White Peppermint Snowballs

Not so much on the "ball" part of snowballs, huh?  Well, it's my fault. I'm not going to call this one a flop because a) I didn't actually follow the recipe to the letter, and b) these still taste pretty good.  They're pretty sweet, thanks to added powdered sugar, but I'll hold off on recommending any changes to the recipe until I actually follow it.  Dave thought I could do either just crushed peppermints on top or just in the dough, but that doing both was too much. I disagreed, but it's an interesting concept.

This recipes comes from Food Network's Sandra Lee, queen of Semi-Homemade.  Her recipe says to use refrigerated sugar cookie dough.  For whatever reason I believed I could just substitute a television cooking personality and be just as perfect, so I used a package of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix and the called for butter and egg.  I think the slightly chilled dough (as well as the consistency of the refrigerated stuff) probably helps the dough retain a ball-like shape, since mine, well, didn't.  I also rolled my cookies in the powdered sugar before baking (Sandra Lee says to roll them after baking while they are still warm).  I wasn't in the mood to handle warm cookies.  Again, guess that's why I have a blog and she's on TV.  So yeah, I'll be making these again, the right way, and I'll let you know how it goes.

White Peppermint Snowballs

Ingredients

1 17.5 ounce package Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/3 cup crushed peppermint candies, plus more for garnishing
1 cup powdered sugar, divided

In a bowl, combine sugar cookie mix, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and butter.  I like to cut the butter in with a pastry blender and then use a wooden spoon or spatula to fully combine.

Not sure how many peppermint candies to crush?  I used 15 which was fine for the dough, but I needed to brush more for garnish.  Unwrap candies and put in a plastic zip top bag.  Put bag on top of a flexible cutting mat and go at it with a meat mallet (or a heavy can of beans or something.)  Measure out 1/3 cup.

Add egg, peppermint extract and crushed peppermint candies.  If your dough isn't coming together, keep working it, adding a splash (up to 1 Tablespoon) of milk, until combined.

Roll the dough into 1 inch balls.

Roll balls in remaining 1/2 cup powdered sugar.

On a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, arrange balls about 2 inches apart.

Bake at 350 degree F for 8-10 minutes. Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with additional crushed peppermint candies while still warm.  Allow to cool slightly on pans and then move to wire rack to complete cooling.

Makes 4 dozen.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess