This festive Fall cookie recipe from Crazy for Crust is about to make your Halloween extra sweet.
Pumpkin spice snowballs are going to be this season's BEST cookie recipe, I promise you that!
Snowballs, Russian teacakes, wedding cookies, whatever you call them, I love them. These are my mom's favorite cookie; she makes them over and over all year long. I make them over and over again too, but with new flavor variations. cake batter, chocolate, stuffed, chocolate chip, you name it, I've made it. (And I have sooooo many more flavor ideas!)
I decided to do my own tinkering with pumpkin spice. I've added pumpkin spices to cookies and hot chocolate before, but now I'm adding them to snowballs.
That's a good decision, don't you think?
This recipe could not be easier. It's one bowl, no chill time, just mix it all up. My mom uses a hand mixer, I use a stand mixer. Use what you have! Simply adding some pumpkin spice warms the flavor of the cookies so much.
So, what is pumpkin spice? It's a combination of cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg. And it's so good! I like to use the individual spices, but if you have pumpkin pie spice, you can use that too (about 1 teaspoon) instead.
Simply mix up the easy cookie dough recipe and scoop little balls of snowball cookie. Once they're baked you roll them in powdered sugar mixed with cinnamon for even more warm fall flavor.
You've read the recipe right — there is no actual pumpkin in these cookies, just pumpkin spice. But they taste just like a pumpkin cookie would — after all, pumpkin really has no flavor. Why else do we add pumpkin spice to every pumpkin recipe?
Preaheat oven to 375ºF. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add flour, salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, and allspice, and mix until the dough comes together. Stir in the nuts. If dough is too soft, chill it until you can work it easily with your hands.
Scoop 1-tablespoon balls of dough and place on prepared cookie sheet.
Bake cookies for 7-8 minutes until bottoms are just slightly brown. Remove from oven and cool for just a few minutes, until you can handle them.
Fill a small bowl with the remaining 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and roll each cookie in the sugar until coated. Place on a rack to cool. (Once cookies are cooled, you may want to reroll them in more powdered sugar.) The added cinnamon in the rolling mixture is optional, but it amps up the fall flavor!
Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days or freeze for up to one month. (If you freeze them you’ll need to reroll them in powdered sugar after defrosting.)