Lemon Snowball Cookies from Lifestyle of a Foodie

Lemon Snowball Cookies - made dough October 20, 2023 from Lifestyle of a Foodie

1 cup butter

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon extract

zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

yellow gel food coloring, optional

3/4 cup powdered sugar for rolling

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and powdered sugar until well combined and fluffy. Add vanilla extract, lemon extract, lemon zest, lemon juice and a tiny amount of yellow food coloring if using. Mix until combined.
3. Add flour and salt, mixing on low speed until combined and dough forms.
4. Portion dough into small cookie dough balls and evenly space on baking sheets. Bake for 20 minutes. 
5. Remove from oven and roll hot cookies in powdered sugar then place on wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, roll cookies again in powdered sugar.

The tl;dr on these? Delicious. They look like Mexican wedding cakes, Russian tea cakes, buttery tea balls or any other name you would normally give to buttery balls, typically packed with toasted pecans.

However, these are the lemon version, no nuts. But just as good. The principle is the same in that you roll the cookies in powdered sugar right out of the oven. The heat melts some of the powdered sugar into the cookie. Then once it's completely cool, you roll it in powdered sugar again. This time most of the sugar will adhere, creating a "snowball". A really good lemon one.

This is a great cookie for the holidays, especially if you have gift recipients or party goers who are allergic to nuts. I did use a few drops of lemon food color to make a really lemony yellow cookie. No need to use any food color at all as it won't affect the taste. I just wanted to see how it would look as lemony yellow cookie against the white of the powdered sugar.