I broke down yesterday and bought stuff to make some Christmas goodies. All my resolve not to bake this year just melted away and I charged through Walmart with my buggy, snatching ingredients from the shelves with reckless abandon.

Baking with the kids this past weekend broke the ice a little, but it just wasn’t feeling like the Christmas season to me, and I finally figured out that part of it, at least, was because I wasn’t doing all my usual baking. Rather than continue to feel sorry for myself, I decided to do what any normal, treat-loving, baking grandma would do—give in to my inner baker.

I was up last night until midnight stirring up and baking a fruitcake (don’t you go rolling your eyes—this one really IS good), a couple batches of peppermint bark candy, and some snowball dough. By midnight I was pooped.

This morning I baked the snowballs. This recipe can be found everywhere with minor variations in the amount of liquid and flavoring, but otherwise the recipes are virtually identical. Butter. Sugar. Vanilla. Water. Flour. Pecans. Chill thoroughly. Bake 325 for 20 minutes after rolling into balls or shaping into crescents. Roll in powdered sugar.

Even though the recipes are almost all alike, the bakers are not. I’ve eaten snowballs that were barely cooked and had doughy centers; in my opinion the worst thing you can do to this cookie is undercook it! So, I sample mine after the designated baking time to be sure the centers are cooked and the cookie has a nice crunch. It isn’t unheard of for the baking time to double in order to achieve the results I want!

The other problem I’ve encountered is loss of the white powdered sugar coating, or sparse coverage. I’ve defeated both problems by rolling the cookies in the sugar while very warm and letting them sit there for a bit before removing to a tray. And, the tray must have a coating of powdered sugar for the cookies to rest upon so their coating won’t peel away when they are lifted. After the cookies have cooled down some, I roll them again in the sugar and once again return them to the tray. Finally, to store the cookies I also dust more powdered sugar around them to protect their sugar-coats. It is a bit messy and a few extra steps, but totally worth the yummy results!

Now I’m off to do more damage in the cookie department. Candy cane cookies, I’m thinking……