By Jiya Nanner
You’re cold. Snow is lightly falling, and you can see your breath in the air. You’re walking through the snow after a long morning of sledding. Your fingers and toes are wet from when your brothers shoved snow into your mitts and boots. The stress of school is muted for now, and you’re looking forward to one thing in particular: Christmas baking. To you, Christmas means two things: gift giving and baking. A lot of baking. Excitedly, you double and triple check to make sure you’ve got everything you need. The first recipe is one of your favourites: snowball cookies. You make it every year. Rich chocolate cookies rolled in powdered sugar that you’re bound to make a mess with. The counter always ends up messy, with your fingertips dusted in white. Your mother chose this recipe to make years ago because it’s eggless. You're allergic to eggs, which meant that as a kid, your family always made sweet treats at home. Your mother wanted you to have options if we went somewhere, because nearly everything has eggs in it. You always helped her make them, but now we do our Christmas baking more separately. Even now, we always make snowball cookies together though. We never bake it other than for Christmas, once a year for over ten years now, to preserve its specialness. It’s become a fun tradition, one you and your brothers still look forward to every year. After you’re done baking, the house smells like vanilla and sugar, warm and sweet. It’s such a difference from the cold, crisp outside air, and you curl up by the fireplace with a book, careful not to get powdered sugar on it. You’re warm. Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. 2. Mix butter, ½ cup powdered sugar, cocoa, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy. 3. Add flour and salt. Mix until the dough comes together. 4. Stir in the chocolate chips. (If the dough is too soft, chill it until you can work it easily with your hands.) 5. Scoop balls of dough (about 1 tbsp) and place on the prepared cookie sheet. 6. Bake cookies for 7-10 minutes, until bottoms are just slightly browned and the tops are no longer glossy. 7. Remove from oven and cool for 5-10 minutes, until you can handle them. 8. Fill a small bowl with the additional powdered sugar and roll each cookie in the sugar until coated. 9. Place on a rack to cool. Once cookies are cooled, you may want to re-roll them in more powdered sugar. 10. Enjoy with a mug of hot chocolate. |
Ingredients
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened • ½ cup (57g) powdered sugar • ¼ cup (20g) unsweetened cocoa powder • 1 teaspoon vanilla • 2 cups (248g) all-purpose flour measured correctly (spoon and level, do not pack) • ½ teaspoon salt • ¾ cup mini chocolate chip • Additional powdered sugar for rolling (about 1 – 1 ½ cups) |