If You Like Italian Wedding Cakes, You’ll Love Pistachio Snowballs
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One of my favorite Christmas cookies has always been Mom’s Mexican Wedding Cakes. This year, in an effort to use up a Costco-sized bag of pistachios, I decided to try making those buttery treats with those instead of pecans. So, here we have Pistachio Snowballs.
Now, I started with my mom’s recipe but found that it was really close to this version from one of my favorite blogs. The biggest difference is that I stuck to making these as Snowballs, dusting them with powdered sugar at the end. In the linked recipe, she has a glaze that she uses instead.
Getting that Classic Pistachio Color
When you think of pistachio flavored desserts, you think of that specific pale green, right? Most of those desserts use artificial pistachio flavoring through pudding packets to get that color, and while that’s fine, it makes it a challenge to replicate with natural ingredients.
Get the Pistachio Grind Right
So, here’s what I found. I ground my pistachios pretty small using the food processor attachment for my immersion blender. You could, of course, put them in a baggy and roll them with a rolling pin for larger chunks, but I wanted a fine, less crunchy texture. My bits came out just a little larger than turbinado sugar granules. That smallness gave me a bit of green color.
Food Coloring Options
Then, to really punch it up, I used a lot of natural food dye derived from vegetable juice. This was a personal choice, and there is nothing wrong with using gel food coloring instead. If you do gel, it will take a lot less color and you’ll get much brighter hues.
With the vegetable coloring, you’ll end up using more and getting a paler green. So, anyways, it took nearly a quarter teaspoon of green natural color and eighth of a teaspoon of the yellow to get the color I wanted. And then some of it baked out.
So, for that reason, I’ve listed gel color as the primary option in the recipe. But you can either leave the color out completely or use natural based on your preferences.
Topping Your Pistachio Snowballs
This one seems pretty darn simple. Why wouldn’t you use powdered sugar? Well, after reading over that blog I mentioned before, I just about converted to using that browned butter glaze. Believe me, I will understand if you do that instead. Mmm!
But if you stick with me and make “snowy” Pistachio Snowballs, there are a couple tricks I’d like to share. The first is that you need to give them their first roll in sugar while they are still warm. The moisture from the steam makes it so that first layer of sugar will stick really well.
However, you’re going to notice that after a couple of minutes, they look less snowy, and just kind of “eh?” So, after the cookies have totally cooled, that’s when you’re going to do a true dusting of sugar.
Use a powdered sugar shaker or a mesh sieve to sprinkle the powdered sugar over the top of all the cookies for that truly “freshly fallen” look. Very festive!
Building a Christmas Cookie Platter
Of course, Christmas Eve and a plate of Pistachio Snowballs won’t be a disappointment, but these may not be everyone’s favorite cookie. Here are a couple of my other cookie recipes that you can invite to the party.
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Peppermint Cocoa Macarons
- Kolaczki Cookies
- Oatmeal Scotchies
Comment below if you have questions, concerns, or opinions. And tag me @ellejayathome on Instagram or Twitter if you share pictures from any of my recipes. I love to hear from you!
Pistachio Snowballs
Equipment
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment
- Sheet pan
- Parchment paper or silicone baking mat
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 4 drops green gel food coloring (¼ tsp natural green food coloring)
- 1 drop yellow gel food coloring (⅛ tsp natural yellow food coloring)
- 1 cup salted pistachios (¾ cup, ground*)
- 2¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup powdered sugar for rolling/dusting
Instructions
- Cream the butter until light and airy and then add in the powdered sugar. Mix until fulling combined.
- Flavor with extracts and add food coloring if desired.
- Mix in the flour and ground pistachios. Continue mixing until thoroughly combined and beginning to form a ball.
- Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes (or up to 2 days).
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Portion out tablespoon-sized, or by weight 24g, balls.
- Roll the balls until smooth and perfectly round. Place them on a baking sheet with 1 inch of space between them. I fit mine all on one sheet because they don't spread. You may use two sheets if you want.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove and allow the pan to cool for 5 minutes.
- Roll the cookies in powdered sugar before moving them to a cooling rack. You may additionally dust them with powdered sugar once cool for a snowier effect.
