Home | Sweet Things | Black Walnut Snowball Cookies
5 from 4 votes
By Hank Shaw
December 12, 2012 | Updated May 22, 2020
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I grew up with this snowball cookie recipe. Now you should know thatI am not normally a cookie eater, but around Christmastime I make an exception, especially for snowballs.
Mexican wedding cakes, Russian teacakes, whatever you call them, these were my favorite Christmas cookie when I was growing up. Mom’s original recipe had regular walnuts and vanilla extract. This recipe is my adult, “I’m a forager” version that uses wild black walnuts, orange flower water and a little Grand Marnier.
Orange and walnut work well together, and the combination with the black walnuts — a diamond of a nut that makes regular walnuts feel like rhinestones — and the orange flower water, plus the softness of the powdered sugar all make for a luxurious bite. They actually feel cooling in your mouth. I defy you to eat just one.
Make them in one-bite balls, as these cookies are crumbly. Oh, and while this is a small snowball cookie recipe, fit for two people, it scales up perfectly to at least four times, so you can make enough to give as gifts. Once made, these cookies will keep at room temperature in a covered container for a few days.
Many supermarkets sell black walnuts, and you can buy them online, too. Orange flower water is sold in the spice section of supermarkets, but if you can’t find it, you can skip it.
5 from 4 votes
Snowball Cookies with Black Walnuts
You can buy black walnuts in many supermarkets. Or you can use regular walnuts, but they are not as good as the wild ones for this kind of recipe. Using cake flour improves the texture of these cookies, but you can certainly use all-purpose; my mum does.
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Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 16 cookies
Author: Hank Shaw
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes minutes
Ingredients
- 2 cups cake or all-purpose flour
- 1 cup finely chopped black walnuts
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons orange flower water or vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons water or Grand Marnier
- Pinch of salt
- 2 sticks of butter (1/4 pound), cut into small pieces
- Powdered sugar for dusting, about 1 cup
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix all the ingredients except the powdered sugar in a large bowl. Mix with your clean hands, mashing the dry ingredients with the butter until you get a mixture that looks like lumpy meal.
Form the dough into little balls the size of a walnut and place on an ungreased sheet pan. Bake for 18 minutes. Take the cookies out and let them cool for 5 minutes or so. After they are cool enough to handle but still warm, roll them in the powdered sugar and set aside on a rack to cool. Then, when they are totally cool, roll them in powdered sugar one more time.
Nutrition
Calories: 169kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 46mg | Potassium: 59mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 181IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 0.4mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Categorized as:
American Recipes, Appetizers and Snacks, Featured, Foraging, Recipe, Sweet Things
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