Winter squash, brown sugar, and spicy turkey sausage are all combined in this straightforward recipe and served in the squash’s natural shell for maximum flavor. The combo is unusual, but sweet and lovely.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 2 dozen cookies |
Ingredients
- ¾ cup shortening
- ¾ cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup white sugar, or to taste
- 2 eggs
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup chopped pecans (Optional)
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, or as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Beat shortening, butter, and white sugar together in a bowl using an electric mixer until smooth and creamy; add eggs and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Sift flour and salt into creamed butter mixture and stir just until dough is combined; fold in pecans. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and arrange on a baking sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Cool cookies slightly and roll in confectioners’ sugar. Cool cookies completely and roll again in confectioners’ sugar.
- You may substitute shortening for the butter.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 234 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 23 g |
| Cholesterol | 31 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 144 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 14 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
These are delicious cookies. I just wish they didn’t flatten slightly. I tried freezing the cookie dough balls before baking but they still didn’t stay in a ball shape like the old standard snowball cookie shortbread dough. I also reduced the sugar in the dough a little. I might use confectioners sugar the next time I make them to see how that bakes up.
My husband loves these. Easy and tasty recipe!
These are yummy and also easy to make. I will be making these often, and also for a Christmas cookie exchange. Does anyone know why lately on here whenever there’s a recipe with eggs, it repeats eggs a couple of times. Just wondering, it’s not important to this recipe. It is a stand alone goodie.
On my family these are known as Pecan Puffs and are a traditional Christmas cookie. I make them every year.
Very good, works well at high altitude also. Thank you
This recipe was delicious! Instead of shortening, I used peanut oil and instead of white sugar, I used confectioner’s sugar. They turned out great! I will be making these again for the holidays! Pianogirl5
These were a huge hit! I was scrolling through cookie recipes just getting my Christmas ideas and came across these delectable delights. My only problem was I had no vanilla! Panic ensued me as I really wanted these at that moment. So, I got in my cupboard and saw that I had Almond Extract. Oh! Y-U-M-me! I threw in some pecans and made these. I needed more sugar though and about an extra half tsp. of the Almond Extract. I baked them for about 15-18 minutes. This recipe made over 40 snowballs. I can’t wait to try these with Vanilla!
Melt in your mouth recipe. I only reduced the sugar to half cup and used 1 cup of pecans for my taste. Oven temp and time was perfect for me. I tried this recipe in place of a passed down recipe I was not quit happy with. Will use this one going forward. Thanks for sharing!
Made as directed with pecans. Bland tasting. Would recommend using almond extract vs. vanilla. Recipe made 48 cookies. Similar recipe using cream cheese better.
While this recipe produced very nice, not too sweet cookies, something is not right with the directions. I halved the recipe and got about 32 1″ cookies (used a cookie scoop). I have no idea how you can only get two dozen 1″ cookies using the entire recipe. I also baked the cookies for much less time than stated, about 10-12 minutes in a 350 degree F oven, 20 minutes they would have been burned. I realize all ovens cook a little different, but I can’t help but wonder if the recipe got messed up when Allrecipes posted it. Otherwise, this is a great recipe for a great cookie.
This recipe makes excellent snowball cookies, exactly as written. Loved by all who tried them and sure to become a regular in our Christmas cookie rotation.