Butterball Cookies

These Butterball Cookies (or Snowball Cookies / Russian Tea Cakes) are easy to make and taste amazing. A given for Christmas, they taste just as delicious year round. With chopped hazelnuts for a crunchy touch.

Course Dessert

Cuisine North American

Diet Vegetarian

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 10

Resting Time 1

Total Time 1 40

Servings

Calories 99kcal

Author Emmeline Kemperyd

Equipment

Ingredients

1 cup salted butter softened and cut in pieces
½ cup confectioners sugar or powdered sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoon vanilla sugar
½ teaspoon fine table salt
¾ cups hazelnuts chopped

After baking

1 cup confectioners sugar or powdered sugar

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine the softened butter with the confectioners sugar. Mix well.
1 cup salted butter, ½ cup confectioners sugar
In another bowl, mix the vanilla sugar with the flour. Then sift this into the butter and sugar mixture. Add salt. Mix well, until everything is combined. You will need to use your hands for this.
2 teaspoon vanilla sugar, 2 cups flour, ½ teaspoon fine table salt
Add chopped hazelnuts. Mix, using your hands, until you can shape the whole dough into a large ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
¾ cups hazelnuts
Preheat oven for 400°F (200°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Bring out the refrigerated dough, and roll into 40 1 inch (2.5 cm) balls. Place on the lined baking sheet and bake in the middle of the over for 10 minutes, until cooked through and just slightly browned. Cook time can vary with your oven, it usually takes anywhere from 8-12 minutes.
Bring out the cookies from the oven and let them cool down for 1-2 minutes. As soon as they are cool enough to touch, roll them in confectioners sugar and set aside for now.
1 cup confectioners sugar
When the cookies have cooled down completely, roll them in confectioners sugar once again.
1 cup confectioners sugar

Video

Notes

A Note on Ratios and Measuring

Ratios are important for this recipe - specifically, the ratio between flour and butter. I have had readers have trouble getting the dough to stick together, and that's usually because they've used the wrong ratio of butter vs flour.

It can also be because the butter is not fatty enough. You want the butter to have at least 80% fat content.

For best results, I recommend making sure the butter has the right fat content and weighing your ingredients. Weighing makes a huge difference, as 1 cup of flour can have very different weights depending on how you measure and how packed it is to start with.

What to Do if the Dough Does Not Want to Come Together or Keeps Falling Apart

First of all, try working the dough a bit more. Second, add a bit more butter. Don't add too much extra, but a few tablespoons is usually fine.

Storing, Freezing & Prepping Ahead

Storing: Store cookies in an airtight container in room temperature for up to 1 week.

Freezing: Freeze cookies in air tight containers for up to 6 months.

Prepping Ahead: You can make the dough the day before you want to bake them and refrigerate over night. A few days in the refrigerator is usually fine as well.

Nutrition