It’s day two of our ten days of Vintage Christmas Cookies, and today we have one that turned out to be a personal favorite of mine.
These lovelies are Chocolate-Filled Snowballs, and they are basically a pecan crescent cookie with a Hershey’s kiss stuffed inside.
Score.
I’ve seen this cookie, or versions of it, floating around recently in modern cookbooks and whenever I see it I always want to try it. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) almost all of the time I have to test new recipes is spent on vintage ones. So, I was surprised and pleased when I came across it in a 1972 issue of Maid of Scandinavia Mail Box News because then I knew that trying it was a done deal. Although, I don’t know why I was surprised. It seems that a lot of really good recipes originated or had their roots in mid-century cooking.
- 1/2 lb soft butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 5 ounce pkg chocolate kisses
- Confectioner’s sugar
- Beat sugar, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy.
- Add sifted flour and nuts and blend well. Chill dough.
- Remove foil from kisses. Shape dough around kisses, using about 1T dough. Roll into ball. Be sure to cover kiss completely.
- Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake in 375 degree oven for 12 minutes or until set but not brown.
- Cool slightly, then remove to wire racks.
- While still a little warm, roll in confectioner’s sugar. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
So fun!
Even Tom was excited.
See, you can see it in his face.
“Make sure you show me the center of the cookie so everyone can see the chocolate.”
“These are really, really good.”
“Are they? I am really excited about them.”
“You should be. I can feel my arteries clogging as I chew, but they are so good I can’t stop.”
The Verdict: Very yummy
From The Tasting Notes:
The nut cookie base is good, even on its own. It has a good texture and a good vanilla flavor, but when you add in the chocolate kiss it becomes delightfully decadent.
I had to add an egg to get my dough to actually come together, hopefully it doesn’t mess up the texture of the cookie!
Just tried these out. They worked great. Only trouble I had was that the bottoms were a little burned so maybe next time i’ll bake them for a couple minutes less. Thanks for the great recipe!
Yes these are retro! I’m 52 and my Mom made these for us as kids! Her Mom made them for her! It’s our fav Christmas cookie! 🙂
Should nuts be measured before or after finely chopped? Thank you.
After chopping! 🙂
My dad would make these every Christmas to give as gifts. He’d make them with the Kiss and his second version was using candied cherries, which are spectacular !
Any thoughts on how dark chocolate kisses would do in this cookie??
I am sure they would be great! 🙂
The ingredients has 1 cup Finley chopped pecans or walnut but in the instructions it does not say how and when to use
I tasted a similar cookie for the first time today … and had to google it. I love traditional Snowballs, but with a dark chocolate Kiss inside – WOW!!!
This one was one of the first to show from the search …
My family makes a very similar Russian Teacake/Snowball but never put the kiss inside.
However, I see comments of some folks having difficulties with the recipe. I have a slightly different recipe, and never have issues with it, but will definitely be adding the kisses this year!
If interested, my recipe ingredients are as follows:
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts/pecans)
1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar for dusting
Cream butter with 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar and vanilla.
Mix in flour, chopped nuts, and salt.
Roll approx 1 tbsp mixture into balls (which is where I will add the kisses) and place on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 about 15 minutes – DO NOT OVER BROWN (better to undercook than overcook).
Remove and roll in remaining confectioner’s sugar. When cool, roll again.
Thanks for sharing yours!
Did U know there is a microwave recipe for surprise teacakes or vintage kiss cookies? It has an egg & diff measurements,.They are cooked on simmer level. Will try this recipe to compare!!
And report back:)
My friends mom used to make these for the holidays every year when I was a kid. I probably haven’t had one in over 38 years, but when I think of them, I can still taste that kiss melting in my mouth!
Why do mine always flatten out? Is because I don’t add the nut?
These cookies are wonderful! I subbed the bits for chopped pretzels. So delicious!!!
I suspect so; by leaving out the nut, you’re reducing the dry ingredients by a full third which will result in a wetter dough.
Just made a batch of these for tomorrow’s family get-together. I used a 1/2 cup ice cream scoop to measure out the dough. At first I cut each scoopful into quarters & used one piece for each Kiss, but I found it was much faster to cut them into eighths, sandwich a Kiss between two pieces, and then roll it into a ball. I also gave them a second powder sugar rolling after they were completely cool. Next time I might add a bit of vanilla to the dough. Thanks for posting this recipe–I think we’ve got a new holiday tradition 🙂
Hey, yes, it’s me again. My husband was disappointed that I left the remains of the batch at my niece-and-nephew’s place after Christmas dinner, and because I love him (and wanted more cookies myself, LOL) I made a second batch this morning. Ran out of Kisses so did the last 10 with mini Milky Ways instead, which was a mixed success. Several of them leaked like crazy, two of them to the point where I couldn’t roll them in the powdered sugar. The remaining ones though–oh, ho ho ho HO! They were a-MAZ-ing. Next time, I’m using the Milky Ways instead of the Kisses for the whole batch, and I’ll bake them in mini-muffin tins to help prevent them from falling apart. PS–I also found that 12 minutes at 375 resulted in way-too-dark cookies; I did mine at 350 for 9 minutes and they were perfect.
One of the best cookies I’ve ever had. So glad I found this recipe again and can make more!