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Pumpkin Spice Snowballs are going to be this season’s BEST cookie recipe, I promise you that! These are a classic Snowball Cookie filled with warm pumpkin spices, perfect for fall.
Do you call these Snowballs? Or do you call them Russian Teacakes? Or wedding cookies? Whatever you call them, I have several recipes for different versions and these are my favorite.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love Pumpkin Spice Snowballs
These cookies have so many names: Snowballs, Butter Balls, Wedding Cookies, Teacakes…and probably more I don’t know about. Every culture has a version (Russian Teacakes, Mexican Wedding Cookies, etc.) but they’re all pretty much the same: a buttery sweet cookie with chopped nuts rolled in powdered sugar.
My mom’s Russian Teacake recipe was the first version of snowball cookies I ever made. We make them every year, plain, the basic recipe, at Christmas. In fact, my mom makes them multiple times a year. Some of her friends request them constantly so she’s always either making them or pulling some out of the freezer to serve.
Long ago I decided to take her recipe and make it my own and I just ran with it. I’ve made more versions of snowball cookies than I can count, including Chocolate Snowballs and Stuffed Snowballs. This little cookie recipe is super adaptable to so many flavors and one of my absolute favorites is this one right here.
Pumpkin Spice Snowballs are the classic Butter Ball cookie recipe with pecans and pumpkin pie spice for a warm and delicious fall cookie recipe.
I’m not kidding when I say I make them over and over again too, but with new flavor variations. Cake batter, stuffed with Rolos, chocolate chip, you name it, I’ve made it. (And I have sooooo many more flavor ideas!)
Even though I’m not a huge fan of the Starbuck’s PSL, I do love pumpkin spice all the things. That little spice mix is one of the best ones you can buy and I look forward to it all year long.
What is pumpkin spice?
It’s a combination of cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg. And it’s so good! I like to use the individual spices, but if you have pumpkin pie spice, you can use that too (about 1 teaspoon) instead.
Did you know you can make your own homemade DIY Pumpkin Pie Spice? I love making it at the beginning of August and using it all season.
Over the past few weeks I’ve posted Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles and Pumpkin Spice Cookies and both were so well received I had to revamp this recipe. #yourewelcome
What are snowball cookies?
This recipe could not be easier. It’s one bowl, no chill time, just mix it all up. My mom uses a hand mixer, I use a stand mixer. Use what you have! Simply adding some pumpkin spice warms the flavor of the cookies so much.
Simply mix up the easy cookie dough recipe and scoop little balls of snowball cookie. Once they’re baked you roll them in powdered sugar mixed with cinnamon for even more warm fall flavor.
Make snowball cookies without nuts
I do this all the time! You don’t actually have to put nuts in your wedding cookies. I’ve skipped them altogether (when I made gingerbread snowballs) and I’ve skipped the nuts and added chocolate chips instead.
Do snowball cookies freeze well?
YES they do! I freeze them all the time (as does my mom). We love to make them ahead of time for Christmas and pull them out as we need them. They’ll freeze fine for a month or two as long as you put them in an airtight container. (Learn how I freeze all my desserts!)
If you defrost them and find that the powdered sugar has dissolved, just re-roll them and they’ll be just fine.
How to make snowball cookies (important tips):
- Please use REAL butter. I use unsalted butter and add 1/2 teaspoon of salt. If you’re using salted butter, use 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Do not substitute margarine or butter spread.
- Do not overmeasure the flour. Use a spoon to measure the flour into the measuring cup. Do not pack it. (Learn how to measure flour.)
- While you’re at it, don’t pack the powdered sugar either!
- Just keep mixing: if you’re using a hand mixer it will take a long time for the dough to come together. It will become a cohesive cookie dough so just keep mixing.
- The dough shouldn’t have to be chilled. It should be stiff and easy to scoop. I’m not sure why it’s too wet, but your butter could have been too soft. If it’s too wet to scoop, chill it for 30 minutes.
- I roll the warm cookies in the powdered sugar mixture and then once they’re cool, before serving, I re-roll them. That’s optional but makes for an extra powdery cookie!
Try some of my other snowball cookie recipes:
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Pumpkin Spice Snowballs
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½ cups (170g) powdered sugar divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups (279g) all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon divided
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ¾ cup chopped nuts pecans or walnuts work best
Instructions
- Preaheat oven to 375°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add flour, salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, and allspice and mix until the dough comes together. Stir in the nuts. If dough is too soft, chill it until you can work it easily with your hands.
- Scoop 1 tablespoon balls of dough and place on prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake cookies for 7-8 minutes until bottoms are just slightly brown. Remove from oven and cool for just a few minutes, until you can handle them.
- Fill a small bowl with the remaining 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and roll each cookie in the sugar until coated. Place on a rack to cool. (Once cookies are cooled, you may want to re-roll them in more powdered sugar.) The added cinnamon in the rolling mixture is optional, but it amps up the fall flavor!
- Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days or freeze for up to one month. (If you freeze them you’ll need to re-roll them in powdered sugar after defrosting.)
Recipe Notes
- Substitute 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice instead of all the spices (except use the cinnamon in the powdered sugar – or use pumpkin spice for that too)
- You may omit the nuts. You could even substitute mini chocolate chips.
- You can freeze these in an airtight container for up to a month.
- You can make these smaller or bigger in size.
- Remember: just keep mixing. If you’re using a hand mixer it will take a long time for the dough to come together.
Recipe Nutrition
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See more of my snowball recipes here!
Life just got 10x better! Snowballs are our Christmas time only cookie and combining that with pumpkin spice – mind.blown. I don’t know how you do it every time Dorothy! Your recipes keep getting better and better and this is no exception. Pinning!
Thanks for pinning!
Hello! Just wanted to say that I really like your blog, and look forward to all of the recipes that you come up with! You are very talented! Have a great day! 🙂
p.s. These snowballs look so yummy! I am going to have to try these out. I have never had these kind of cookies before! And since pumpkin is one of my loves I should definitely try these!
Thanks so much for following along! 🙂
Hi Dorothy! I live in Sherwood, OR. I love getting your emails and checking out your blog and recipes. As I’ve said before, I think you are trying to kill me, but what a way to go! I originally found you via Facebook, loved what I saw, signed up for your emails, started following you on Pinterest and have never looked back.
My dear Mother always made Rum Balls for Christmas, which are pretty much your mom’s Tea Cakes, but rum extract substituted for the vanilla. Her only complaint about the cookies were they hurt her fingers when she rolled them in powdered sugar hot out of the oven. We all loved those cookies and looked forward to them at Christmas-time.
Mom, like so many others, usually didn’t measure, she just knew. I sat her down one day and she talked me through 21 of her recipes so I could write them in my cookbook. For instance, to make her bread pudding, you “tear enough fresh bread into small pieces to fill a large oven-proof bowl and pour enough milk into the bread to make it soppy”. She did actually tell me she used 5 eggs, but the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and raisins were all by taste. I do make a lot of her recipes, with a few of my own tweaks. I love her pan-fried chicken. I miss her for so many reasons and her cooking and baking are definitely top ones.
These Pumpkin Spice Snowballs sound great! I will definitely add them to my cookbook (I use MasterCook) and will probably make them for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I love everything pumpkin, except pumpkin pie, my Mother’s included. Go figure. Anyway, sorry for the long-winded comment, but thanks for the recipes and thanks for letting me reminisce about my Mom’s great cooking. Oh and I love to bake. In fact, I love it so much, I married a man with the last name of Baker. 😉
Enjoy!! And I’ll have to try the rum extract, sounds amazing. I burn my fingers too! 🙂
I love your snowballs! The original and chocolate chip are favorites. I can’t wait to try these too.
Thank you!
These Pumpkin Spice Snowballs sound delicious! They are most definitely a keeper! Please, hide the pumpkin or pumpkin spice anything recipes from me!!!!!! ???? I LOVE the “fall” flavors but I don’t need them. LOL!! Seriously, thank you for this recipe, I will be making it!
LOVE your blog! It is AWESOME! Thank you for such a terrific blog and all your hard work! Paula
I can never get enough either!!
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