This recipe for Cinnamon Snowballs is adapted from an old Southern Living annual. Their secret ingredient is actually a blend of two ingredients -- cake flour and crushed Corn Flakes. The cake flour and the cereal combo gives them a very crumbly, light, texture.
Cinnamon Snowballs are perfect cookie exchange cookies because the cereal makes them a little more interesting. Plus who doesn't like Snowballs?
Recipe

Cinnamon Snowballs
Light, crumbly cookies made with cornflakes cereal
Ingredients
- 8 oz unsalted or salted butter 228 grams
- ¾ teaspoon salt Omit if you used salted butter
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar 64 grams
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups sifted cake flour 210 grams
- 2 cups cornflakes crushed after measuring
- 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- Powdered sugar and extra cinnamon for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon with an electric mixer. Stir in the cake flour followed by the cornflakes and nuts.
- Shape dough into small (¾ inch) balls. Arrange on cookie sheets (these don’t spread much) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly and remove from pan. Roll in powdered sugar while warm. Sprinkle with some extra cinnamon if you feel like it
- Yield will vary, but you should get between 32 and 40 cookies
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
marla
IDENTICAL to the recipe my mom has made since we were little-a christmas favourite of ours for years:)
Deb
Great! I made these tonight. I cut the butter down to 7 oz, and will probably cut it down to 6 oz next time - they were a bit oily for my liking. But that doesn't mean they weren't good - these were fantastic!
Carole Resnick
These are in the oven right now. I got 39 cookies but I ate a cookies's worth of raw dough. So they must be a little larger than yours.
Yesterday's Chocolate Bundt was fantastic. Set almost 3/4 of cake to work with Al. But he can't have my cookies.
Nutmeg Nanny
These look amazing! I love that you used corn flakes...genius!
Stephanie
Wow, these look super dreamy!!!
Jessica "Su Good Sweets"
I like the idea of corn flakes in cookies, especially because Momofuku Milk Bar does it so well. Love the new graphic on top!
snookydoodle
yummy I love cinnamon! Nice recipe!
Katrina
Ooh, them Christmas snowballs are one of my faves! Nice "flakey" twist!
bakingblonde
What an interesting recipe! Love the idea of this
Anna
Cathy, I think all purpose would work. You'd need to use less of it, though. Sifted cake flour weighs about 3.75 oz per cup and all purpose weighs about 4.5. So if you were to use all purpose flour, you'd need to use only about 1 2/3 cup or just weight out 7.5 oz. Another thing you could do (since cake flour not only weighs less but has less protein) is mix together 1 3/4 cup ap flour with 1/4 cup cornstarch, sift it well, then weigh out 7.5 oz of that mixture. Or just sift it really well, fluff it up and measure out a very fluffed 2 cups. If you're mixing in cornstarch, the volume will be more because cornstarch takes up more room but weighs less.
Cathy Webb
I am always looking for new, yummy tasting cookie recipes. This one will be such a surprise for my cookie exchange!
Can't wait to try it!
What do you think reg. all purpose flour would do in the recipe/ just wondering.
Sue
I bet the cornflakes and cake flour give these cookies a unique and interesting texture! Did you see that KA Flour is coming out with an unbleached cake flour? I can't wait to try that!
Carole Resnick
These look soo good. If it is cool tomorrow.
Lisa Ernst
These remind me of one of my favorite cookies - Mexican wedding cookies, but with cinnamon and cornflakes. I agree that these would be a great holiday cookie and a "must try" for me at that time.
hulagirl247
hi anna~
these look very tasty - and i am a big fan of the powdered sugar ball type of cookie so i know i will be adding these to my repetoire. will let you know how it goes after i make them. unlike you - i am not disciplined enough to do half or quarter batches - i jump straight into the deep end of the pool and then tweek the recipe if i feel it is needed.
as always - thank you for sharing!
regards~
~hula~