American•indulgent

Buckwheat Cacao Nib Snowballs

These snowballs are delicious little bites of heaven!

Ingredients

Quantities are shown as originally provided.

1/2 cup all purpose flour ((2 1/2 ounces))
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons buckwheat flour ((1 3/4 ounces))
1/4 cup organic granulated cane sugar ((2 ounces))
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup sliced almonds, fairly finely chopped into pieces no larger than 1/8" ((2 3/4 ounces))
1/4 cup cacao nibs, roughly chopped a little larger than the almonds
1 stick cold, unsalted butter, in 1/2" dice ((4 ounces))
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar ((2 1/4 ounces))

1
Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together the flours, granulated sugar, salt, chopped almonds and cacao nibs. Add the butter pieces, sprinkle the vanilla over the top, and work in with either a pastry blender, your fingertips, or the paddle on low speed until there are no more visible butter chunks, and the mixture begins to clump together. This will take a few minutes.
3
Sift the powdered sugar into a medium-sized shallow bowl.
4
Form 1 tablespoon of dough into a 1" ball (a #60 spring-loaded ice cream scoop works beautifully), and roll in powdered sugar, knocking any large clumps of sugar back into the bowl. Repeat with the rest of the dough, placing the dough balls at least 1 inch apart on the lined baking sheet.
5
Bake the cookies until they are cracked, slightly puffed, and light golden, 18 - 20 minutes. Let them cool completely on the baking sheet, then roll them a second time in the powdered sugar.
6
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. I'm guessing they will keep well for up to a week or two, though I'm not sure I can keep my hand out of the cookie jar long enough to find out...