These Christmas mice snowball cookies are buttery, crisp, nutty, and shaped like fluffy white mice. They're a classic, nostalgic holiday snowball cookie turned mice using a few simple shaping and decorating techniques. The powdered sugar coating and cookie texture just melts in your mouth. These Christmas mice are the perfect cookies to make for Christmas and the holidays! Plus, there's no need to chill the dough before baking.
They're especially great to make for holiday cookie boxes because they hold up well for up to a week at room temperature and are quite sturdy. I made these cookies for my Nutcracker holiday cookie boxes.
Jump to:
🐭 Why you'll LOVE this recipe
- Cute mice shapes: Some simple shaping, almond slices for ears, and candy tails transform these cookies into white fluffy mice.
- Snowball cookies: A classic, nostalgic holiday cookie turned into festive Christmas mice!
- Easy: A simple and easy butter based cookie dough with crushed toasted pecans creates a delicious, festive, and nostalgic mouse cookie.
📝 Key ingredients
Read through for all the tips you will need for success!
Full steps and ingredients in recipe card below.
- All purpose flour: Weigh the flour to get the most accurate results. If you don’t have a scale, measure properly by stirring the bag and spooning gently into a measuring cup. Scrape the excess off the top with the flat edge off a knife without packing it into the cup.
- Pecans: Lightly toasted pecans adds a beautiful festive toasty and nutty flavor.
- Candy ropes: These are for the tails. You can use licorice (I used cherry licorice) or opt for sour candy ropes. Anything will work!
- Powdered sugar: You need some for the cookie dough and some for dusting on the outside, creating a delicious melt in your mouth coating.
- Almond slices: These create the perfect mouse ears. I used pre-sliced almonds but you can also slice them yourself.
- Unsalted butter: A necessary ingredient for any snowball cookie. I prefer using unsalted butter and adding my own salt. If you use salted butter you can omit the salt from the recipe so that they don't turn out too salty.
👩🍳 How to make Christmas mice cookies
Snowball cookie dough step by step
Prep: Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C). Place the pecans onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 5-8 minutes, until they smell toasty. Nuts burn quickly so be careful! Remove the nuts, let them cool, and crush or chop them into small pieces.
Step 1: In a large bowl or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix together until creamy, making sure to scrape down the bowl.
Step 2: Add the flour and cooled crushed pecans into the butter and sugar mixture and mix on low speed until a dough forms.
Step 3: Use a cookie scoop to scoop 1 ½ tablespoon portions of cookie dough. Roll them into balls and pinch one side to create the nose shape.
Step 4: Push almond slices in for the ears.
Step 5: Place the cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet with 1" of space in between the cookies. Bake for 15 minutes until golden.
As soon as the cookies are out of the oven, carefully dust them with powdered sugar.
Step 6: Use a toothpick to create a hole for the tail. Push the pieces of candy rope tails in while the cookies are still hot to ensure that the tails stick.
Let the cookies cool completely before serving! They will continue to get crisp through the center as they cool.
✔️ Expert snowball cookie tips
- Gently toast the pecans: Lightly toasting pecans brings out the nutty pecan flavor and adds a beautiful toasty flavor to the snowball cookies.
- Dust the mice with powdered sugar while they're hot: This ensures that the icing sugar sticks to outside of the cookies, creating a melt in your mouth feeling when you bite into the cookies.
- Add the tails while the mice are hot: This helps prevent cracking the cookies and ensures that the tails stick.
🥄 Make ahead and storage
These cookies store great at room temperature since they are essentially shortbread cookies. This makes them a great addition to holiday and Christmas cookie boxes since they're sturdy and hold up well at room temperature.
Store the Christmas mice snowball cookies at room temperature in an airtight container or bag for up to 6 days. You can also freeze them in an airtight bag or container for up to 2 months. Give them an extra dusting of powdered sugar to freshen up the coating out of the freezer.
📖 Recipe FAQs
Yes you can. Just substitute the flour with 1:1 gluten free flour. And make sure that you get gluten free candy tails because licorice sometimes contains flour.
Yes you can. You can use any other toasted chopped nuts or you can omit them for a nut free snowball cookie. Instead of using sliced almonds for the ears, you can use wafer candy melts.
🎄 More related cookie recipes
Did you make this recipe? I would love for you to rate this recipe and hear what you think in the comments below! Share your creation on Instagram and tag @flouringkitchen. Follow me on Pinterest to save and for more recipe ideas.
📖 Recipe
Christmas Mice Snowball Cookies
Equipment
- toothpick or skewer
Ingredients
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon sea salt.
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour 270g
- ¼ cup almond slices
- 1 cup powdered sugar for dusting
- 30 pieces Candy ropes (I used cherry licorice)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C). Place the pecans onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 5-8 minutes, until they smell toasty. Nuts burn quickly so be careful! Remove the nuts, let them cool, and crush or chop them into small pieces.1 cup pecans
- In a large bowl or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix together until creamy, making sure to scrape down the bowl.1 cup unsalted butter, ½ cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon sea salt.
- Add the flour and cooled crushed pecans into the butter and sugar mixture and mix on low speed until a dough forms.2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- Use a cookie scoop to scoop 1 ½ tablespoon portions of cookie dough. Roll them into balls and pinch one side to create the nose shape. Push almond slices in for the ears.¼ cup almond slices
- Place the cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet with 1" of space in between the cookies. Bake for 15 minutes until golden.
- As soon as the cookies are out of the oven, carefully dust them with powdered sugar. Use a toothpick to create a hole for the tail. Push the pieces of candy rope tails in while the cookies are still hot to ensure that the tails stick.1 cup powdered sugar, 30 pieces Candy ropes (I used cherry licorice)
- Let the cookies cool completely before serving! They will continue to get crisp through the center as they cool.
Comments
No Comments