I hope you’re ready for something fun, easy, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
These wonderful gluten and grain free snowball cookies are made with just 6 core ingredients and might just be my new favorite treat to pair with a cup of coffee. They remind me of a delicious powdered donut hole but with buttery soft middles that you won’t be able to get enough of.
Kiddos will love making (and eating) these ones, and they’re super easy to make vegan and dairy free if you’d like! Truly the perfect little cookie to have on hand for dessert or to share at your next holiday party.
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What are snowball cookies?
Snowball cookies are also known as “Russian tea cakes,” “Mexican wedding cakes,” and “Mexican wedding cookies.” They’re a buttery, shortbread-like cookie made from flour, butter and ground nuts — often hazelnuts, almonds or walnuts. Mexican wedding cookies often use pecans as well! They have a distinct look and taste because the cookies are rolled in powdered sugar before serving. Hence, the “snowball” look.
These gluten free snowball cookies are made a bit healthier by using nutrient-dense almond flour and coconut flour, and less butter than the traditional version. They’re also easily vegan! See below for tips on this.
Ingredients in these grain free snowball cookies
The best part about these healthy snowball cookies is how easy they are to make! They have 6 core ingredients, plus a few flavor add-ins to make them extra special:
- Butter: to get that melt-in-your-mouth buttery flavor you’ll need some salted butter.
- Powdered sugar: unlike many cookie recipes, these snowball cookies are only sweetened with powdered sugar. You’ll add powdered sugar to the dough and you’ll roll the cooled cookies in it!
- Vanilla: for a little extra boost of sweetness.
- Walnuts: for that traditional nutty crunch.
- Salt: adding a pinch of salt helps bring all of the flavors together.
- Flour: we’re using fine, blanched almond flour and a tiny bit of coconut flour to keep these snowball cookies gluten free and grain free.
- Optional flavors: I like to add orange zest, cardamom, and cinnamon to the dough for a super unique, cozy flavor!
Customize your cookies
These gluten free snowball cookies are easy to customize with your fav mix-ins! Here are some ideas:
- Try a different nut like chopped pecans, almonds or hazelnuts. You could even toast them before chopping them up for extra toasty flavor.
- Adding a tiny bit of almond extract will enhance the nutty flavor of the cookies.
- Mix in some mini chocolate chips for an extra special treat!
How to make vegan snowball cookies
Because these grain free snowball cookies don’t have any eggs in them, you can easily make them vegan by just using vegan butter! I like Earth Balance or Miyoko’s.
Healthy snowball cookies in 4 simple steps
- Mix the wet ingredients. Start by beating together the butter and powdered sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Then add the vanilla, plus the orange zest, cinnamon & cardamom if you’re using them.
- Add the dry. Mix in the flours and chopped walnuts until they’re well combined. Let the dough sit for about 5-10 minutes so that it comes together and thickens up before rolling.
- Shape dough & bake. Next, use a cookie scoop to grab the dough and shape it into a ball. Place the dough balls on your prepared baking sheet and bake until just barely golden brown.
- Cool, roll & serve. Let the gluten free snowball cookies cool completely, then roll them in a bowl filled with powdered sugar and serve!
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: simply store baked snowball cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days at room temp.
- To freeze: you can either freeze the dough or freeze the baked snowball cookies for up to 3 months! Check out all of my tips & tricks for freezing cookies here. For snowball cookies, I’d recommend re-rolling them in powdered sugar after thawing the baked cookies so that they’re nice and pretty.
More delicious cookie recipes
- White Chocolate Macadamia Snickerdoodles
- Grain Free Cinnamon Roll Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cup S’mores Chocolate Cookies
- Grain Free Snickerdoodles
- Soft Cut Out Sugar Cookies (gluten free, grain free, paleo friendly)
Get all of our amazing cookie recipes here!
I hope you love these fun grain free snowball cookies! If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Grain Free Snowball Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter, softened
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Optional: zest from 1 medium orange
- Optional: Pinch of cardamom & cinnamon
- 1 ½ cups packed fine blanched almond flour
- ½ cup finely chopped walnuts
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- Pinch of salt
- For rolling:
- ½ cup powdered sugar, for rolling the cookies
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and powdered sugar for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Next add in the vanilla extract, orange zest, cardamom, cinnamon and mix again until well combined, about 30 seconds.
- Finally add in the dry ingredients: almond flour, walnuts, coconut flour and salt; mix on medium speed until well combined. Let the dough sit for 5-10 minutes while you clean up a bit. This is an important step as it allows the dough to thicken up so that you can roll it easily into dough balls.
- Use a small cookie scoop to grab 1 tablespoon of dough and then use your hands to roll the dough into a ball. Place on the prepared cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 9-12 minutes until the edges just start to turn golden brown. Cool cookies for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet then transfer to a wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Once cookies have cooled completely, add ½ cup powdered sugar to a medium bowl. Roll each cookie ball in the powdered sugar, then place back on a wire rack. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Makes about 24 (2 dozen) cookies.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
although delicious, my balls went flat so no rolling in icing sugar. Cooked for only 9 minutes and they were browned on the edges. what do you think I did wrong?
Hi! So strange – were you sure to pack the almond flour and use the correct amount of dry ingredients? I would also make sure your butter was softened (not melty), and let the dough sit for 5-10 minutes after mixing it together.
A classic Christmas cookie that has my fondest childhood memories! ……But with clean, wholesome ingredients! Yay! The traditional butter/nut/ powdered sugar ball cookie calling for almond flour instead of basic flour…… with cardamom, orange zest, and cinnamon. Yum. Absolutely perfect recipe that will be a staple in my kitchen. Thank you!
So good! Glad you love this one!
Made these today to enjoy with eggnog as we put up the holiday decorations. Simple and taste delicious! Loved the orange zest, cinnamon and cardamom accents. Another amzing keeper. Thank you Monique! You’re my go-to for all my gluten free recipes! Happy holidays!
Love that! Perfect holiday cookies :). Hope you keep finding new GF recipes here that you love!
Were these baked on light or dark coloured pans? My lighter pans require more time when making cookies than my dark pans. Also, what is the weight of almond flour in grams? I tend to weigh my dry ingredients for accuracy. Thanks.
I’m baking for gluten, dairy, and coconut allergies. Any suggestions for how to replace the coconut flour? Thanks!
I made these to use in my Christmas cookie baskets (with some other AK favorites) and they were a hit. I replaced the butter with Miyoko’s and then added the optional zest and spices. They came out so light and buttery that no one could believe that they were grain and dairy free. Thanks for the great recipe!
These turned out wonderfully well. I did not use the orange zest. I used a little over 1/4 tsp each of cinnamon and cardamom. And I substituted plant based (avocado) butter for real butter. I baked them about 14 minutes. Will definitely make these again.
My cookies flattened out when I baked them, any ideas why? Your cookies kept their round shape.
Hmm did you follow the recipe precisely? If so that shouldn’t have happened!
Hi! Recipe looks delicious! I’m New to baking:) can I double the recipe? Would love to bake these for our Xmas morning with the whole family.
Hello! Yes absolutely, you can just double all of the ingredients. Enjoy!
Batter came together so beautifully. Taste sensation. Guilt free. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
So happy to hear you loved them, Angelica! Thanks for leaving a review 🙂
Really yummy cookies. Mine are a bit crumbly once baked but most are holding together. Nice to have some GF cookies for my GF daughter. I added a bit of cardamom and probably should have added more as I can’t really taste it.
I’m so glad you’re loving them, Karol! Mine haven’t come out crumbly–any chance yours were baked a bit too long?
Do you think it would work to swap the walnuts for crushed candy canes?
I don’t think it would yield the same texture, sorry! But a little peppermint extract would be amazing in here 🙂
I tried creaming the butter and powdered sugar together and it didn’t cream at all, just got all clumpy and dry. What happened? Thanks.
Did you soften your butter enough? If the butter is nice and soft it shouldn’t be crumbly. Hopefully your cookies still ended up ok!
Make sure your butter is really soft (but not melted!) And was your powdered sugar lumpy in the bag? Those lumps should break down in the mixer but if not, you can sift it through a mesh sieve.
This sounds delicious! Can I use something in place of almond flour (I can’t have it)… 1 to 1 baking flour or coconut flour? Thanks!
I’m not sure that it would work well to sub anything else, but let me know if you try anything!
Did the 1to1 work for you? 🙂
Thank you for posting this recipe! I cannot wait to try it out. Is the salted butter a must, or can I use unsalted butter and add in additional salt?
Yes you can absolutely use unsalted! I just always have salted on hand 🙂