Description
Gingerbread Snowballs are soft, buttery cookies infused with warm spices and molasses, rolled in powdered sugar for a festive holiday treat. These delicate cookies combine the flavors of gingerbread with the classic snowball cookie texture, making them perfect for winter celebrations and gifting.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 1 cup Challenge Unsalted Butter (226g), softened
- ½ cup (57g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 2 ¼ cups (279g) all-purpose flour
For Coating
- Powdered sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper to prevent sticking and ensure even baking.
- Mix Butter and Sugar: Using an electric mixer, beat the softened butter until fluffy, about 20 seconds. Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and molasses. Mix until the mixture is smooth and well combined.
- Add Flour: Gradually add the all-purpose flour to the wet mixture. Mix continuously until the dough starts to come together. It may appear crumbly at first, but continue mixing for several minutes as the dough will form into a cohesive cookie dough.
- Shape Cookies: Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie and place them evenly on the prepared cookie sheets, leaving some space between each ball to allow for slight spreading.
- Bake Cookies: Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 12 minutes until the bottoms are just slightly browned but the tops remain light.
- Roll in Powdered Sugar: Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool for a minute until they can be handled. Place powdered sugar in a small bowl and gently roll each warm cookie in the sugar to coat them thoroughly.
- Cool Completely: Transfer the coated cookies to a cooling rack and let them cool completely. For extra sweetness and the traditional snowball appearance, re-roll the cooled cookies in powdered sugar.
Notes
- Make sure the butter is properly softened to help achieve a smooth, fluffy dough.
- Keep mixing the dough patiently as it initially looks crumbly but will come together with continuous mixing.
- Use parchment paper to prevent sticking and easy cleanup.
- Rolling the cookies in powdered sugar while warm helps the sugar stick better; re-rolling once cooled ensures a thick coating.
- This recipe yields about 48 cookies depending on dough scoop size.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to one week to maintain freshness.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 60 kcal
- Sugar: 1 g
- Sodium: 444 mg
- Fat: 4 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 6 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 10 mg
