Snow Ball Cookies (a.k.a. Mexican Wedding Cookies)

I call these Snow Ball Cookies because that’s what my little boy likes to call them.  When I was taking pictures for this post, he happily exclaimed, “Wow, snow balls!”  After he tasted one, he kept asking for more snow balls.  Of course, my Baby Girl got her fair shares as well.



By now, you probably have heard the other dozen names that these cookies also referred to. Such as Mexican Wedding Cookies, Italian Wedding cookies, Italian Tea Cakes, Russian Tea Cakes, so on and so forth.  I thought I had many nick names when I was young. I can’t believe my record got beat by some cookies! LOL…Mind you, these are not just any cookies. These are some buttery, melt in my mouth, and highly addictive cookies.  I love the crunch and nutty flavor from the chopped pecans in them.  Another big plus of these cookies? They are super simple to prepare and your kids would probably want to help out in rolling the dough.  And it’s okay to let them taste the dough, it’s eggless.    



I've packaged these Snow Ball Cookies during the holiday to share with my friends and family as they are very popular during the holiday season.  But I’ve already made more batches afterwards because they are simply amazing.  After you've tried them, you would want to make them all year round too, and not just during the Holidays.







Snow Ball Cookies: (Printable Recipe)
Makes about 48 Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, divided
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped

In the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or with a hand held mixer), beat butter and 1/2 cup powdered sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat until well incorporated. Turn mixer to low, beat in flour and pecans, mix until just combined. Divide dough in half, form each into a flat disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill the dough in refrigerator until cold, about 30 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 325°F. With a small/mini ice cream scoop, scoop dough by one tablespoonful and roll in between palms into balls. Arrange dough balls on baking sheet lined with silpat or parchment paper spacing 1/2 inch apart. Bake until golden brown on bottom and pale golden on top, about 15 to 18 minutes.

Cool cookies on baking sheet for a few minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Place remaining 1/2 cup powdered sugar in a shallow dish; gently roll completely cooled cookies in powdered sugar to coat.





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Building a Gingerbread House—A Fun Activity with the Kids for the Holiday Season

I don’t recall ever building a Gingerbread House myself when I was a kid, period.  If my memory serves me right, seeing one exhibited in a restaurant or hotel during the holiday season was the closest encounter I had with a Gingerbread House.  That is, until last weekend.  Yeah, I built a Gingerbread House with my kids, with the help of this kit below.  No, this is NOT a sponsored post.  But I had so much fun building the Gingerbread House with my kids that the entire process made me want to share this wonderful product and experience with you.  I got this kit from Bed Bath and Beyond for $9.99.  What a wonderful deal to build memories together with the kids, right?
 

This kit included everything you see from the picture below.   The Gingerbread cookies, the candies, the icing (as decoration and “glue”) and the plastic tray that you build the house on.  Those who know me well probably know I’m not a crafty person.  But with the help of this kit, it’s almost foolproof.  The only thing I didn’t like was the icing/icing bag.  After I cut 1/4-inch of the corning of the bag (suggested by the instruction on the box) to glue the edges of the house, the cut was way too big for a neat/clean decoration.  Other than that, this was a wonderful kit to have fun with the kiddos.  It kept us busy for the whole morning.



The picture below shows you the back of the box.  It tells you what are included in the kit, simple step by step instructions on how to build the structure, and decorating ideas.



Pay attention to the picture below, as I was laying out my ingredients on a sheet tray as suggested by the instruction, my kids were “fighting” for the box at the background!  LOL…They both wanted to read the instructions for their Mama as they know she doesn’t read instructions that well. 



Once all the sides of the wall were on, up next was the roof.



When all the structural pieces were glued on, we needed to wait 15 minutes for the icing/glue to dry before we can start decorating.  While we were waiting, my big boy and baby girl got too bored…they said the house smells really delicious and wanted to give it a taste test, literally!    Good I didn’t let that happen.  But it was close!  hahaha...what can I say, like Mother like Son/Daughter, they sure are little foodies and want to taste test everything.



Finally, the wait was over and let’s get the fun begin, shall we?!  My baby girl always say “lady first, lady first…” (referring to herself) whenever she wanted to cut in line, in front of her brother.  Luckily, my big boy is such a gentleman and almost always let his sister go first. 



Now, it’s the gentleman’s turn. 



Okay, it’s more fun to do it together.  So, they both started going at it.



I think we did a pretty good job as first timers, right?  What do you think?





By the way, the kit came with a gingerbread tree, gingerbread man and a gingerbread snowman.  But they were quite big, in ratio, when compared to the house; the slots to place them in were too closed to the house and would block the decorations.  So I used some candy penguins I had (originally purchased for another holiday project I had in mind).  They fitted right in (see the picture below).   




So, this Gingerbread house will be "on display" until Christmas.  I might take pictures during the demolition process, if I remember (and not too busy eating candies and cookies).   I had so much fun with the kids building this adorable Gingerbread House together. 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all are having fun with your kids (or Grandkids) doing craft projects or preparing favorite recipes together.





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