Shortbread Snowballs Recipes

Steps:

• 1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees
• 2. Mix butter, sugar, vanilla, flour, and pecans on high for 1 - 2 min. (until smooth)
• 3. roll mixture into 1 inch diameter balls. Place onto non-greased cookie sheet .5 - 1 inch apart
• 4. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes, cool
• 5. toss cookies in confectoners' sugar. serve warm or room temperature

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
• Roll the dough 1/2-inch thick and cut with a 3 by 1-inch finger-shaped cutter. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature.
• When the cookies are cool, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put 3 ounces of the chocolate in a glass bowl and microwave on high power for 30 seconds. (Don't trust your microwave timer; time it with your watch.) Stir with a wooden spoon. Continue to heat and stir in 30-second increments until the chocolate is just melted. Add the remaining chocolate and allow it to sit at room temperature, stirring often, until it's completely smooth. Stir vigorously until the chocolate is smooth and slightly cooled; stirring makes it glossier.
• Drizzle 1/2 of each cookie with just enough chocolate to coat it.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cream the butter with 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla. Mix in the flour, pecans, and salt. Roll about 1 tablespoon or so of dough into balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake in preheated oven until bottoms are golden, about 15 minutes. Do not allow these cookies to get too brown: it's better to undercook them than to overcook them. While cookies are still hot, roll them in confectioners' sugar. Once they have cooled, roll them in confectioners' sugar once more.

Steps:

• Sift together flour and salt into a small bowl. In a food processor, pulse almonds until finely ground (do not overprocess, as nuts will turn into a paste).
• With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add confectioners' sugar, and continue to beat until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes more. Beat in ground almonds and almond extract. Add flour mixture, and beat on low speed until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with spatula if necessary, until flour is just incorporated and dough sticks together when squeezed with fingers.
• Turn dough out onto a piece of plastic and form into a flat disk; wrap in plastic. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
• Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4-inch thickness. With a lightly floured 4-inch snowman cutter, cut dough into shapes, and arrange 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps, and cut out more shapes, if desired. Chill 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake until shortbread is firm and just starting to color, rotating sheets halfway through, 20 to 22 minutes. Transfer cookies on sheets to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with sugar. Shortbread can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 weeks.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Line a baking sheet with greaseproof (parchment) paper. Sift the flour and rice flour into a medium mixing bowl. Add the sugar and mix.
• Cut butter into pieces and rub into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture begins to bind together. Knead into soft dough.
• Roll the dough into an 8 inch round (or for exact round, mold it in an 8 inch cake pan). Place on baking sheet. Using a fork, prick top and make tine marks along edge. Using a table knife, score top with wedge marks. (This is where it will break when cooled)
• Bake 45 minutes or until pale golden in color. Sprinkle a little superfine sugar over top and cool on baking sheet. Cut into wedges. Keeps for weeks in airtight tin.