Monday, December 12, 2011

pecan balls & a cookie swap

Mexican Wedding Cookies.  Snowballs.  Russian Tea Cakes.  Or, ya know, Pecan Balls.  I mean, that's literally what they are.


Whatever you call them, these cookies always remind me of the holidays.  And that's why I decided that to make these for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, hosted by Lindsay of Love & Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen.  I was so excited to participate in this cookie swap because I had never done a swap before.  For this cookie swap, I baked & sent a dozen cookies to three food bloggers.  In return, I received delicious cookies from three different bloggers.  Cookie heaven!

I had so much fun baking my cookies and receiving cookies from my matches.  I wish I got fun cookie packages every day!  All of the cookies were so yummy & I was really happy to connect with different bloggers.  I will definitely play again next year.  If you missed out, you can sign up here.

Pecan Balls
makes 36 cookies
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Ingredients:
2 cups flour
¼ cup PLUS 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, plus more for rolling
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped pecans
red and green food coloring, optional

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine flour and powdered sugar.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and vanilla until smooth and creamy, about 2-3 minutes.  Add in the dry ingredients until well combined.  Mix in the pecans.  

If using food coloring, separate the dough in two, and color one half red and the other half green.

Roll the dough into one-inch balls and place on baking sheets about one inch apart.  Place baking sheets in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.

Bake for 12 minutes, or until bottoms begin to brown.  Let cookies cool on pan for 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Add powdered sugar to a large bowl or plastic bag.  Once cookies are completely cooled, roll the sugars in the powdered sugar to coat.  Enjoy!

Source: slightly adapted from my momma-in-law :)

My Pecan Balls all packaged & ready for travel.

Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies from Nick at Macheesmo.

Bon Bon Cookies from Christine at Ruminations on Food.

Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti from Anita at Confessions of a Foodie.

Thanks again to all of my matches for sending me awesomely delicious holiday cookies!

14 comments:

  1. Hi, I am now following you on google. I made the same cookies for the cookie swap only I made white and chocolate. It's funny one of the people I sent mine too made snows also. The only we ever eat them is at the holidays I guess. I love them and yours look delicious.

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  2. Wow, these look so good! I wish I got these in the mail. The swap was so fun to organize with Lindsay and we can't wait for next year!

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  3. Jacqueline - The Dussty BakerDecember 12, 2011 at 5:19 PM

    Wasn't the swap fun?!?! These look so beautiful and festive... makes me want to run to the kitchen with my coloring gels! Merry Christmas!

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  4. These are my all time favorite cookies too. I love that you colored them for the holidays -- so cute!

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  5. These look so delicious, and I love the festive colors!

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  6. I love the twist you did on these of the red and green coloring. This cookie recipe does rate pretty high on the scale for quite a number of people, so no doubt these were gobbled down when received! Glad to see that you enjoyed participating in this event, it has proven to be quite successful! Have a great day.

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  7. oooo those look delicious! I love cookies covered in powdered sugar :) i see in the last picture, there's one missing..did you get hungry? haha jk ;) wish i got some of these! i really like that you incorporated the red & green inside :) cute surprise!

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  8. Oh, I LOVE, LOVE these cookies!!! And I've never thought of using food coloring...fabulous idea! I loved this cookie swap! Looks like you got wonderful sweets :)

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  9. What a festive cookie! Great choice for the cookie swap :)

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  10. Love the red and green!

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  11. delish! I made 5 batches of holiday cookies today and now i'm beat.

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  12. Your cookie swap matches were so lucky....these sound so good!

    Just found your blog from the guest post on Chef Dennis' blog....can't wait to follow along over here!!

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  13. How clever to add the food coloring for Christmas! So pretty :)

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