These keto snowball cookies are soft, buttery, extra delicious, and so easy to make at home!
Why you’ll love these keto snowball cookies
- Their classic shortbread texture MELTS in your mouth.
- Sugar free, gluten free, grain free, and vegan, with close to zero net carbs per cookie!
- The recipe calls for just 6 ingredients and no coconut flour.
- Snowball cookies are the perfect festive treat for the holidays. These are almost always first to disappear from Christmas cookie dessert trays.
Readers also love these Keto Brownies
Keto snowball cookies or Mexican wedding cookies
Traditional snowball cookies are a popular holiday cookie that goes by many names.
You may have grown up with family calling them Russian tea cakes, Mexican wedding cookies, polvorones, butterballs, meltaways, kourambiedes, palle di neve, or pecan sandies.
The recipe starts with a shortbread base that often includes almonds or pecans. After baking, you roll the cookies in a thick layer of powdered sugar until they resemble winter snowballs.
This keto version lets you enjoy all the nostalgic charm of the originals, with none of the sugar.
Step by step recipe video
Key ingredients
Almond flour – You will need two cups of fine almond flour or flourless almond meal. Blanched or unblanched varieties are both fine here. I also include a nut free option below.
Powdered sweetener – Use your favorite sugar free alternative to confectioners’ sugar, such as erythritol, powdered xylitol, Swerve, or a monk fruit or allulose blend.
Other choices that work include a stevia baking blend, or real powdered sugar if you are not baking for someone on a low sugar or keto diet.
Butter – For the best buttery flavor and smooth texture, use full fat unsalted butter, or dairy free butter or coconut oil as a vegan option.
Vanilla – Half a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract adds a warming holiday burst of sweetness and compliments the nutty almond taste.
Other ingredients – The recipe also calls for salt, baking soda, and a few teaspoons of water to help the cookie dough come together.
While the almond flour is out, whip up a batch of Keto Blueberry Muffins
Katie’s favorite recipe variations
Raspberry – Freeze half teaspoon sized blobs of sugar free raspberry jam or jelly. Press one into each cookie dough ball before baking, for raspberry filled low carb snowball cookies that your guests will all love.
Peppermint – Add five drops of pure peppermint extract when you stir in the liquid ingredients.
Pecan – Swap out up to one fourth cup of the almond flour with an equal measurement of pecan flour instead. Or add two tablespoons finely chopped pecans to the dry mix.
Chocolate chip – Stir a small handful of mini sugar free chocolate chips into the dry ingredients.
Lemon or orange – Stir the zest of one lemon or half an orange in with the water.
Cinnamon – Add a fourth teaspoon of ground cinnamon along with the flour. You can also add a pinch of ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, or chai spices. Have fun experimenting!
Cappuccino – Stir in a fourth teaspoon of instant coffee granules, or substitute strong brewed espresso for the water in the recipe below.
How to make the best keto snowball cookies
- Gather all ingredients, and set aside a nonstick cookie sheet or greased baking tray.
- Preheat the oven to 325° Fahrenheit (165° Celsius).
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, salt, baking soda, and one third cup of the powdered erythritol. Stir very well.
- Melt the butter or coconut oil. Then mix it into the dry ingredients, along with the pure vanilla extract and water. Stir to form a soft cookie dough texture.
- Use a mini cookie scoop or your hands to roll balls, and arrange them on the cookie tray.
- Bake ten minutes on the center rack of the oven. Carefully remove the tray, and let the cookies sit about ten additional minutes to firm up.
- While still warm, roll in sugar free powdered sweetener to create keto snowballs.
- If not serving immediately, I like to roll the cookies in a second coat of powdered sweetener after they cool, to achieve a thicker coating.
Tips and troubleshooting
Allow the cookies to sit just about ten minutes before coating. Their warmth will help the sugar adhere to the surface, and this step ensures the powdered sweetener will not dissolve upon touching a hot cookie.
The coating gradually fades. Add a second dusting of confectioners’ sugar replacement to each low carb cookie immediately before serving.
Store cooled almond flour snowball cookies in an airtight covered container on the counter for up to five days or in the refrigerator for up to ten days.
For longer storage, freeze leftover cookies tightly covered for up to three months. Add a layer of parchment paper in between layers of cookies to prevent sticking. Thaw frozen cookies overnight before serving.
Stir the dough very well with a spoon or spatula. It will seem crumbly at first but moistens as you break up clumps. If you live in a very dry climate, add an extra teaspoon of water if the dough is still crumbly after stirring for over a minute.
Another important note for those who are serious about baking: I highly recommend investing in a food scale. Cup measurements can vary depending on how tightly you pack ingredients like flour or sweetener into the cup. Using gram measurements will give you precise and consistent results every single time.
You can save time by preparing the dough the night before or up to three days in advance. Wrap it tightly in saran wrap or place in an airtight container. Refrigerate until ready to use, then form balls once dough is thawed enough to roll.
The recipe was adapted from these Keto Cookies and my Keto Peanut Butter Cookies.
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1. Preheat your oven to 325° F.
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2. Stir almond flour, salt, baking soda, and 1/3 cup erythritol in a medium mixing bowl.
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3. Mix in butter, vanilla extract, and water to form a cookie dough texture.
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4. Roll into balls with your hands or a mini cookie scoop.
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5. Place the keto snowball cookies on a nonstick or greased cookie tray.
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6. Bake 10 minutes on the oven’s center rack. Let sit a few minutes to firm up.
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7. Roll warm cookies in sugar free powdered sweetener of choice.
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8. If not enjoying immediately, roll in a second coat of sweetener just before serving.
More sugar free desserts
