Snowballs, or Mexican Wedding Cakes, or Russian Tea cakes, or ......

This is another first for me. I have never made these before, but know that people love these on cookie trays. I think I made them too big; no one complained, but comparing in my mind to other trays I have seen, these looked pretty large. The boys at work could still get the whole thing in their mouths in one shot, so I'm not too concerned.

Snowballs from Good Housekeeping Home for the Holidays

1 cup toasted pecans

1-3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter, softened and cut into 16 pieces

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In food processor with knife blade attached, process the pecans and 1/4 cup powdered sugar until nuts are finely chopped. Add butter and vanilla and process until smooth, scraping down sides of processor bowl with rubber spatula. Add flour and process until dough comes together.

With floured hands, roll dough into 1-inch balls and place 1-1/2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until bottoms are lightly browned and tops are very golden light brown, 20 to 22 minutes. With wide spatula, transfer cookies to cooling racks. Place remaining 1-1/2 cup powdered sugar in pie plate. While cookies are still slightly warm, roll in powdered sugar. Place back on cooling rack to cool completely. When cooled completely, roll in powdered sugar again.

Hermit Crab will be home on Friday and I'm so excited to see her! She says she is looking forward to coming home, but I think most of that is due to high school friends also being home for the holidays and no more finals! It will be nice to have my whole family back under the same roof for a couple weeks and she is making a list of things she would like me to cook for her. Good thing I will have 12 days off in a row!