Description
Gingerbread Snowballs are a delightful holiday cookie combining warm spices with a buttery, tender dough. These bite-sized treats are rolled in powdered sugar for a snowy finish, offering a perfect balance of gingerbread flavor and sweetness, ideal for festive gifting and celebrations.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookies
- 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 Rolling
- Powdered sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 350° 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. Then add powdered sugar, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and molasses. Mix until the mixture is smooth and evenly combined.
- Add Flour: Gradually add the all-purpose flour to the mixture. Continue mixing until the dough comes together, which may take a few minutes. It might look crumbly at first, but keep mixing until it forms a cohesive cookie dough.
- Shape Cookies: Scoop about 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie and place them evenly spaced on the prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake Cookies: Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes until the bottoms are just slightly brown.
- Roll in Powdered Sugar: Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool for about a minute until you can handle them comfortably. Roll each cookie in powdered sugar to coat completely, then place on a cooling rack.
- Final Coating: Once cookies have fully cooled, roll them in powdered sugar again if desired for an extra snowy appearance and sweetness.
Notes
- For best results, measure flour accurately by spooning it into the cup and leveling it off.
- If dough seems too crumbly, continue mixing as it will eventually come together; avoid adding extra liquid.
- Use parchment paper or silicone mats for easy cleanup and to prevent cookies from sticking.
- These cookies freeze well; store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
- Rolling cookies in powdered sugar twice enhances the snowy appearance and sweetness.
- Molasses can be substituted with dark corn syrup or honey, but molasses provides the authentic gingerbread flavor.
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 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 10 mg
