These Chocolate Hazelnut Snowball Cookies are a twist on one of my favorite classic Christmas cookies. I wanted to make a variation of the classic snowball cookie, and I knew I wanted chocolate! Chocolate and hazelnut were a natural choice and they work beautifully together in this cookie. The resulting cookie is buttery, tender, and melt-in-your-mouth good! I hope you'll give these cute little cookies a try.
What are Snowball Cookies made of?
A classic snowball cookie (also called Mexican Wedding Cookies or Russian Tea Cakes) is made of: butter, flour, powdered sugar, nuts (often pecans), vanilla extract, and salt. I adore those cookies and make them every Christmas, but wanted to make a twist on the recipe. So for these chocolate hazelnut snowball cookies, I swap out the pecans for hazelnuts and I add a scoop of cocoa powder. I still roll them in powdered sugar for the classic snowball cookie look, but you could also roll them in equal parts powdered sugar mixed with cocoa powder for a full chocolate version. But I'm afraid you'd have to call them muddy snowballs - hehe.
This is my favorite snowball cookie recipe: Pecan Snowball Cookies from Ash Cuoco
I did not grow up eating these delicious cookies, but thanks to Ashley's recipe they have become a regular and necessary part of our holiday baking traditions for the past 5 or so years.
How to make Snowball Cookies:
I make this entire dough in the food processor which makes it super quick and very easy. I decided to do this since I had already used the food processor to chop my hazelnuts and it worked perfectly. But don't worry - if you don't have a food processor, you could chop the nuts finely by hand and mix the dough either by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, with a hand mixer, or in your stand mixer.
Once the dough is mixed, I squish it together to form a rough ball and then scoop tablespoon-sized portions. You can make them larger and many recipes do - I just like them on the smaller size. I use a cookie scoop but you can use a regular tablespoon and roll the balls by hand.
These do call for a quick freeze time in order to help them hold their shape while baking. But to streamline things, I like to scoop them all at once into a dish/container lined with wax paper or parchment and stash the whole thing in the freezer, pulling out just enough to bake one tray at a time. This way you aren't scooping, freezing, baking; scooping, freezing baking. You are just scooping all at once and then baking at your leisure. This also means you could make this dough days before baking. A great make-ahead strategy for the busy holiday season.
Well I hope you'll give these Chocolate Hazelnut Snowball Cookies a try. Also, try Ashley's classic recipe with pecans. Just crank up some Christmas music and cover your kitchen in powdered sugar. Happy Baking! xo - Anita
Make sure to check out my Christmas Cookie Box post for lots of great cookie recipes and tips on how to create a beautifully festive cookie box.
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Chocolate Hazelnut Snowball Cookies
A twist on the classic - my Chocolate Hazelnut Snowball Cookies are buttery, tender, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious!
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 40 cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 and ½ cups Hazelnuts, toasted, peeled, and cooled
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar
- ½ cup Cocoa Powder
- 1 cup (8-ounces, 2 sticks) Butter, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt
Instructions
- Place nuts in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add remaining ingredients and pulse until a rough dough forms.
- Dump dough onto your work surface and squeeze into a rough ball. If you see any patches of flour just squish them into the dough. You don't want to knead the dough but it's ok to squeeze and squish a few times as needed to get it all to come together.
- Scoop tablespoons of dough and roll into balls. Place on a parchment or wax paper lined dish. Once all dough is scooped and rolled, place the whole dish in the freezer.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- After 30 minutes, line a baking tray with parchment. Place dough balls on tray about 1 inch apart and bake for 10 minutes.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes on trays. Carefully roll each cookie in powdered sugar and place on a cooling rack over a piece of parchment to cool completely. Once cooled, roll in sugar once more.
- Repeat until all cookies are baked and coated.
Notes
if you don't have a food processor, you could chop the nuts finely by hand and mix the dough either by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, with a hand mixer, or in your stand mixer.
Prep time plus freezing is about 1 hour. And 10 minutes baking per tray. Sometimes these recipe cards give unreliable times and I apologize.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes plus freezing
- Cook Time: 10 minutes per tray
- Category: cookies, Christmas Cookies
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
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