Is it cold enough out there for you?

With the recent Arctic Blast that brought us snow yesterday and the below freezing temperatures I felt like making snowballs.  After going outside to wrap and protect my fruit trees and salvage what crisply frozen Winter greens I could from my garden I decided that it was too cold to stay outside and make snowballs.  So I went inside and made them there instead!

Now this cookie recipe is an age old recipe.  Who knows where it first originated as it goes by sooo many names such as: Mexican Wedding Cakes, Italian Butternuts, Russian Tea Cakes just to name a few.  But I have read that it is a cookie that has a history that dates back as far as the 18th century. I make these little balls of heaven every single year and over the years I have tweaked the standard recipe to create a lovely, nut filled shortbread type cookie that will melt in your mouth.  Mine includes ground almonds, instead of chopped pecans or walnuts and I like to use a Vanilla Bean with a couple little drops of Amaretto to really make the almond flavor sing.

It’s a super easy cookie to make and if you have little ones around they will have fun helping you to shape them into little balls, while keeping snug and warm during this Arctic Blast.  It also keeps really well.

For this recipe I use unsalted butter.  If you are going to use salted butter omit the salt.
Vegan & Lactose Sensitive – If you are vegan or  lactose intolerant, substitute the butter for Margarine. Please note that vegetable oil spreads will make these cookies spread out and flatten a bit.
Gluten Free – If you are gluten intolerant, substitute flour with your favorite GF All Purpose flour and add an additional 2 Tablespoons of water

Snowball Cookies

• 2 Sticks (1/2 Cup) unsalted Butter, softened
• 1/2 Powdered Sugar
• 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 Cup Cake Flour
• 1 Vanilla Bean, seeds scraped out
• 1 teaspoon Amaretto
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 Cup Almond Flour, or finely ground Almonds

For Dusting:

• 1 cup Powdered Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cornstarch

Dusting Instructions:
Combine in a bowl and set aside

Snowball Cookie Instructions:
Using a mixer or by hand, cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together until they are all well combined.
Divide the dough in half and form two large balls.  Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place them in the fridge to cool for at least 1 hour and as long as overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°, prepare baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper.
Now go get one of your chilled dough balls out of the refrigerator.  Begin shaping balls by rolling about 2 teaspoons worth of dough at a time into balls using your hands.  They should be just a little smaller than a walnut in the shell.  Place them about 1/2″ apart on a baking sheet (if you are using Margarine – place them 1″ apart).

Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom, the tops will be a very pale golden brown.
Let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to the Powdered Sugar and Cornstarch that you made earlier.
Give them a gentle roll until they are well coated.
Reserve a little of the Dusting recipe to sift over the tops of the cookies right before serving.

Images by Kelly Cline ©2010 All Rights Reserved
All content, text and images are  ©2010 All Rights Reserved and may not be used or reposted without express written consent.

Looking to gain favor with the Easter Bunny this year? Well, I’ve got a little treat in store for you and it is even Gluten Free. Oh yes, my GF friends I have some springtime cookie love that is right up your alley.

This cookie was born out of a need. A need for a cookie. We didn’t have any cookies laying around and the only flour I had was a whole wheat flour. I will just say this now… I was not in the mood for a healthy whole grain cookie, I was in the mood for sweet, chewy, crispy and delectable. I had coconut, I had eggs, I had butter and sugar. Most importantly, I had the desire for a cookie.

So I grabbed a bunch of cookie-ish ingredients, some nuts and dried cherries and some pink food coloring. Why pink? I dunno… I just felt “pink”. I began randomly throwing things into the mixer like a mad scientist (please imagine me wringing my hands and going “Mwahahaha” over the mixer) and from this mad experiment was the discovery of the most delicious coconut cookie I have ever sunk my teeth into.

Crisp edges that are still chewy, an inside that is moist and delectable with strands of coconut, chunks of pecans and sour cherries running through the chewilicious goodness. So get your pink nom on in time for the Easter season. Make ’em for the Easter Bunny, your favorite Hunny Bunny or just for yourself to nom and not share. You won’t want to share… and that is ok. Eat them all with a big, fat pink coconutty grin on your face.

Pink Coconut Cookies

• 1 stick of Butter, softened
• 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
• 2/3 cup Baker’s Sugar (ultra-fine sugar, but regular will do in a pinch)
• 2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

Cream together the Above ingredients on high for about 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar mixture looks creamy and fluffy.

• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking Soda
• 6 Egg Whites – ONE AT A TIME

Add the Salt and Baking Soda, mix for 1 minute. Now add in your Egg Whites one at a time, mixing for 1 full minute after each egg white is added.

• 1/4 to 1/2 cup Almond Flour (ground almonds… more Almond Flour results in a fatter, denser cookie)
• 2 cups sweetened Flaked Coconut
• 1/4 cup Pecans, finely chopped (optional)
• 1/4 cup Dried Cherries, finely chopped (optional)
• Food Coloring – pick whatever color makes you happiest

Dump the rest of the ingredients into the fluffy, eggy mixture and fold it in by hand until the ingredients are well combined.
Preheat your oven to 325º C
***You will need parchment paper or a silicon mat. Don’t try to make these cookies without one of these items. You can find silicon mats at any good online kitchen store and parchment paper is at your grocery store near the aluminum foil and waxed paper. Without this you will need a chisel or a jackhammer to pry the tasty cookies off the cookie sheet. I like to use parchment paper.
On a cookie sheet lined with parchment or silicon mat drop very rounded heaping teaspoons onto the parchment or silicon, bake in the oven for 17-20 minutes or just until the edges are golden brown. Remove and let cool completely before removing from the cookie sheet.

When storing these cookies, cut small squares of parchment paper or wax paper and insert in between each cookie otherwise they will stick together. Keep them in an airtight container and they should keep for about 3-4 days.