Christmas baking was never much of a tradition in our house. My mother loves to cook, but baking was never really her thing, just the occasional pie. My own attempts at frosted sugar cookies around the holidays never produced anything of note. In fact, they weren't even that pretty to look at. Patience with decorating is not really my forté.
So tasting the variety of cookies that inevitably appeared on the lunchroom table at work/school/wherever each year was always somewhat of adventure for me. A surprise favorite of mine were these little powdered sugar coated balls - crunchy, nutty and not too sweet - right up my alley. But I didn't know what they were called so I couldn't try to replicate them. Searches at the grocery store were fruitless (cookieless?).
But then, miracle of miracles, I married my husband and got his mother in the bargain. And she, among many other good qualities, has a butter ball cookie recipe (because, indeed, this is what they are called, at least in her family) that was passed down by her mother. Joy!
And now I have the good fortune of sharing the family recipe with you. These scrumptious cookies are a cinch to make and are dangerously addictive. And they look like little snowballs!
LaTorre Christmas Butter Ball Recipe (makes 60)
What you need:
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup butter (softened to room temp)
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)
Powdered sugar, for rolling
What to do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, sugar and salt. Mix in the softened butter and vanilla. Add the chopped nuts (the jury is still out on whether or not to toast the nuts beforehand, so I leave it to you to decide). The batter may look crumbly but that's okay.
Take a little bit of dough in your hand and squeeze it together until you have what approximates a ball. You want the balls to be bite sized because the cookies are crumbly and hard to eat in more than one bite. My cookies in the photo are actually a bit too big.
Place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until they just start to brown, about 15 minutes. Be sure the bottoms don't get too dark or the cookies will have a burnt taste.
Once the cookies have cooled a bit roll them in a bowl of powdered sugar and tap off the access. Done!
They will keep in a sealed container for a week or so.
Pictures by Emily Rodman
So familiar, so yummy. Now it is in your hands to take over the making of the LaTorre family butter balls for Christmas! Love, MILI
Posted by: George Bremner | Monday, December 14, 2009 at 10:52 AM