Snowball Cookies with a Twist

Sorry that I have been MIA for awhile, but I am having medical issues with my lumbar spine.  Instead of baking cookies and making fudge, I will be having an MRI of my spine, and then going to the same Neurosurgeon that removed my husband's benign pituitary tumor this past summer.  Not exactly holiday activities.  I will be cutting back on my posting, because I just don't have the time.  Yikes! Christmas is 3 weeks way, and I am far from ready.  It takes me much longer to do anything, because I can't sit or stand for any period of time.  I still might be peeking on Facebook or your blog, though.

 I did find time to make cookies; Snowball, Mexican Wedding Cake, or Russian Tea Cake cookies They go by many names.  What do you call them?  I have made them for many years, but not recently, so I decided to make them this year.   I added holiday morsels, red, green and chocolate to the cookie dough for a different twist on an old favorite.  These rich, buttery balls with walnuts have been dressed up for the holidays. You can use pecans, instead of the walnuts. The holiday morsels give the cookies an added touch of flavor and color, then sprinkled with powdered sugar, mmmm!

These Snowball Cookies are easy to put together, and the dough can be made a couple of days ahead refrigerated, and then baked. when the cookies are slighly cool, they are gentlydusted with powdered sugar, and stored.  Right before serving, dust with powdered sugar for the final effect.

Snowball Cookies

Yield: about 30 cookies- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans 

 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup Holiday Morsels

1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted for dusting the cookies

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar until smooth and creamy, for 2-3 minutes. Add in vanilla extract and mix until combined.

3. Mix in the flour, walnuts or pecans, and salt. Mixing until just combined.

4. Stir in Holiday Morsels until well combined.

5. Roll about 1 tablespoon of dough  into balls and place on prepared baking sheet. The cookies can be placed quite close together since they do not spread during the baking process.

6. Bake in preheated oven for about 12- 15 minutes – taking care not to over bake. Allow cookies to cool on baking pan for about 5 minutes.

7. Sift 1/3 cup powdered sugar into a medium bowl. While cookies are still warm, dust them with confectioners' sugar. Place cookies on cooling rack, once they have cooled completely, dust them in powdered  sugar again.

l linked up my recipe to Brandie@The Country Cook's Weekend Potluck #96
 Stop by and say Hi to Brandie!