This post was originally published in 2010. I updated the post in 2019. 
I love these things. They are only available seasonally (thank goodness) but I find my buggy steering towards them each year soon as they make their first showing in the grocery store. I’ve always wanted to make my own and wondered if they would be even better at home. Well the good news is, a few years ago I FINALLY got a recipe for them from Mama!
Bad news is that as much as I like the store bought ones, the ones at home are even better. ~sighs~ And they know how to call my name in such a piteous longing fashion that I can’t prevent myself from visiting them just…one…more…time.
My only complaint is that the name is silly and misleading to us normal folks. People with culinary degrees and such may realize that “nougat” applies but the rest of us think about the chewy filling inside a candy bar and so don’t realize that this is just a yummy buttery shortbread with finely chopped nuts inside. So when I tell my kids what they are, I just say Shortbread Snowballs. It works.
You’ll need: Flour (all purpose), Sugar, vanilla, butter, finely chopped nuts of your choice, and salt.
Place your softened butter, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl and cream it til it’s git up and go done got up and went.
Like this
This is where the original recipe said to sift the flour. Pfft. Right.
I have a sifter and it sits up on a pretty little shelf in my kitchen where it collects dust.
I don’t sift. It is against my personal convictions.
Just dump your flour in there. Be rebellious with me.
Pour in your vanilla.
The recipe calls for two teaspoons but y’all know I just kinda pour and leave it up to the good Lord how much ends up in there.
It’s called divine baking – and I just made that term up. How cool is that? Stick with me, we’ll be the cool kids, even if no one knows it but us! ~winks~
Oh, you’re gonna need to scrape down the sides of your bowl some but you’ll figure that out…
Dump in your pecans.
Puh-kawns.
I just thought I’d spell that phonetically for anyone who may not know.
I know I just impressed you with that two dollar word, now didn’t I?
Oh, now you need to mix it all up again until well combined.
Like this.
Go ahead and get you a pinch of that dough and taste it.
Be sure to save some to bake though…I know it will be tempting.
I used my little cookie dough scoop and made some pretty generous sized cookies. you can just make them with your hands and make little one inch balls and have twice as many as I did but I was in a lazy, cookie dough scoop kinda mood and when I’m in those moods I try not to deny myself the pleasure of indulging in the easy way out.
Now bake ’em.
I made about thirty but you can easily make fifty or so instead.
After they cool roll those little puppies in confectioner’s sugar..
or “confectionary sugar” as one of my grandmother’s called it.
They are absolutely, melt in your mouth, delicious.
Here is what the inside of one would look like if your teeth were actually a butter knife…
What pretty little snowballs! One bite and you’ll be making this every year from here on out!
Ingredients
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups finely ground nuts of your choice I’m using pecans
- Confectioner’s sugar
Instructions
-
Cream butter, sugar, and salt until fluffy. Add flour and vanilla, mix well, scraping down sides as needed. Add nuts and mix until well incorporated. Shape into one inch balls (mine are bigger because I use a little cookie dough scoop) and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 325 for twenty minutes, but don’t let them brown.
-
Cool cookies. When cooled, roll in confectioner’s sugar.
This recipe featured in Meal Plan Monday and Weekend Potluck
Submitted by Judy Clark. Submit your quote or read others to help brighten your day by clicking here.
Yum