My memory of Nut Balls goes back many years. It was and is my favorite cookie. I consider them very special because I could only get them during the holiday season. As soon as Thanksgiving had passed, I would hunt for them at bakeries and groceries stores. I would savor those cookies to the last bite. When the last nut ball was gone, I knew I would have to wait a year before they would appear. The funny part of all this is it never occurred to me that I might be able to make them myself. That’s when I discovered a recipe for them in my old reliable and quite tattered Fanny Farmer Cookbook circa 1965.
At first, I was in fear they wouldn’t be as good as I’d remembered. But I was wrong; they were so much better. Fast-forward to today and these Nut Balls are still one of my very favorite cookies. The strange thing is I only seem to make them at this time of year.
Nut Balls
Ingredients: Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies
- 1 cup butter
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1½ cups flour
- 1½ cup ground pecan
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 300°F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment. Pour the confectioner’s sugar in a shallow dish and set aside both.
Using a stand or hand mixture cream the butter on medium speed until it’s light and fluffy. Add the sugar, flour, vanilla, pecans and salt; mix until well blended. Using a 1-tablespoon cookie scoop, shape the dough into 1-inch balls. Roll the dough balls in confectioner’s’ sugar and place them on the prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Reserve the leftover confectioner’s’ sugar for later. Bake for 35 minutes.
Move the cookies from the baking sheet and place them on a cooling rack. When they have completely cooled, roll the nut balls in remaining confectioner’s sugar mixture to add a final coating. Store the Nut Balls in an airtight container for a week or so.
Notes: I used pecans in my nut balls recipe, but they can be substituted with almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts or a combination. The kind of nuts you use is to your taste. It’s important to form the nut balls about the same size to ensure uniform cooking. Coating the cookies twice may seem a bit much but makes all the difference in the final product.
There isn’t much to these heavenly morsels. They certainly aren’t hard to make. The best part is I can now enjoy these whenever I have an urge, at any time of the year. If you’ve never had one, then this is your chance. You will not be disappointed.
Time to eat…
P.S. Take a moment to check out my recipe booklets for sale on this site and purchase some of the tools I used for this “Nut Balls” recipe below. 🙂