Line a baking sheet with waxed paper and set it aside. Place 3-cups of coconut in a pie plate or medium bowl and set it aside.

Using a food processor with a steel blade, crush the vanilla crème sandwich cookies until finely ground.

Add the cream cheese to the food processor bowl. Pulse the cream cheese with cookie crumbs until they are well combined. Add 1/2-cup of shredded coconut and the coconut extract to the cookie dough, pulsing about 10-15 times or until fully incorporated. The mixture will be thick.

Scoop out the cookie dough into balls about the size of a walnut or about 1 tablespoon scoops. Using clean hands, roll the dough into balls and then roll the balls in the reserved coconut. Gently press the coconut into the cookie dough, allowing the coconut to coat the exterior. You want it to look shaggy and not completely pressed into the cookie dough. Let any excess coconut (snow) fall back into the pie plate. Set the coconut snowball on the prepared baking sheet.

Repeat “rolling snowballs” (cookie dough) until you have used all the “snow” (coconut).

Place the baking sheet in the fridge and chill the balls until firm, about 30 minutes.

Once firm, store balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator with waxed paper between layers.