Vegan Sandies (Melt-In-Your-Mouth Snowball Cookies)
There is nothing better than making vegan sandies during the holidays! Buttery, nutty, and melt-in-your-mouth, crispy cookies that are so delightful, it is probably not that hard to finish all the cookies in one sitting. Try not to, though! Highly dangerous yet a total crowd pleaser. Now it's your turn to make it.
Equipment
- Small or medium sized cookie scoop (or a tablespoon)
- Headstand mixer or hand mixer
- Spatulas
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240g) all purpose flour
- 12 tbsp unsalted vegan butter, room temperature or 1½ block Earth Balance
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (65g) toasted walnuts finely chopped (see notes)
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (125g) powdered sugar for coating
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter to medium speed (or mix by hand) until it is light and creamy, almost like a frosting consistency.
- While the butter is still beating, stir in the granulated sugar and vanilla into the batter. Mix until well combined. Add in the walnuts, kosher salt, and mix until well combined as well.
- Start gradually adding flour into the batter, at least ½ cup at a time and mix. Protein content of every flour is different, to avoid using too much flour and getting dry results, never dump flour all at once. Continue to add flour to the mixture and combine.You will know if the cookie dough is done when it is crumbly (resembling a loose cookie crumb) and when you try to form a small ball of dough with your hands, it is able to bind together.
- Allow the cookie dough chill for at least 30 minutes - 1 hour before shaping into balls. You can also leave the dough overnight covered in the fridge overnight. This will help your cookie dough absorb the flour and allow the butter to chill completely for better handling when it's time to shape. Allowing your cookie dough to chill in the fridge would also help prevent your cookies from spreading flat in the oven when it's baking.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a parchment paper on a baking tray and start forming cookie balls with a small or medium cookie scooper that is equivalent to (more or less) a tablespoon. If you don't have a cookie scoop, you can use a tablespoon to measure out your cookie ball. If the dough is very loose with the crumbs, press it in between your palms until it binds together. Once it binds, form it into a ball. Repeat the process on each ball. In any case you feel that the butter is softening or melting, pop the dough back into the fridge and allow it to chill for at least 20 minutes before molding again.
- Bake the cookies for about 25-30 minutes depending on your oven or until bottom has a light golden brown color and the top is slightly crisp and firm.
- Give the cookies 10 minutes to cool down. Coat each cookie a layer of powdered sugar and and allow the cookies to cool down completely for another 15-20 minutes. This will allow the powder texture dissolve into the cookie, giving it a sticky consistency, that will help with keeping the powdered sugar on the cookie later on.Sift a generous amount of powdered sugar until fully coated once it has cooled down completely.
- Serve and enjoy! Keep cookies in a cool area for up to 3-4 days.
Notes
*Toast walnuts at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 5-7 minutes before mixing into batter. You may also use other nuts such as pecans, pistachios, almonds, or peanuts.