Easy. Elegant. Delicious. And, FUN! These are cookies I grew up with every Holiday Season! From my Yiayia, to my mother, and now to me!...No holiday cookie tray is complete without our Powdered-Sugar Snowball Cookies! You can dazzle your guests with a tray of cookies served individually in cupcake cups or pile them on a beautiful serving dish so they look like a stack of snowballs!
This recipe is from a Greek cookie called "Kourabiedes" -- a rich, short cookie covered with powdered sugar. There are no eggs in this recipe. Also, you can add finely chopped blanched almonds, if you like a nuttier and crunchier cookie. Your guests will LOVE these!!
Prep Time: 10 mins. prep / 20 mins bake time per batch / 1-inch diameter of dough balls, yields about 3 dozen cookies
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound whipped sweet butter. at room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons brandy
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
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Extra confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar) for dusting cookies
OPTIONAL: 1 cup finely chopped blanched almonds (Add to soft dough and proceed with shaping your cookie dough.)
INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2) Whip butter until white. Slowly add confectioner's sugar, vanilla extract, and brandy. Gradually add flour, 1 cup at a time. The dough will become fairly thick.
(OPTIONAL: This is the time to add your 1 cup finely chopped blanched almonds, if using nuts. Stir into soft dough.)
3) Shape into small balls (or crescents, if you prefer). Bite size is about an 1- inch wide ball. Place on cookie sheets covered with parchment paper. Then flatten the ball on top so they bake flat and that way they better hold the powdered sugar that is added after they are baked.
4) Bake for 20 minutes, until cookies are sand-colored.
5) Sift confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar) onto a large sheet of wax paper. Place the baked cookie on sugar and then sift additional sugar over tops and sides.
Serve individually in cupcake cups on a platter. The cups can be any color and any Holiday theme. Its a mess-free technique and makes for such a festive platter!
Or, pile the cookies on a platter for an enticing mound of Snowball Cookies!
ENJOY!:)