3/4cupsliced almonds, fairly finely chopped into pieces no larger than 1/8"(2 3/4 ounces)
1/4cupcacao nibs, roughly chopped a little larger than the almonds
1stickcold, unsalted butter, in 1/2" dice(4 ounces)
1teaspoonvanilla extract
1/2cuppowdered sugar(2 1/4 ounces)
Instructions
Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350ยบ. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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.
Sift the powdered sugar into a medium-sized shallow bowl.
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.
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.
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...
Notes
Adapted from the mother of all snowball recipes by Mary Doane.I used sliced almonds here, because they're easy to chop by hand, but I'd wager slivered or whole almonds would work just fine, too.If the rolled cookies lose their snowy looks after a day or two, just sift a little more powdered sugar over their tops.All ounce measurements are by weight.Nutritional values are based on one of thirty snowballs.