Welcome to the Free Recipe of the Month!
Each month I feature a free recipe for visitors and regular subscribers. Once the month has passed, the recipe is retired into the BB Recipe Archives. So bake while the oven's hot! These recipes are only here and free for four short weeks!
Italian Butter Ball Cookies
This is a beautiful little cookie that whips up in minutes and tastes like it belongs at Harrods’s tea hour. A touch of orange, some vanilla, and a handful of dried cranberries and cherries makes this a tea cake cookies that stands out.
½ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon fresh orange zest, finely minced
1 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup finely minced dried cherries
½ cup finely minced dried cranberries
¼ cup finely ground pecans or walnuts
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
Finishing Touches
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
Preheat oven to 375 F. Stack two baking sheets together and line the top one with parchment paper.
In a mixer bowl, blend the butter with the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and orange zest.
Blend in flour, salt, cherries, cranberries, ground pecans and then the chopped pecans or walnuts. Let mixture come together. Shape a portion into a small (one-inch) ball. Place on back sheet and press down sides or edges of each cookie to make a lumpy, slightly flattened ball (you don’t want balls; you want more delicate, misshapen forms).
Bake until done (cookies will be lightly browned around edges), 15-17 minutes. Toss each cookie in confectioners’ sugar.
Makes 2 dozen
