It’s that time of year again; time for cookie, candy, and sweet swaps! I love the holiday season because I love baking. When Jon is at work on the weekends, I’m usually in the kitchen baking up a storm. This past weekend was no exception. I was thinking about my grandmother’s Mexican wedding cake cookies, and those are one of the cookies she would make that I absolutely loved! And when you have leftover pecans from Thanksgiving to use up, these are the perfect little delights!
To make them more holiday-like, I added some dried cranberries to add a little tartness and some orange flavoring to add a little citrus pop to them. The best part is the coating of powdered sugar. Gives a literal meaning of ‘give me some sugar under the mistletoe‘!
Ingredients:
1 stick softened unsalted butter
2 tbsp granulated sugar
½ cup chopped pecans
¼ cup chopped dried cranberries
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp orange extract
½ tsp ground cinnamon, divided into ¼ tsp portions
½ cup powdered sugar
*Makes about 24 cookies, but the yield will vary depending on how small or large you roll out the cookies.
Combine the butter, 2 tbsp sugar, ¼ tsp ground cinnamon, pecans and cranberries together in a bowl. Mix with a fork until combined well.
Gradually add in the flour a little at a time while stirring to combine. I find it easier to mix with a fork. The dough will be crumbly. Stir in the vanilla and orange extracts.
Roll the cookie dough into teaspoon size balls and place onto a greased baking sheet. The cookies don’t spread much, so you can put them about 1 inch apart. Bake on 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 18 minutes.
Allow the pecan-cranberry cookies to cool just enough to handle.
Mix the powdered sugar with the remaining ¼ tsp of ground cinnamon in a small bowl.
Very gently, toss each cookie into the powdered sugar mixture, while the cookies are still warm. I do two coats of powdered sugar, just because I can.
Place back on the baking sheet to finish cooling completely.
I just love these little Pecan-Cranberry Snowball Cookies and I bet everyone at the sweet swap will too!
- 1 stick softened unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- ¼ cup chopped dried cranberries
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp orange extract
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon, divided into ¼ tsp portions
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- Combine the butter, 2 tbsp sugar, ¼ tsp ground cinnamon, salt, pecans and cranberries together in a bowl. Mix with a fork until combined well.
- Gradually add in the flour a little at a time while stirring to combine. I find it easier to mix with a fork. The dough will be crumbly.
- Stir in the vanilla and orange extracts.
- Roll the cookie dough into teaspoon size balls and place onto a greased baking sheet. The cookies don’t spread much, so you can put them about 1 inch apart.
- Bake on 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 18 minutes.
- Allow the pecan-cranberry cookies to cool just enough to handle. Mix the powdered sugar with the remaining ¼ tsp of ground cinnamon in a small bowl.
- Very gently, toss each cookie into the powdered sugar mixture, while the cookies are still warm. I do two coats of powdered sugar, just because I can.
- Place back on the baking sheet to finish cooling completely.
