Search
by Ingredient

Mocha Nut Butter Balls

StarStarStarHalf starEmpty star

Submitted by grease

Mocha nut butter balls: tender, snowball-style shortbread cookies flavored with cocoa and instant coffee, packed with toasted walnuts or pecans, rolled in sugar.

YIELD

48 servings

PREP

40 min

COOK

40 min

READY

80 min

Mocha nut butter balls are the holiday cookie tin essential nobody tells you about. They’re a riff on Russian tea cakes or Mexican wedding cookies, but with cocoa and instant coffee folded into the dough. The result is a tender, almost sandy crumb that melts on the tongue with deep mocha flavor and a sweet sugar coating.

The trick with any snowball cookie is the high ratio of butter and nuts to flour. There’s no egg here, no leavener, just butter holding everything together. That means your butter needs to be properly soft, not melted. If it’s too warm the cookies spread; too cold and they crumble apart.

Use instant espresso powder if you can find it instead of standard instant coffee. The flavor concentration is higher and it dissolves more cleanly into the dough.

Roll the cookies in sugar while still warm. The residual heat helps the granules cling. Once they’re cool, the sugar slides right off.

Pro Tips

  • Toast the walnuts or pecans for five minutes in the oven before chopping. Raw nuts taste flat against the cocoa.
  • Chop nuts finely but not to dust. Some texture is what gives these cookies their character.
  • Bake just until the cookies are set on the surface. Overbaking dries them out and ruins the melt-in-mouth quality.
  • Store in a tin between layers of parchment for up to two weeks. The flavor actually improves overnight.

Variations

  • Roll cooled cookies in powdered sugar instead of granulated for a snowier finish.
  • Swap half the cocoa for finely grated dark chocolate and a pinch of cinnamon.
  • Add a teaspoon of orange zest for an orange-mocha twist.

Ingredients

1 237
CUP ML BUTTER
softened
½ 118
CUP ML SUGAR
granulated
2 10
TEASPOONS ML VANILLA EXTRACT
2 10
TEASPOONS ML INSTANT COFFEE
¼ 59
CUP ML COCOA POWDER
1 ¾ 414
½ 2.5
TEASPOON ML SALT
2 473
CUPS ML WALNUTS
or pecans, finely chopped

Directions

Oven 325℉ (160℃).

Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until light.

Add next four ingredients.

Mix well.

Add nuts.

Shape in 1 inch balls on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 325℉ (160℃) for about 17 to 20 minutes.

Roll in sugar while warm.

* not incl. in nutrient facts Arrow up button

Comments


 

 

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 17g (0.6 oz)
Amount per Serving
Calories 1108 68% from fat
 % Daily Value *
Total Fat 84g 130%
Saturated Fat 32g 159%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 122mg 41%
Sodium 625mg 26%
Total Carbohydrate 25g 25%
Dietary Fiber 8g 30%
Sugars g
Protein 45g
Vitamin A 29% Vitamin C 2%
Calcium 7% Iron 29%
* based on a 2,000 calorie diet How is this calculated?
Trans-fat Free, High Fiber
 

Email this recipe