Walnut Eggnog Snowballs Food

SPICED EGGNOG SNOWBALL COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, or with an electric hand mixer, cream together butter and confectioner's sugar. Add in eggnog and vanilla extract. Beat until creamy.
• In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Dough will be stiff but will come together when pressed.
• Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until bottoms just start to turn golden brown.
• Cool for 2-4 minutes (or until you can handle them) on baking sheet.
• Stir together confectioner's sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Roll cookies in sugar mixture to coat.
• Place on a wire rack to cool completely. If sugar coating has melted into some cookies, give them another roll in the sugar mixture.

CHOCOLATE WALNUT SNOWBALL COOKIES

Steps:

• Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
• Finely chop 1/2 cup of the walnuts and set aside. Process the remaining 3/4 cup walnuts with 1/2 cup of the sugar in a food processor until very finely ground, about 1 minute. Add the butter and vanilla and process until smooth, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt and process until most of the dough forms a ball and is completely combined. Scrape the dough into a bowl with a rubber spatula and fold in the chocolate chips and reserved chopped walnuts.
• Roll mounded teaspoons of the dough into 1-inch balls and space evenly apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake the cookies, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, until cracked on top and mostly firm but still slightly springy when pressed, about 18 minutes (they will firm up out of the oven). Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes; you want them to be slightly warm for the first tossing in sugar.
• Meanwhile, put the remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Toss the warm cookies very gently in the sugar until evenly coated. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes, then toss again in the sugar so they are very white. The cookies will keep in a little bit of extra sugar in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

WALNUT SNOWBALL COOKIES

Steps:

• Chill the dough: Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes in the fridge or up to overnight.
• Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or silicon baking mats.
• Bake: Bake the cookies for 35 minutes.

KIDS CAN MAKE: PUFFED RICE SNOWBALLS

Steps:

• Spray a large metal mixing bowl with cooking spray and set aside.
• Cook the marshmallows, butter, agave and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the marshmallows are completely melted and the mixture is blended, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the puffed rice and stir to coat with the marshmallow-butter mixture.
• Transfer the rice mixture to the prepared bowl and sprinkle with the apricots, flaxseeds and sunflower seeds. Stir with a wooden spoon or hands lightly coated with cooking spray. Form into 8 logs or balls (about 1/2 cup each). Let cool about 30 minutes, then wrap tightly in parchment or plastic wrap.

SNOWBALLS II

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cream the butter with 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla. Mix in the flour, pecans, and salt. Roll about 1 tablespoon or so of dough into balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake in preheated oven until bottoms are golden, about 15 minutes. Do not allow these cookies to get too brown: it's better to undercook them than to overcook them. While cookies are still hot, roll them in confectioners' sugar. Once they have cooled, roll them in confectioners' sugar once more.

EGGNOG SNOWBALLS

Steps:

• 1. Mix together flour, cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Cream together butter and 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Beat in the eggnog. Add flour mixture gradually until well blended. Cover and refrigerate for an hour, or until the dough is firm.
• 2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet 1-inch apart. Bake 12-14 minutes, than roll in powdered sugar. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.