Today is the last day of “Meteorological Winter”. No, we still have a few weeks to go before we hit Astronomical Spring, but the last day of February … things can really go warmer from here. We did get snow on this last day of February, so I figured it was still ok to make snowball cookies. This recipe is actually the same as my Vanilla Crescents (Vanillekipferl) at Christmas time, just shaped differently. Either way, they taste the same and are super delicious.
Ingredients
50 grams ground blanched, peeled almonds
50 grams ground hazelnuts
300 grams flour
100 grams sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
200 grams unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
5 tablespoons vanilla sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Directions
Separate the eggs into a small bowl, discarding the whites or save for another purpose. Blanch and peel the almonds. Grind the hazelnuts and almonds into a flour-like consistency.
In mixing bowl, cream together unsalted butter, sugar and egg yolks until light and fluffy. Mix in flour, the ground hazelnuts and almonds and the salt until smooth and well combined. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator 2-3 hours or until firm enough to be rolled.
Preheat over to 375F. Pinch 2-tablespoon size balls of dough from the mass and shape into balls. Place on cookie sheet lined with silpat or onto parchment paper. Bake 12-14 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Cool on wire rack.
Mix together the vanilla-sugar and powdered sugar. Once the cookies are completely cooled, roll each one in the vanilla sugar mixture. Note: the cookies must be 100% cool otherwise the sugar will melt and they will have clumpy powder as a coating.
