Mrs. Tac's Holiday Snowball Cookies

My friend called me up today and told me she just lost 15 pounds from taking Zumba classes. Swell I think, as I just finished baking my first batch of holiday cookies. I love this time of year, the weeks between Halloween and New Year’s that are filled with every kind of delectable goodie you can imagine. My specialty is holiday cookies. I spend the early weeks of November scouring the stores like Home Goods, Michaels and Cost Plus for festive boxes to put my cookies in, that will end up as holiday gifts for friends and family.

I was first introduced to the whole holiday cookie extravaganza by my friend Carol’s mother, Mary. Mary began baking in early December, and whenever I went to their house there was always seven or eight different kinds of cookies offered to me. I loved the way she put her heart and soul into her cookies. Although it was 45 years ago, I never forgot her snowball cookies. (She actually called them nut balls, but people make fun of that name, so now I call them snowballs.)

I recently called Carol and told her I’d like to add her mother’s recipe to my cookie repertoire and so she shared it with me. I made them this past weekend and they brought back warm memories of cold afternoons at her  house stuffing our faces with homemade cookies. I’m hoping to make it through this holiday season without packing on the poundage, However, come January, I guess I could always take those Zumba classes.

Mrs. Tac’s Holiday Snowball Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups sifted flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

• In a large bowl, stir flour, sugar and salt.
• Work in butter and vanilla by hand.
• Add nuts and incorporate them into the mixture.
• Using a light hand, form cookies into small balls.
• Place on parchment covered cookie sheet 1 inch apart.
• Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes until lightly golden.
• Let cookies cool on a rack for 10 minutes.
• Toss the cookies until covered in powdered sugar.
• Re-toss cookies in powdered sugar 10 minutes later, and cool for 1 hour.
• Store in airtight container.

Makes about 30 cookies.

Recipe: Easy

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