My Mother’s Secret to Excellent Snowball Cookies

My mom, the queen of Christmas cookies (even years after her demise), made dozens and dozens of sorts yearly. To get the leap on Christmas, most individuals purchased electronics on Black Friday; my mother, then again, purchased butter, sugar, and nuts. A few of my earliest cookie reminiscences had been of her Christmas snowballs. Buttery and nutty and melt-in-your-mouth tender, they had been scrumptious! What actually intrigued me was the creamy-sugary glaze hiding beneath the powdery dusting of confectioner’s sugar that gave them their identify. It appeared inexplicable how every cookie was neatly and evenly glazed—that’s, till my mother shared the key. She rolled the nice and cozy cookies in confectioner’s sugar, which melted right into a glaze from the residual warmth. Then, to get that basic snowball look, she rolled them once more when cool. Hers had been fairly superior, in order that was an inexpensive place to begin for me to dig deep.

What I favored about hers was the buttery, almond-y taste and creamy glaze. What I needed to enhance was the feel, and I tackled that in three particular methods: baking time, dealing with the dough, and the elements.

Testing Completely different Strategies

Relating to baking time, Mother’s recipe (and several other others I cross-referenced) suggested towards over-baking, saying that quarter-hour was lengthy sufficient. The feel at that time was a bit pasty and lacked crunch, so I upped it to 22 minutes, which was a step in the best path, however not fairly sufficient to do the trick.

By way of the dough, my thought was that the cookies would unfold and flatten if too gentle. I chilled the dough after mixing, however I discovered that made the dough brittle and troublesome to type into balls—they saved falling aside in my arms. So I scooped degree tablespoons of the softened dough, gently rolled them into balls, and froze them for 10 minutes earlier than baking. It helped management spreading.

I additionally tried utilizing a tablespoon-size ice cream scoop (inherited from my mother) with out rolling, pondering that the rolling would compact the dough and make the cookies dense and hard, but it surely turned out to not have an effect on the feel considerably. I retained the rolling step to present the cookies a nicer form.

Sorts of Nuts

As for the elements, the nuts particularly, the unique recipe referred to as for uncooked almonds, which I discovered made the cookies a bit gummy. So I toasted the almonds, which not solely boosted the flavour but additionally added a pleasant crunch. The toasting evaporated a number of the water, permitting the fats to crisp up the nuts, however the texture was nonetheless dense and pasty.

Subsequent check: I used a fattier nut—one with the next proportion of fats to protein—pondering the additional fats (and fewer water) in pecans would make the cookies gentle and crisp. I toasted the pecans, too, to get a nutty taste enhance. They had been scrumptious and fewer pasty, however since almonds are conventional, I nonetheless needed to discover a method to make them work. (I’ve used almonds right here, however you need to use pecans, walnuts, or hazelnuts—toasted, in fact!)

Enhancing Texture and Taste

Remembering my go-to recipe repair for dense, cakey gingerbread males (and different cookies, truffles, fast breads, and biscuits), I added a bit baking soda. It imparts lightness and crispness, which is strictly what I needed in these cookies. A half teaspoon was sufficient to present them a little bit of a snap and a few airiness, with out altering the character of those basic cookies (baking powder would’ve made them cakey). Texture solved!

Lastly, I added a pinch of salt. It’d sound like nit-picking, however including a bit salt offers steadiness and leaves a tiny prick of curiosity in your tongue. It is what I all the time search for in one thing candy.

My mom should posthumously be the queen of Christmas cookies, however possibly I am going to contemplate taking a run on the crown some day.

December 2015

Prepare dinner Mode
(Maintain display screen awake)