Name: Christmas Snowball Cookies
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1 cup unsalted butter (softened); ½ cup powdered sugar; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 2 cups all-purpose flour; ½ tsp salt; ½ cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips; ⅓ cup holiday sprinkles; extra powdered sugar (for rolling)

Christmas Snowball Cookies are sweet, buttery, and easy to make! Perfect holiday Snowball Cookies for cookie trays & gift exchanges.

This unique cookie recipe is a new favorite of ours! It’s so simple to make and it has so much flavor packed into every bite that it’s hard to stop eating. With every batch making about 2 dozen cookies, there’s plenty to share with friends and family!

What are Christmas Snowball Cookies?

These small round shortbread cookies contain mini chocolate chips and holiday sprinkles in them. Then they’re baked and rolled in powdered sugar for an awesome powdery white appearance that mimics the classic winter snowball. (This is also how they get their name!)

Tips for making Snowball Cookies

Cookies will be soft once removed from heat so be sure to allow time for them to set and cool slightly before rolling in the powdered sugar.
Some of the powdered sugar will soak into the cookies. You can dip the tops into the powdered sugar twice if desired.
You can easily change the flavor of the cookies by adding chopped walnuts and pecans instead of sprinkles.

Ingredients in Christmas Snowball Cookies

Butter – For best results, use real butter. Make sure to soften the butter to room temperature before adding to the other ingredients.

Powdered sugar – The sweetness in the cookies comes from powdered sugar, rather than granulated or brown sugar like in most cookies.

Vanilla extract – The higher the quality of the vanilla, the better.

Flour – Use all-purpose flour in the cookie dough. You can also use a gluten-free substitute if necessary.

Salt – A little bit of salt helps all of the other flavors to pop!

Mini chocolate chips – Adding mini chocolate chips to the cookie dough adds texture and flavor to the pillowy soft cookies.

Holiday sprinkles – Mixing sprinkles into the cookie dough turns these snowball cookies into a festive treat. You can use red and green sprinkles for Christmas, but you can use different colors for other holidays or special occasions.

More powdered sugar – Add about a cup of powdered sugar to a small bowl so that you can coat the baked cookies.

Cookies made with sprinkles and mini chocolate chips.

How to make Christmas Snowball Cookies

Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Creaming butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla.

Add the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla to a medium-sized mixing bowl and beat together for 2-3 minutes with a stand or hand mixer.

Mix flour, salt, chocolate chips, and sprinkles.

In a separate bowl, add the flour, salt, chocolate chips, and sprinkles and stir together.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the dough, mixing well with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to combine.

Scoop the dough using a 1-inch cookie scoop into your hands and roll it between your palms, forming a ball before placing it onto the baking sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until just beginning to brown.

Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly for 5-7 minutes.

Add extra powdered sugar to a small bowl and gently roll the cookies until evenly covered.

Allow cookies to completely cool before serving.

Cookies made with mini chocolate chips and sprinkles.

How do you soften butter to room temperature?

The best way to soften butter is to set it out for a few hours before you make your cookies. Since most of us (or maybe just me!) aren’t that prepared or don’t think that far in advance, there are a few tricks to softening butter perfectly in just a matter of minutes.

My favorite way to soften butter is in the microwave. It’s definitely fast, but you do have to be very careful not to melt it. Just put the whole stick of butter in the microwave (as long as it isn’t wrapped in foil!) and microwave for about 6-7 seconds. If the butter is still really cold, try another 5-7 seconds and check it again. You may need a few intervals, and if the butter is starting to feel soft, you can shorten the final interval to just a few seconds to make sure it doesn’t start melting.

I actually prefer to use the defrost setting on my microwave – I don’t know exactly what that mode does differently, and it takes a little bit longer (closer to 30 seconds), but it seems to be easier to get the butter to soften without melting.

Why are my snowball cookies flat?

If your cookies fell flat, the most common reason for this to occur would be if you used melted butter in the cookie dough. While we do want softened butter in the dough, melted butter is too soft and won’t hold up as well. In the hot oven, a warm dough will “melt” and fall flat instead of staying shaped as we want it to.

Can snowball cookies be frozen?

Yes, these cookies do great when frozen. Simply let them cool completely and then place in an airtight container for up to 3 months. You can toss them in another coating of powdered sugar after they’ve thawed so that they look fresh again.

How to store snowball cookies

Keep your snowball cookies stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. Any longer than that and the cookies will grow stale.

MORE DELICIOUS CHRISTMAS COOKIES TO TRY:

Christmas Snowball Cookies are sweet, buttery, and easy to make! Perfect holiday Snowball Cookies for cookie trays & gift exchanges.

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