2 Baking Birdies: Walnut Snowball Cookies

The other day while we were on a baking spree we realized we were running low on sugar. Rather than take a baking break, we sent Kait's husband Adam to the store. Evidently we were not specific enough because he came back with a package of powdered sugar rather than granulated sugar. What do these 2 baking birdies do? Improvise! We figured out what recipe we could bake that didn't use granulated sugar, but with the ingredients we already had on hand. With a little Google magic we found the perfect match. We are so glad Adam made this littler error because it resulted in delicious cookies!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups walnuts
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds removed
2 cups powdered sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350
Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside
Spread the walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until golden, approximately 8 minutes. Remove from oven, let them cool, the coarsely chop them

Reduce the oven temperature to 325
Add butter and vanilla bean to the bowl of a stand mixer, and beat until pale, about 2 minutes

Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and beat at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Halfway through, scrape down the sides of the bowl
Reduce speed to low and add salt
Gradually add the flour and walnuts and beat until just combined, scraping the sides of the bowl halfway through
Roll dough into balls in 1 tablespoon size portions
Bake the cookies in the upper third of the oven for about 17 minutes until they are lightly browned on the bottom. Halfway through baking, switch the sheet to the lower third of the oven, and also rotate the cookie sheet
Let the cookies firm up on the sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool slightly
Put the remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar in a small bowl and roll the warm cookies in the sugar to coat. Return them to the wire rack to cool completely