This is a recipe for scrumptious, melt-in-your-mouth biscuits that go very well with tea – or on their own, if you have a sweet tooth like I do 
.
When I want to calm my mind and engage in a creative activity that yields results fairly quickly, I usually bake. I love the alchemy, the magic that transforms a few careful ingredients into something that tastes and smells delicious – think vanilla and butter wafting out of the oven and slowly permeating the whole house…Heaven!
I found this recipe while flicking through a magazine somewhere – possibly in a waiting room – but unfortunately I forgot to write down the author. Yesterday I remembered I had seen pictures of these wonderful treats on Smitten Kitchen; I checked her blog again and realised that these biscuits are also known as Russian Tea Cakes, Mexican Wedding Cakes and Butterballs.
I also discovered that most recipes call for a different method; I made mine like I normally make pastry, while the other method involves creaming soft butter with sugar and vanilla, and then folding in the dry ingredients with a spatula – like a pâte sucrée (French pastry).
What can I say? I guess I will have to make these little beauties again! And since I believe that other nuts would work really well with this recipe – I’m thinking toasted hazelnuts here – then I will have to make this at least two more times, won’t I ?
Snowballs
Makes about 60 cherry-sized biscuits
150 gr plain flour
100 gr butter, unsalted, cold
30 gr icing sugar
60 gr pecan nuts
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt
Icing sugar to dust
Sift flour, icing sugar and salt in a bowl; put the bowl in the fridge while you dice the cold butter. Add the diced butter to the dry mix and put in the fridge.
Pre-heat oven to 180° Celsius; spread the pecan nuts on a baking tray, in one layer, and bake for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden and fragrant. Let the toasted nuts cool for a few minutes, then chop them finely without reducing them into a powder.
Take the bowl out of the fridge, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and then blend butter and vanilla into the dry ingredients, using a pastry blender or a fork, until no visible lump of butter remains. Add the chopped pecan nuts and quickly blend the dough until it comes together, like pastry. Handle the dough lightly, to avoid getting it warm.
Cover the bowl with foil and let the dough rest in the fridge from 1 to 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 160° Celsius; roll the dough in small balls, the size of a cherry, and place the balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper (or lightly greased), giving the balls some space to expand.
Bake for 15 minutes – they need to remain light in colour – then let cool for a couple of minutes and roll into icing sugar until completely covered.
Store in a tin box for up to 2 weeks.
Note: The dough can be made using a food-processor – just put all ingredients in the food-processor, and run for a few minutes until the dough comes together.
Photo Credit: Cristina Colli
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This same recipe has been popular in my part of the world- central Texas, in the U.S.A., for several generations. These cookies remind me of the annual Christmas Eve party at the home of my four unmarried great-aunts, who invited the whole extended family for the occasion. Some of my melt-in-the-mouth favorites! We use pecans because they are native to the area, but I expect toasted hazelnuts would be divine.