Sweetened Condensed Milk Snowballs

First of all I apologize up front for the quality of photos here this morning. I sincerely hope that it won't put you off from wanting to bake these delicious cookies! 

I try to always use natural light in all of my photographs. I want you to see the food as it truly looks, so that there are no surprises later.

I, personally, really dislike it when I go to a page and can tell that the photographs have been highly edited.  It truly is a pet peeve of mine.

 

For some reason today the lighting in here gave everything a warm glow. I am not sure why. But it is what it is.  I really wanted to share these quick and easy Christmas Cookies with you however!

Sweetened Condensed Milk Snowballs have to be one of the easiest cookies out there to make. They use only five simple ingredients, go together very quickly and are cooked in 12 minutes.

 

Their only sweetness comes from the sweetened condensed milk, which means that they are not overly sweet. In face I equate their flavor very much to that of a shortbread cookie.

You can keep them plain as I did today, or you can add extra bits like chopped dried cranberries, mini chocolate chips, chopped candied cherries, etc.

Today I left them plain, however I did sprinkle them with a few cake sprinkles before I baked them. Once I dusted them at the end though, these largely disappeared! ha ha 

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK SNOWBALLS 

Like I said, you only need five simple ingredients to make these delicious cookies! 

• 1 cup (240g) butter, at room temperature (I use regular salted)
• 1/2 cup (150g) sweetened condensed milk (Make sure you use the sweetened condensed, and NOT evaporated milk. Eagle Brand is a popular one.)
• 2 cups (280g) plain all purpose flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup (60g) sifted icing sugar ( also known as confectioners or powdered sugar)

That's it! Simple. Simple. Simple.

 

HOW TO MAKE SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK SNOWBALLS

One thing I really like about making these cookies during the holiday season is the fact that they are so unpretentious and easy to put together. 

Everything gets beaten together in one bowl with an electric hand mixer and then you scoop the dough from the bowl onto the baking sheet. There is literally no faffing about with these. 

 

That's exactly what you want during the holidays when you are busy, busy, busy.  Simple and quick, but still delicious!

You will find if your butter is at room temperature these go together in a flash. If your butter is cold, you can warm it for about 20 seconds in the microwave.

 

You begin by beating your butter until it is light and creamy. I use an electric hand mixer for this. It does a proper job.

Once you have done that you can beat in the sweetened condensed milk. I just pour it in while the beaters are on.  (If you are adding any flavoring you can do it now as well. Some suggestions are vanilla, lemon, peppermint, almond.) 

By sweetened condensed milk I mean the short can of milk which has been condensed with sugar to make a very thick milk product, not evaporated milk which is not sweet and is a lot thinner.  The two are NOT interchangeable.

 

Stop an scrape down your bowl a few times just to be sure it is well incorporated.  Now you can add the flour and baking powder.  I sift mine together to make sure all the baking powder (leavening) is evenly distributed. 

At this point you can also add any mix ins if you are using them. I just kept things plain today. I am not sure what my grandsons enjoy so I really wanted to keep things simple.

 

You want to scoop the cookie dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. I used a 1-inch cookie scoop. If you don't have one of those you can just scoop them onto the baking sheet using a heaped TBS.

Make sure you space them 2-inches apart to leave room for spreading. I sprinkled some cake sprinkles on top of mine, but they largely got lost in the icing sugar which was sifted on top after baking.

 

And that's it. Pop the baking tray into the oven and bake for 12 minutes at which time they will be nicely set, a bit golden on the bottoms and puffy on top. You do not want the to color.

Let them rest on the baking sheet for a time, then scoop off onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Once cooled you can dust them liberally with the icing sugar.

These can be stored in an airtight container and frozen.  I am a person who enjoys eating cookies frozen as well as at room temperature. Yes, I am a card carrying glutton. 

 

These delicious cookies might look plain and drab, but I can  promise you that they are anything  but drab!  It just would not be Christmas in my home without them! 

Delicious, easy to make and budget friendly, they are quite simply a cookie to fall in love with.

 

All of the content you see here on this page, both photography and written, are the sole property of The English Kitchen, Marie Rayner. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com. 

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