Snow Kisses

Sweet, melt-in-your-mouth and slightly nutty, these snow kisses are the perfect addition to your holiday dessert table this year! These cookies are very similar to a Mexican wedding cookie, but with a little chocolate surprise inside, making these super fun to share with friends and family this holiday season.

Every year around the holidays, I love making a variety of homemade cookies and candy for me and my family to enjoy. Typically, my siblings and I will make gingerbread cookies or maybe occasionally sugar cookies, but this year I just felt like I wanted something unique, something I’d never tried before.

In search of a recipe idea, I reached out to my best friend’s mom since I knew she always makes delicious holiday cookies. She responded with this recipe for snow kisses, a family recipe that she’s been making for years and claims is always a hit. I decided to try the recipe for myself, and now I completely understand why these cookies go over so well at her house!

So with her permission of course, I am now sharing this delicious recipe with YOU! I just know you will love these sweet, shortbread-like, melt-in-your-mouth cookies as much as I do. And the addition of a Hershey kiss in the center just ties together the whole cookie perfectly. So to my best friend’s mom, if you’re reading this, thank you for the recipe idea! This blog post is dedicated to you 😉

Ingredients You Need

All-Purpose Flour~ For this recipe, do not substitute the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour. White flour works best.

Salt~ Salt helps cut the sweetness of this cookie, so don’t omit!

Butter~ You will want to use unsalted butter, softened to room temperature. If you need to use salted butter instead, reduce the salt in the recipe to 1/8 tsp. Dairy free butter sticks also work as a substitute.

White Sugar~ For this recipe, white sugar works best. I wouldn’t recommend making any sugar substitutions.

Vanilla Extract~ Because vanilla is the primary flavor profile of this cookie, I highly recommend using a good quality pure vanilla extract, or even homemade vanilla extract. Imitation vanilla flavoring will leave an artificial taste but can work in a pinch.

Chopped Pecans~ Nuts add a nice crunch and a nutty flavor to these cookies. You could try substituting with different nuts, such as chopped walnuts, almonds or even pistachios. If you have a nut allergy, simply omit the nuts.

Hershey Kisses~ A “kiss” inside each cookie is the perfect little surprise! Although I highly recommend adding the kisses into the center of the cookies, if you don’t like chocolate or have an allergy, you could omit the chocolate and call these cookies “Snowballs” instead.

Powdered Sugar~ Rolling these cookies in powdered sugar after they bake give them the appearance of a snowball, which makes these cookies extra cute! Although I guess you could eat the cookies without powdered sugar, I wouldn’t recommend it.

The Dance

Compared to many Christmas cookies that require rolling pins and cookie cutters, these snow kisses are a breeze to make! Simply cream together butter and sugar, then add salt and vanilla before finally stirring in the flour and pecans to form a soft, crumbly dough. Scoop into balls one at a time, pressing a Hershey kiss into the center of each and wrapping the dough around it. Bake and allow to cool on a wire rack before rolling each cookie in powdered sugar. If you want a recipe visual, view the video below.

Whether you choose to make these snow kisses for your family, a Christmas party, or as a gift to a friend, you can be confident that these cookies will be loved by all. To me, these snow kisses are reminiscent of pecan shortbread: crumbly, buttery and lightly sweet, but with a dusting of powdered sugar “snow”. A simply perfect addition to a holiday cookie tray 🙂

Need some more holiday cookie ideas? Check these out:

Gingerbread Orange Sandwich Cookies

The Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Double Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti

Snow Kisses

Sweet, melt-in-your-mouth and slightly nutty, these snow kisses are the perfect addition to your holiday dessert table this year! These cookies are very similar to a Mexican wedding cookie, but with a little chocolate surprise inside, making these super fun to share with friends and family this holiday season.

5 from 3 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 24 cookies

Calories 150 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature** 2 sticks
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans or nut of choice
• 24 Hershey Kisses, unwrapped
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

 

• Preheat your oven to 350 °F and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
• Using either a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or handheld beaters, cream together the butter and white sugar for 2 minutes until fluffy and light in color. Add in the salt and vanilla extract and beat to combine.
• With your mixer on low speed, slowly add in the flour and mix until just combined. You will probably need to finish pressing the dough together with a spatula because the dough will be crumbly. Fold in the chopped pecans by hand.
• Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon measure, scoop heaping tablespoons of dough one at a time. Press each dough ball into a small circle and place one Hershey kiss into the center of the circle. Gently press the dough around the Hershey kiss so that the chocolate is completely covered. Roll the dough into a neat ball and place on your prepared cookie sheet. Repeat these steps with the rest of the cookie dough.
• Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are VERY lightly brown. They should hardly have any color at all and shouldn't spread.
• Allow the cookies to cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before rolling each cookie in powdered sugar. Serve immediately or store in cookie tins until ready to serve.

Notes

*Store leftover cookies in airtight containers or cookie tins for up to 5 days. I’ve never tried freezing these cookies, so I cannot vouch for that result.

**If you only have salted butter,  just reduce the salt in the recipe to 1/8 tsp

Keyword christmas, cookies, kisses, snow