Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies are a tasty Christmas favorite! These delicate cookies are perfect for your cookie plates and winter parties!
Christmas is my favorite holiday because it means so many Christmas cookies! I love them all – Chocolate Frosted Christmas Cookies, wreath cookies, and more! This Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies recipe is a super sweet addition to your holiday dessert spread. With chocolate chip and walnut cookies coated with powdered sugar, everyone will want the recipe!
CHOCOLATE CHIP SNOWBALL COOKIES
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Every Christmas Eve, my family does a massive cookie swap with dozens of different Christmas cookies. These are still my favorite cookie recipe! They scream winter to me because of their adorable name and my family memories.
I love family traditions. That’s why I love Christmas so much. There are so many different family traditions happening, and every year a new one is born! These cookies are delicious, so easy to make, and a favorite Christmas cookie at our house.
Snowball Cookie Ingredients
COOKIES This super simple cookie dough is made from just the basics: flour, salt, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and an egg.
MIX-INS AND COATING I LOVE chocolate chips in my snowball cookies, and I also add walnuts for a little extra crunch. You can swap these for pecans or ditch the nuts entirely! Mini chips are totally fine to use if you realize you grabbed the wrong bag after you get home from the store. (Been there.)
What makes this a classic snowball and not a regular cookie, is the powdered sugar coating. Just a quick dip in this sweet white dust takes these snowball cookies from ordinary to extraordinary!
How to Make Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies
- Start by preheating the oven and lining a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. (Ungreased baking sheets work too, I just prefer a liner.)
- Then, sift the flour and salt into a medium bowl. You set this aside for now.
- After that, beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla together in a large bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture and beat to combine. I use a hand mixer here, but a stand mixer also works great!
- Next, mix your dry ingredients, chocolate chips, and nuts into the wet ingredients. I use regular chocolate chips, but mini chocolate chips will get more chocolate into each bite!
- Now, scoop the cookie dough with a tablespoon or cookie scoop. Roll the dough into 1-inch dough balls and pop them on your baking sheet.
- Let’s bake! These cookies need to cook for 15 to 20 minutes. They’re done when the cookie looks set and the bottom edge is just starting to lightly brown.
- When you’re cookies are done, take them out of the oven and transfers them to a wire rack to cool completely. If they’re a tiny bit warm still, that’s okay.
- Once the cookies are cooled, roll them in powdered sugar. If you roll your cookies when they’re warm, the powdered sugar will melt into a glaze, so be patient!
When storing in large containers, I like to layer these melt in your mouth snowball cookies with parchment paper or foil in between the layers. This helps keep the powdered sugar on the cookies from rubbing off with any jostling.
Why are My Snowball Cookies Falling Apart?
Snowball cookies are known for their round shape, similar to truffles. But sometimes, if the mixture is too dry, the dough won’t hold together to make that perfect shape!
If your Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies are falling apart before baking, add a little more moisture with some milk. These cookies should be tender and a bit crumbly but should also hold their shape when handled.
If the dough is the right consistency before baking, you should be all set once the cookies are done.
LOOKING FOR MORE HOLIDAY DESSERT IDEAS?
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- Apple Cranberry Pie
- Christmas Crack
- Peppermint Sugar Cookies
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Tools used to make this Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies recipe
Hand mixer: I love a stand mixer, but sometimes it’s too much work. For this simple snowball cookie recipe, I like to use my hand mixer because I have more control over what gets mixed.
Sifter: I used to not sift my flour and dry ingredients, but after I got this, I realized what a difference it makes. No more raw flour clumps in my cakes and cookies!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup walnuts chopped (or pecans)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Powdered sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Sift flour and salt together into a medium bowl.
- Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl (or stand mixer) until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add egg and vanilla and mix to combine. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Mix dry ingredients, nuts, and chocolate chips into the wet ingredients until combined.
- Use a tablespoon or cookie scoop to portion cookie dough. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake 15-20 minutes until the bottoms edges are just starting to turn golden. Remove cookies from oven and let them cool a bit on a wire rack.
- Put powdered sugar in a medium bowl and roll the cookies in sugar. Store in an airtight container.
Video
Nutrition
Cristina says
I’m so glad you liked them! Your picture is making me hungry. I might have to go make these like right now. =)
Aubrey says
I’m glad you liked the picture! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe with us, it is so great.
Myrna Kasick says
Those look good, and I just happen to have all the ingredients (don’t you love when that happens?). I will be making these this afternoon.
Bonny Lee says
Just double checking on the recipe – the ingredients call for 1 egg, and the directions say “eggs”. Thanks!
Aubrey says
Sorry about that Bonny. It’s one egg. 🙂
Yvonne says
my mom used to make a chocolate cookie, shaped like a snowball, we called them do do’s, don’t know why, they were very good.
5cps. flour
2cp. sugar
1 1/2cps.butter
4 eggs
3 1/2 teas.baking powder
1/8 teas. salt
1 teas. vanilla
1/2 teas. cloves
1 cp.nuts
1/2 teas. cinnamon
1/4 cp. cocoa
1/4 cp. coffee
1/4 cp. milk
1/2 teas. nutmeg
2 drops of red food coloring
1/2 teas. allspice
1/4 cp. whiskey or rum.
mix all dry ingredients in on bowl
mix all wet ingredients in another bowl
beat eggs before adding to wet ingredients
roll into balls, and bake on a slightly greased cookie sheet or parchment paper.
at 325* for 10 to 12 min.
cool then ice with thin confectioners icing, ( powdered sugar, milk, vanilla)
Aubrey says
Thanks for sharing your family recipe with us Yvonne! 🙂
Maureen says
You had me at “1/4 cup rum” 🙂
Odette Lauro says
How many does this recipe make?
Gail Akeman says
Just printed it, I think I will make these instead of my russian tea cakes
Brenda says
What nuts? Pecan or walnut?
Julie @Real Housemoms says
Hi Brenda. Aubrey uses pecans when she makes this recipe, but you could use walnuts too. Whichever you prefer. 🙂
Laura says
About how many dozen does this make? Thanks!
Mary Jo Paschall says
The cookies…do you use plain oor self rising flour
Julie @Real Housemoms says
Regular all-purpose. 🙂
Jess says
Omg…..I just made this, and they were a hit!! My oldest son loves it! And even I myself can’t stop eating it.???? Thanks for sharing this recipe. I’ll be making more for our New Years party.??⭐?????
Carole says
My husband is ‘hooked’; I’ve baked 3 batches so far in the past 1 1/2 weeks for him, which we also shared with friends?
Aubrey @Real Housemoms says
Yay!!! I’m so glad! I love hearing that!
Rhonda says
Best cookies ever love them also love the fact that the cookies only have a half a cup of sugar thank you for the recipe
Sue says
These look really good. In the video it looks like you used mini chocolate chips or were they the regular size ones. Thank you
Aubrey Cota says
Go for mini so they don’t overpower the snowballs. If you only have the regular size then give them a quick rough chop to break them up a bit.
terry says
why does my dough look real dry and crumbly? should these have 2 eggs – my dough looks nothing like the pics and all that’s left to do is add chips. These don’t look like they will hold together 🙁
Julie Kotzbach says
Hi Terry! If your dough is too dry to form, you can add some milk (1 tablespoon at a time) until it has a more dough like consistency. You do want the cookies to hold their shape though, not be a wet dough.
Laurie says
How did you get them to stay in a perfectly round shape? I refrigerated the dough balls for a few minutes before baking to help the round shape stiffen. However, the bottoms of mine flattened out…
Aubrey Cota says
I think looks can be deceiving. The cookies pictured are also flattened out on the bottoms, the only way to keep them perfectly round would be to use a special pan that help mold and keep their shape through the cooking process.
Mary says
I made these today, without nuts, they are wonderful and my grandson loved them. Thanks and Happy Holidays!
Aubrey Cota says
Thank you Mary!
Lesley says
Do you use salted or unsalted butter? And which type of chocolate chips?
Julie Kotzbach says
Hi Lesley! This recipe uses unsalted butter and semi-sweet chocolate. Hope this helps!
Alicia says
What kind of chocolate chips are best?
Julie Kotzbach says
We use semi-sweet for this recipe. 🙂