I’m not the only baker in my family.  My husband has some favorites from his childhood including his Mom’s recipe for “Pecan Puffs” or as he calls them, “White Balls”-- which may have been fine 40 years ago but today has a whole different connotation.  I think they are a fabulous holiday cookie so I’m calling them “Snow Balls”.  One of the reasons they are such a great Holiday cookie is because they can be made and frozen in advance.  You can pull out as many as you need when guests arrive, recoat with icing sugar, and still have more for New Years. They are a very festive cookie, look really pretty in mini-baking cups and totally melt in your mouth yummy.  

Here is a jump start on your holiday baking -- you can thank me later by posting how they turned out or how great it was to have them in your freezer for any pleasantly unexpected guests who show up around the holidays.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter (room temperature is always easier)

• ½ cup icing sugar (plus more for coating)

• 2 cups flour

• 1 tsp vanilla

• ¾ cup ground pecans

Directions
1 Preheat oven to 300-degree-F. Cream butter and icing sugar until really smooth. Stir in vanilla. Add flour and stir until combined. Mix in ground pecan.

2 Roll into 1½ inch balls. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, until the bottoms are golden brown – don’t forget to ALWAYS turn the cookie sheet half way.

3 Put some icing sugar in a small bowl. While still warm, roll each cookie in the sugar, and set on a rack to cool. Once cool, you can put in a bag or container for the freezer.  

4 Pull out as many cookies as required. Re-coat with icing sugar before serving.

Makes about 40 cookies – could be more or less depending on cookie size.

So whether you call these cookies Pecan Puffs, Snow Balls or White Balls we hope you enjoy these childhood favorites of the “other” baker in our family.