Butter Ball Cookies

Submitted by Dawn F.

"This cookie is a must during the Holidays. Simple to make. You can vary the recipe by replacing walnuts with cashews, pecan or some time I mix in chocolate chip or butterscotch chips."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 7
• Yields: 4 dozen

ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1⁄2 cups walnuts, chopped
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup powdered sugar

directions

1. Cream butter,sugar, salt and vanilla.
2. Blend in flour and nuts.
3. Scoop and roll into balls.
4. Bake 325 for 22 to 25 minutes.
5. Remove from oven roll into powdered sugar.

Reviews

[Nicq M.]

The recipe was great. My balls came out delicious. The directions could have been a little more detailed though. Tip: Blend the butter, salt, vanilla,sugar together with a hand held mixer on medium speed until combined. The butter mix will appear thick yet smooth when blended well. Next slowly add all the dry flour/ nut mixture a little at a time into the wet mixture while blending on medium speed. The combined mix will look gritty. Use your hands to press together the mix until it comes together like a pizza dough shaped ball. Pinch a little piece of dough into the palms of your hands and roll dough into mini golf ball sized balls. Place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet (I used Pam cooking spray) and bake 23 minutes for perfect melt in your mouth butter balls. Make sure to preheat oven first on 325 degrees.

 

[tee420]

Can the dough be refrigerated overnight?

 

[bpd2222]

This recipe is as old as the hills, my great granny from Italy made these when I was a kid. I still make them but one tip...pulverize half of the walnuts to a flour like texture but not too long or you will get a solid butter like mass. I use the Magic Bullet for this...just a quick couple seconds. The other half of the walnuts or pecans should also be quite finely chopped. This will ensure the melt factor when you eat them. A double dip in powder sugar will make these much prettier and tastier.

 

[T B.4233]

We have made this cookie for years at Christmas time. Try rolling them while they are still fairly hot in the powdered sugar. After they've cooled, roll them again through the powdered sugar. The first coating will melt and stick to the cookie and the second will add a nice finish. Also, the second coating of powdered sugar will help balance the saltiness if you use salted butter. In fact, we always use salted butter. Unsalted butter in this recipe tends to render them extraordinarily bland. And, this should be a 'crumbly' cookie - it is essentially a shortbread cookie. Crumbly in this case is a good thing. They freeze beautifully, too. Just be sure to use freezer bags as opposed to regular bags so they don't pick up other flavors or odors from other foods stored in your freezer.

 

[Toni S.]

I use pecans