Every year around the holidays, my mother, Bernadette Johnston, carries on the tradition of baking her mother’s snowball cookies. My grandma, Eleanor Bisczat, who I am named after, passed away early in my life. I never got to experience tasting her homemade signature cookies. Yet, my mother always incorporates it into our family holiday traditions, following the recipe from grandma’s cookbook that has been worn down by time and used with love. They are unlike any cookie I’ve ever had. If you are looking for a scone-like, pecan-filled, warm, crumbly cookie, I recommend you give Grandma Eleanor’s snowball cookies a try this holiday season.

What you’ll need:

• 1 cup butter (2 sticks) softened
• ¾ cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

1. Cream together the butter and sugar, and mix until well incorporated.
2. Mix in flour, vanilla and nuts (the last of the flour may need to be kneaded by hand)
3. Chill the dough.
4. Shape the dough into balls roughly the size of a cherry
5. Bake at 325°F on an ungreased sheet pan for about 30 minutes
6. Roll in confectioners’ sugar while still warm