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    You are here Home Β» Recipes Β» food

    By: Melissa

    Easy Italian Citrus Snowball Cookies

    I have been making these Italian citrus snowball cookies as my family's Christmas cookies for years because they are so amazing. The snowball cookie dough is actually from my Citrus sugar cookies and I adapted it to this easy recipe. These cookies are an orange and lemon snowball cookie with a delicious sweet powdered sugar coating.

    They are delicious!

    snowball cookies
    Snowball cookies
    Jump to Recipe
    Total Time: 30 minutes

    About these snowball cookies:

    This citrus snowball cookie recipe was something that I began making when I decided there had to be a better way to work with those left over scraps that you end up with after rolling out your cutout cookies.  These orange and lemon flavored snowball cookies became the way I make use of those scraps and I have been making this recipe for over 10 years.

    We love these orange and lemon snowball cookies so much now that we make an entire batch of this dough and only make these cookies. These cookies are very forgiving.

    You only need to grab a chunk of the dough and squeeze it in your hands and then roll them into a ball. You just cannot over work it!

    orange and lemon snowball cookies

    The steps to making these citrus snowball cookies:

    1. Make your dough and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
    2. Remove your dough from the fridge and begin taking small chunks of dough a warming them in your hands.
    3. When the dough is a little pliable start rolling them into little round balls.
    4. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
    5. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet and let cool completely.
    6. Roll in powdered sugar.
    7. You can dust them with more powdered sugar before serving. (optional)

    This recipe has you roll the snowball cookies when they are cool. Sometimes I also like to roll the snowball cookies right when they come out of the oven.

    When you roll them in some powdered sugar while they are still nice and warm theyΒ absorb that yummy sweetness.Β Β Some of the powdered sugar will be absorbed into the cookie and some will remain on the outside of the cookie.

    The powdered sugarcoating on these cookies is part of what makes these orange and lemon snowball cookies so good. These are basically Italian snowball cookies with the flavor of the citrus and the powdered sugar coating.

    I dusted these cookies with a little more powdered sugar after they were cool.

    These are the most sought after cookies in our family. I also love entertaining with them.  

    As I mentioned above, this is the same dough I use for my holiday citrus cookie recipe . That recipe is for making shapes so you could make both types of cookies at once if you prefer.Β  Β 

    I have also evolved this recipe even more by adding in warm eggnog spices and creating the most delicious eggnog snowball cookies. I may invent another use for this dough!

    citrus snowball cookies
    These are the eggnog snowball cookies. Same dough with the addition of warm holiday spices!

    Working with the Dough:

    Sometimes depending on how dry it is outside and how long you refrigerate the dough, the dough can be a little drier than most cookie doughs out there, but let me tell you it is worth it for the flavor!Β  Remember that there is really no overworking the dough in this snowball cookie recipe.

    Just keep rolling and squeezing the dough in your hands until the ball of dough comes together. It is actually kind of fun doing this.

    Get others involved and it makes the process much faster.

    Having a drier dough from the start is what gives you the perfect light texture after baking. Trust me, I would not write up a recipe that is too difficult.

    Trust in the squeeze and roll in your hands process πŸ™‚

    Give these Italian snowball cookies a try and you will have a new favorite cookie! Once you see how easy these are to make you will be adding these to your Christmas cookies rotation for years to come.

    When do you roll cookies in powdered sugar?

    You can roll cookies in powdered sugar when they are cool or still warm. The powdered sugar does stay on the cooled cookies. When you roll snowball cookies in powdered sugar while the cookie is still warm the cookie will absorb some of that sweet powdered sugar.

    What are snowball cookies made of?

    Snowball cookies can be made from many different cookie dough recipes. The one thing all snowball cookie dough recipes will have in common is the dough will be drier so the cookies do not flatten when baking.

    For more great holiday recipes you may like:

    • Italian Pizzelles
    • Homemade Marshmallows
    • Eggnog Snowball Cookies
    • Citrus Cookie Cutouts
    • S'mores Pie Holiday Mason Jars
    • Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
    • Homemade Eggnog
    • Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles
    • Snowflake Sugar Cookies
    • Sugared Cranberries
    Print Recipe
    5 from 5 votes

    Italian Citrus Snowball Cookies

    A delicious Italian snowball cookie perfect for the holidays
    Prep Time10 mins
    Cook Time15 mins
    Total Time30 mins
    Servings: 2 dozen (approx)

    Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!

    Author: Melissa

    Ingredients

    Cookie Dough

    • 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
    • 1 Β½ teaspoons baking powder
    • ΒΌ teaspoon kosher salt
    • ΒΎ cup unsalted butter, room temperature which is equal to 1 Β½ sticks
    • the zest of one lemon with a microplane or zester
    • the zest of 1 orange with a microplane or zester
    • Β½ cup sugar
    • ΒΌ cup powdered sugar
    • 1 large egg

    Decorating

    • 1 cup of powdered sugar in small bowl
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    Instructions

    • Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl.
      2 cups unbleached all purpose flour, 1 Β½ teaspoons baking powder, ΒΌ teaspoon kosher salt
    • Using electric mixer, beat butter, lemon zest and orange zest in large bowl until light.
      ΒΎ cup unsalted butter, room temperature, the zest of one lemon, the zest of 1 orange
    • Add Β½ cup sugar and ΒΌ cup powdered sugar and beat until fluffy.
      Β½ cup sugar, ΒΌ cup powdered sugar
    • Beat in egg.
      1 large egg
    • Add dry ingredients.
    • Using spoon, stir until mixture forms a crumbly dough. You can use your hands to mix it together as well.
    • Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
    • Preheat the oven to 350Β°F.
    • Take 1 heaping teaspoon of cookie dough at a time and roll into a ball in your hands. If the dough is dry just squish it in your hands to warm the butter in the dough and try rolling it again.
    • Transfer cookies to ungreased nonstick baking sheets, spacing Β½ inch apart.
    • Repeat this process until you rolled all of your dough into cookie balls.
    • Bake until cookies turn lightly brown on bottoms, about 10-15 minutes. At 10 minutes I like to check the cookies by gently lifting up one cookie on the pan and looking at the bottom to see if it is a brown.
    • Once they are done, remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack
    • Let cookies cool completely then using a small spoon or fork, transfer cookies to a bowl of powdered sugar, rolling them around so they get nice and coated.
      1 cup of powdered sugar in small bowl
    • Repeat this process until you have coated all your cookies with powdered sugar.
    • Dust with a little more powdered sugar before serving.

    Notes

    The recipe originally comes from Epicurious and over the years I have made my own adjustments to suit my own taste.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 708kcal | Carbohydrates: 161g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 612mg | Potassium: 136mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 65g | Vitamin A: 3IU | Calcium: 196mg | Iron: 6mg

    Nutrition Values are estimates only.

    See full nutrition disclaimer here
    Course :Dessert

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Cecilia says

      December 12, 2022 at 10:12 pm

      5 stars
      They were amazing

      Reply
      • Melissa says

        December 12, 2022 at 10:24 pm

        Love hearing that!

        Reply
    2. Emily says

      December 22, 2021 at 12:03 am

      Recipe says 1.5 cups butter or 1.5 sticks. A stick of butter is half a cup. So which is it: 1.5 cups of butter aka 3 sticks OR 3/4 cup butter aka 1.5 sticks

      Reply
      • Melissa says

        December 22, 2021 at 2:15 am

        Hi Emily.
        The recipe calls for 3/4 cup of unsalted butter (1.5 sticks of butter.) Hope this helps πŸ™‚

        Reply
    3. Jen says

      August 16, 2021 at 5:29 pm

      5 stars
      We are addicted to these now! They are so good.

      Reply

    Trackbacks

    1. The Best Salted Shortbread Cookie • Keeping It Simple Blog says:
      December 1, 2020 at 10:44 pm

      […] and divide the dough into different bowls and get two cookies with one dough. It is a lot like my holiday snowball cookies and citrus […]

      Reply
    2. Citrus Holiday Cookies • Keeping It Simple Blog says:
      November 8, 2020 at 10:58 pm

      […] cutout cookies. With this one dough you will be on your way to holiday cut out shapes and beautiful snowball style cookies as […]

      Reply
    3. Eggnog Snowball Cookies • Keeping It Simple Blog says:
      October 31, 2020 at 1:54 pm

      […] another time. If you like easy no roll cookie recipes like this, you may also want to check out my Easy Citrus Snowball Cookies! If you would like more eggnog inspiration, you would love my homemade […]

      Reply
    4. Classic Italian Pizzelle Cookies: My family recipe • Keeping It Simple Blog says:
      October 27, 2020 at 7:38 pm

      […] Citrus Snowball Cookies […]

      Reply

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    I am so excited you are here. My name is Melissa and I started this recipe website a few years ago to share recipes that I have been cooking for family and friends for years.

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