12 Days of Cookies – Butter Ball Cookies
These cookies are very similar to the Chocolate Chip Snowballs I made on Day 6 of my 12 Days of Cookies, except they have no chocolate chips in them. I found this dough to be way too crumbly to form into balls. I had to add a little over a teaspoon of water to the dough to be able to work with it. These are one of my stepmom’s favorite holiday cookies, so I decided to add it to the 12 Days of Cookies. Again, I made a 1/2 batch and I got 12 cookies.
I took these to work and brought them to my last day of Spanish class (yes, I’m trying to learn Spanish. If anyone knows Spanish and wants to help me practice, let me know!) Our professor told us to bring treats if we wanted. My class only has 5 people in it, so this half batch provided the perfect number of cookies.
Butter Ball Cookies – from Cooks.com – makes 2 dozen1 1/2 c. nuts – I used walnuts
1 c. flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 c. soft butter
1/4 tsp. salt
Powdered sugar
Chop nuts very fine. Put into mixing bowl.
Add all remaining ingredients (I creamed the butter and sugar, then added the rest of the ingredients and stirred by hand). Chill dough 1/2 hour.
Form dough 1 inch into balls. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes or until set (not brown).
Cool and roll in powdered sugar. Makes 2 dozen cookies.
My 12 Days of Cookies:Day 1: Lumberjacks
Day 2: Peppermint Sandies
Day 3: The great Sugar Cookie Debate
Day 4: Fudge
Day 5: Cranberry Orange Cookies
Day 6: Chocolate Chip Snowballs
Day 7: Peppermint Chocolate Cookies
Day 8: Snickerdoodles
Day 9: Candy Cane  & Mint Kiss Cookies
Day 10: Chocolate Peppermint Meringue Cookies
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I love this!
http://www.simplysweeter.blogspot.com
Fantastic idea, I will have to give this a go x
What a great idea! Now I just have to think of what to pair this with to give as gifts.
Hi Jen,
Great minds think alike!! I have been brewing vanilla extract for months for Christmas gifts.
I thought I’d answer your question here. I love your idea for frosting. It would be heavenly!
Laura
What? You can just add more vodka to your supply? I had no idea! I just used the last of my homemade vanilla, and it was soooo deliciously dark 🙂 Now that I know that, I’ll have to remember when I make my next batch! Do you have a favourite type of bean? I used Tahitian the last time, and it didn’t have that “normal” vanilla scent to it… I’ll have to find which beans give that traditional scent (though, really… any vanilla works for me!)
This is definitely on my gift giving list.
I received homemade vanilla once and it is still one of my favorite gifts.
I have always wanted to try this!! My brother did it once but that was before I was into cooking and I totally didn’t appreciate it. I would now! Thanks!
I think it’s the perfect idea for a gift and never even thought of making it myself. Of course, if I do end up making it, I’ll probably just end up using it all before I give it away! 🙂
how many beans did you put in the vodka bottles to start?.. love the idea.. Thanks
jmanley – I put 24 beans in each bottle of vodka. They were the big bottles of vodka. As you can see in the pictures, I used skyy, which is great, but I couldn’t watch the color of my vanilla change! Definitely try to get clear bottles or pour the vodka into a clear jar so you can tell when it’s ready.
thanks for the quick response.
Love your website:)
what type of vanilla bean did you use – does it matter?
KV – The type of bean you use will have an impact on the flavor. I used Bourbon-Madagascar beans for my vanilla.