Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies

When it comes to traditional snowball cookies, I can't figure out why pecans and walnuts get all the glory. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with those notorious nuts, but what about making something DIFFERENT this year? Cookie exchange? Family coming over? Lazy Sunday baking? Whatever it is, these will rock your world. Butter, sugar, chocolate - shaped into a ball, baked until golden and then rolled in powdered sugar. The first gift of Christmas...

A little backstory: Luke and Kyle love regular snowball cookies. That's a given; so I'll never make them again (OK, maybe I will, but you know I don't like to repeat recipes). I've made snowball cookies with lemon zest too, in my Lemon Snowball Cookies, but Luke isn't wild about lemon cookies. Or lemon cake. Or anything "sweet" with lemon. Squeeze it over chicken and he's a happy man, but when it comes to desserts, lemon "isn't his thing". My words, not his.

As for nuts, we love them; traditional snowball cookies have walnuts or pecans incorporated into the sweet dough. That's great, but I wonder... "Was chocolate at a different party that night?" I can tell you this - chocolate came to MY snowball cookie party, and it was the best party ever. I swapped mini chocolate chips for nuts and I (essentially) created a "chocolate chip cookie dough" snowball cookie. A Christmas Miracle.

No nuts or lemons were harmed in the process. Why? Snowball cookies are made with a classic "shortbread" dough: butter, flour and sugar. You can certainly add whatever gets your wheels spinning. For some, it's walnuts and pecans. Or lemon zest. For us, it's chocolate. All day long, every day. You know what that means? You can ADD NUTS to this recipe and make these cookies YOUR way!

Let's discuss the importance of using mini chocolate chips: Imagine this: more chips per bite. That works, right? That's the main reason for using them. Plus, these cookies are smallish (you need to be able to put the whole thing in your mouth or risk a shirt covered in powdered sugar), so if you use regular-size chips, you'll get like 2-3 per cookie. Which works if that's what you already have; but smaller chips are more prevalent. And more fun.

Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup powdered sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and salt together until smooth and creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat in the flour. Mix until blended (the mixture will come together and form a dough). Beat in the chocolate chips until blended.
Shape the dough into 24 small balls. Transfer the balls to the prepared pan(s) and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the underside is light golden brown (be careful when you check the bottom, the cookies are fragile when they're hot).
Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.
Place the remaining 3/4 cup of powdered sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll the cookies in the sugar and return them to the lined pan(s). Cool completely and reserve the powdered sugar. Once the cookies are completely cooled, roll them a second time in the powdered sugar.
Serve to very happy people, including teachers, neighbors, the mailman, and anyone else you want to share cookie love with.
Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 week; or freeze for up to 3 months.

Makes 24 cookies