Chocolatey Espresso Snowballs

Get ready to knock the socks off of the gals at the cookie exchange!  Festive,  full of awesomely fantastic flavors and not super sweet, these cookies are the perfect sophisticated combination of chocolate and espresso.  Make them full size or better yet, bite size.  They are easy to make and perfect either way!

Chocolatey Espresso Snowballs

 

Chocolatey Espresso Snowballs

Pour dry ingredients along with chopped pecans and semi sweet chocolate into the mixer bowl and mix until completely blended.

Chocolatey Espresso Snowballs

Using a large spoon push dough into a large ball.

Chocolatey Espresso Snowballs

Roll the dough into balls. Either teaspoon sized balls for bite size cookies or tablespoon sized balls for approximately two inch cookies.

Chocolatey Espresso Snowballs

 

Chocolatey Espresso Snowballs

 

Chocolatey Espresso Snowball Cookies

Chocolatey Espresso Snowball Cookies

Monica
Festive, full of awesomely fantastic flavors and not super sweet, these cookies are the perfect sophisticated combination of chocolate and espresso.  Make them full size or better yet, bite size.  They are easy to make and perfect either way!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Cookies
Cuisine Cookies
Servings 48 -96 cookies

Ingredients
  

  • 2 sticks butter softened
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 ¾ cups flour
  • ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 ½ teaspoons instant espresso powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups pecans finely chopped
  • ½ cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips or regular sized chips coarsely chopped
  • powdered sugar for dusting
  • parchment paper

Instructions
 

  • Into a mixer bowl, place butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
  • Stir together the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder and salt in a separate bowl. Pour dry ingredients along with chopped pecans and semi sweet chocolate into the mixer bowl and mix until completely blended. Using a large spoon push dough into a large ball. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.
  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  • Roll the dough into balls. Either teaspoon sized balls for bite size cookies or tablespoon sized balls for approximately two inch cookies.
  • Place dough balls two inches apart on the parchment paper.
  • If cooking all at once, place oven racks in top and bottom thirds of oven and place one cookie sheet on each rack.
  • Cook 13-15 minutes, until cookies are slightly firm and appear dry on top.
  • Cool cookies on sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely. (It is super easy to slide the cookies on the parchment paper to the rack)
  • At this point you can either sift powdered sugar over the top of the cookies as I prefer to do (simply drop the parchment paper below the rack before starting for easy clean up) OR roll the cookies in powdered sugar in a small bowl.

They store really well in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

    Total time does not include the hour of refrigeration.

      Keyword holiday cookies, Christmas, cookie exchange