These beautiful Peppermint Snowball Cookies are perfect for Christmas! Soft, buttery cookies are loaded up with peppermint and white chocolate, rolled in powdered sugar.
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Mexican Wedding Cookies
These cookies go by many different names: snowballs, Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes, butter cookies…
Regardless of what you call them, they are delicious!
And this Christmas cookie recipe uses peppermint and white chocolate for a holiday twist.
Peppermint flavored desserts are pretty much mandatory for the Christmas season and I love using the flavors in new ways, like my Peppermint Bark Rice Krispie Treats.
You could also put some crushed candy canes inside the cookies, but I wanted to keep a soft texture without pockets of the crunchy candy.
Ingredients – What are snowball cookies made of?
Here is what you need to make these Christmas cookies:
- Butter
- Powdered Sugar (Confectioner’s Sugar)
- Peppermint Extract
- Flour
- White Chocolate Chips
- Red Sugar Sprinkles (optional)
The red sugar sprinkles are optional, but a beautiful addition to the sugar coating of the cookies! It gives them a great sparkle and pop of color.
Instruction Overview
In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the butter, powdered sugar, and peppermint extract together until smooth.
Add the flour, white chocolate chips, and some salt and gently mix it all together until incorporated.
I recommend roughly chopping the chocolate chips because they would be large for the size of the cookie and make it difficult to roll into small balls.
But you can leave them whole if desired to get those great pockets of chocolate in the cookies.
Roll the dough out into balls, which you can make small or large. Larger balls will be about two tablespoons of dough, or a size 40 scoop. Smaller balls will be about half that and about an inch wide.
Tip: If you like to make cookies, I recommend getting a size 40 scoop. It is the perfect size for many cookies and makes portioning and rolling so much easier!
After baking, let them cool for just a few minutes and when still warm, roll them in more powdered sugar that has the red sprinkles mixed in.
You do not want to do this if they are cool, because the sugar will not stick.
Do it when they are too hot, and the sugar will melt on the cookies. If they are cool enough to handle comfortably, they are ready to be rolled!
How do I know if the snowball cookies are done baking?
This is trickier than other cookies because these do not rise and do not turn a golden brown.
You can tell they are done because the outside will look like it has a film on it where the dough is cooked and not raw anymore. And the bottoms will be turning a very light brown when you lift them up.
Peppermint Snowball Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened (2 sticks)
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup white chocolate chips roughly chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup powdered sugar for dusting
- 2 teaspoons red sugar sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Beat the butter, peppermint extract, and ½ cup powdered sugar together in a stand mixer on speed 4 or hand mixer on medium speed until combined.
- Add the flour, salt, and white chocolate chips. Mix on low speed to incorporate.
- Roll the dough into balls and place on a baking sheet. For larger balls as shown in picture, use approximately 2 Tablespoons per cookie (size 40 scoop, 1.5 inch round). For smaller balls, use approximately 1 Tablespoon of dough (1 inch round).
- Bake for 10 minutes if small and 12 minutes if large. The bottoms will just be turning a very light brown.
- Remove from the oven and let sit a few minutes until you can handle them but they are still warm.
- Combine the remaining ½ cup powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons red sugar sprinkles in a small bowl. Toss the cookies in the sugar to coat and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Store in an air tight container up to one week.
I love these! So festive and tasty too!
So good! These are a new staple at our house!
These are so pretty! The kids helped me make them and we ate them all!
I’ll be making these for Christmas – thank you!
My family loves snowball cookies and your recipe takes them to the next level. Thank you for the recipe!
These cookies sound so festive and I absolutely adore how cute they are!
Flavorful variation on snowball cookies. SO DELISH!!
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing peppermint snowballs cookies recipe! Will surely have this again! It’s really easy to make and it tasted so delicious! Highly recommended!
These are a great Christmas treat! I’ve made these in the past, but mine never come out as perfectly round as your’s!
Such an awesome-looking cookie, the white theme makes it enticing! A perfect treat for this Holiday season! Loved it!
Well, for me, this is a perfect Christmas gift to give to my friends. It looks delicious and I am so excited to make this for them.
These cookies were delicious and easy to make! Perfect for Christmas with the pepperoni flavor!
These are always on our holiday baking list! A great gift or treat for teachers this time of year too!