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Snowballs are such a wonderful standby at holiday time, because they are easy to make and keep for a very long time. This slight variation adds a little orange zest to give a bright and unexpected flavor to the cookies. 1/2 cup unsalted Plugra butter, at cool room temperature Preheat a conventional oven to 325 degrees, or a convection oven to 310 degrees, and set the oven racks so they divide the oven into thirds. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Cream the butter, sugar and zest on medium high speed for about 2 minutes, until creamy. Add the flour and blend on low speed until it is mixed in. Add the nuts and blend again on low speed just until combined, about 15 seconds. Using a #100 scoop (or heaping teaspoonfuls of dough rolled into balls) scoop the dough and place it on the baking pans. Bake in the preheated oven, reversing the pans halfway through the baking time, for about 20 minutes. When the cookies are done, they will be lightly browned and fairly firm to the touch. The cookies will firm up a little more when they cool. Remove the pans from the oven and set them on wire racks to cool. Place the extra confectioners’ sugar in a shallow dish. After they have cooled for 5 minutes, carefully roll the cookies in the confectioners’ sugar and place them on the wire racks to finish cooling. When they are completely cooled, roll them in the sugar again. Store the cookies, with wax paper between the layers, in an airtight container for up to one month. (To print the recipe, right-click the window and select PRINT) |