I have powdery, sugary, pecan embedded glorious butter ball cookies sitting on my windowsill. They look like a row of snowballs, blissfully unaware that they are resting, warm and moist, on the inside. Snowball cookies are a perfect treat for this time of year. Meant to melt in mouths, this sweet cookie delivers more than the snow that melted in my mouth as a child. I used to pour maple syrup over a pile of snow on a little plate, a silly treat and pre-cooking concoction that tickled my fancy. But snowball cookies are even better, heralding a confectionery melt-in-your-mouth experience.

Their cold, wintery cousins---bonafide icy outdoor snowballs---have a different fate than the cookie version. Both the indoor snowball cookies and the outdoor snow packed globes do have something in common: both provide a pile of pleasure for children and adults. Both beckon a heartfelt experience, something in the range of a smile to screeching laughter---a moment to savor.

This warm and sweet tribute to the snowball is a salute: to snowballs that provide hours of fun and laughter for children playing in the snow. Yes, these quintessential cookies are the essence of our inner children, standing with stubborn resolve in the face of challenge, yet with an all-out embrace of the amusing side of life. And might I add, it is so lovely to eat snowballs in their warm row, while watching my own children douse one another with flying, splatting orbs of icy packed snow---my moment to savor.

Snowball Cookies 1 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1 1/2 tsp vanilla 2 1/4 cup flour dash salt 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans powdered sugar to coat cookies

Beat butter, sugar, vanilla for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add flour, salt until dough starts to come together. Add nuts and blend. Form golf ball size balls and bake at 400 for 12 minutes; roll warm cookies in confectioners sugar to coat. When cooled, roll in sugar again if desired.