20 to bake, meaning they are super quick and easy to make. They are melt in your mouth and super buttery, and are a great option to make with kids if you're looking for a really easy holiday recipe. It makes 24 cookies (so can be done all on one tray), and they store super well. I just love them so much.

I was so excited when I was testing these - I managed to make one dough that can truly do a double duty - this snowball cookie dough can also be used to make my Raspberry Thumbprint cookies.

The trick to getting lots of 'snow' on these snowballs is a double coating of powdered sugar, which happens after the baking.

What are Snowball Cookies?

Snowball cookies are essentially a super buttery shortbread dough, which is scooped into balls and then baked, and then rolled twice in powdered sugar.

They are so good for so many reasons. Not only are they really easy to make (I was able to get them into the oven in 12 minutes including filming my process and stopping to take photos), but the cookies are tender and buttery, and the coating of powdered sugar on the outside makes them extra melt in your mouth.

I originally developed this recipe to use for my thumbprint cookie recipe, but realised it's just a super good base dough - I think it would be great for a whole bunch of stuff!

How do snowball cookies differ from a regular shortbread recipe?

I used my shortbread cookie recipe as a kicking off point when I started testing this recipe - that recipe is more of a classic shortbread that can be either pressed into a pan or made as a slice and bake cookie.

For this recipe I wanted something that can go into the oven as balls of dough and sink down slightly, so I played around with the butter and flour quantities in the recipe.

Ingredients in Snowball Cookies

The ingredients list in these Snowball cookies is super simple, and is likely already all things that you have in your kitchen already! This is an Egg Free recipe too if that is important to you - if you are looking for Egg Free recipes I have a bunch!

• Butter. This is the main flavour in these snowball cookies, so this is one of the times where if you have access to good quality butter, it would be a great time to use it. It really does make such a big difference to the final outcome.
• Powdered Sugar. Also called icing sugar depending on where you are. I say sifted in the recipe, but if you beat it hard enough with the butter, you can skip sifting if you want. I won't tell anyone.
• Vanilla. I use Vanilla bean paste, but vanilla extract will work too. I like to add it in with the butter and powdered sugar to really get the flavour in there.
• Flour. All-purpose / plain flour is the way to go here. You don't want to use a high grade or bread flour as the cookie relies on the lower protein for its super tender texture.
• Custard Powder. I use custard powder in my recipe as it gives it a super subtle but delicious taste. Corn starch works just the same. It helps to stabilise the cookie and also give a nice texture that is signature to a shortbread based cookie.
• Salt. If you use salted butter (if you know your salted butter is good these are delicious made with it), omit the salt in the recipe. I call for unsalted butter in my recipes as I have an international audience and I know that not all butter is the same amount of salty worldwide. You do you here though and use what you have

What is Custard Powder and what can I use instead?

Custard Powder is to me, a super nostalgic ingredient. It is corn starch (cornflour if you're from outside the US) based, and also has some flavours and colours in it. It is what we use to make 'instant' custard, although now I choose to use it in the place of corn starch for some recipes as it gives just a hint of nostalgic flavour.

If you can't find custard powder in your supermarket I also tested this recipe with cornstarch / cornflour and it works just great, it is just an option if you do have it! Please do not use instant pudding powder - they are not the same thing.

For more recipes using custard powder, check out my Custard Square, Chelsea Buns and Squiggle Slice. Nanaimo Bars are also a classic dessert that uses custard powder to flavour!

Room temperature ingredients are important!

For this recipe, it is really important to make sure that your butter is at room temperature. 'Standard' room temperature is 22°c / 72°f, and because weather and kitchen temperatures can vary, room temperature butter can also vary in consistency.

This recipe does not have any leavening in it (baking soda or powder), so relies on the creaming of the powdered sugar and butter to give proper aeration to the dough. Make sure that your butter isn't too firm, and that you do really whip the butter and powdered sugar together well until they are light and fluffy - make sure that you scrape down the sides of the bowl in case there is some butter there that has not incorporated.

Scooping and shaping Snowball Cookies

This snowball cookie dough is super simple - you just scoop it out and roll it into balls, and then bake. There is no need to press the dough down - we want them to remain fairly upright when they bake. They will sink down in the oven a little, but we want to have little mounds of shortbread to coat in the powdered sugar.

I use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop to make my cookies, but you can also weigh them out if you need - each dough ball weighs 18g.

How to tell when snowball cookies are baked

The best way to tell when snowball cookies are baked is by giving one a little poke - you want them to be very lightly golden brown, and feel set around the edges and just set on the tops. For me, this takes 15-16 minutes in a conventional (no fan) oven.

If you peek into the oven halfway through baking it may look like some of the butter has leaked out - this catches me out every time. Don't worry - it all soaks in and they come out of the oven looking amazing!

The key to a good coating of 'snow' for snowball cookies - roll twice in powdered sugar.

If you've never made snowball cookies before, this part feels kind of weird - you put them into the oven in the nude, and the 'snow' part doesn't happen until after they come out of the oven. If you coated them before, the butter in the recipe would cause the powdered sugar on the outside to go super clumpy - this happened when I was testing my chocolate crinkle cookies.

The key to getting a good coating of powdered sugar on snowball cookies is to roll them twice. Because powdered sugar has a starch in it, when you roll the warm cookies in the powdered sugar, some of the moisture that is released as they cool helps it to stick and form a layer on the outside that is still slightly wet (that sounds gross I promise it is not). This means that when you roll the cookies in powdered sugar a second time when they are totally cooled, you get a super thick coating of 'snow' on your snowballs.

If you coated them once cool, the sugar would not stick well.

One Dough, two cookies

I was super excited when I was developing this recipe - you can use the exact same dough to make these snowball cookies and my raspberry thumbprint cookies. They use the same sized ball of dough, and bake at the same temperature. This means you can make one big batch of dough and make half into snowballs and half into thumbprints.

The recipe scales super well because grams for the win, but also because the recipe does not contain any egg, so you can easily adjust as needed. This recipe makes 24 cookies so scale as you like.

Flavour variations for snowball cookies

If you wanted to mix things up a little you could add some flavouring to these snowball cookies. I haven't tested it yet but you could probably include some chopped toasted pecans or nuts into the dough, or you could rub some lemon or orange zest into the powdered sugar before starting the recipe for some citrus vibes.

I did try to incorporate sprinkles to try for a funfetti snowball cookie vibe and things got a bit weird - they took forever to bake and the sprinkles melted, giving weird crunchy pockets within the cookies. I wouldn't recommend.

Can Snowball cookies be made ahead of time?

Snowball cookies store in an airtight container for up to a week - make sure that it is super airtight so that the powdered sugar doesn't go soggy. I was able to bake these from frozen so I am sure that they would do just fine if you wanted to make the dough ahead and chill for a few hours before baking.

Can you freeze snowball cookies?

Yes they can! I tested this and it works just great. Scoop the dough out, roll into balls, then place onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and place into the fridge or freezer until solid (just so they don't get all squished up in the freezer). Once they are hard, transfer them to an airtight container.

You can bake the cookies directly from frozen - they may need an extra minute or two of bake time but I baked at the same temperature and it worked fine - alternatively you can drop the oven temperature a little bit too if you like.

For all my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookies and bake from frozen, check out my blog post: How to freeze cookie dough

Frequently Asked Questions

What tools and equipment do you use?
You can find a full list of the tools and equipment I use on my products page

Can I make this recipe without a mixer?

Yes - I use an electric hand mixer for this recipe, but if you wanted to make it by hand you definitely could with a little elbow grease - just make sure that the butter and sugar mix is super well mixed. You could either use a whisk or a wooden spoon or spatula. A little electric hand mixer is a great investment though - I probably use mine more than my stand mixer!

What cookie scoop did you use?

I used a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out these cookies. However if you don't have one, you can make them by weighing out 18g balls of dough.