These Keto Snowball Cookies are sure to make your holidays merry and bright! With crushed walnuts and a hint of cardamom or cinnamon, they are the perfect sugar-free holiday cookies for you and all of your loved ones.
This recipe for Keto Snowball Cookies was originally posted in 2013. Seven years ago! It was time to give this classic recipe a much needed update. Now they are even more tender and sweet, with fewer carbs and with a new how-to recipe video. You won’t believe how easy they are to make.
I got a very early jump on my Christmas baking this year. I seem to start a little earlier every year, because keto Christmas cookies are one of my favorite things in the world to bake.
I used to make myself wait until after Thanksgiving, lest I get sick of all Christmas baking before the big day rolls around. It’s my favorite holiday by far, and I never want to risk being bored by it all before Santa and his reindeer have a chance to fire up the sleigh and take off from the North Pole. Now that would be a real tragedy.
But on the other hand, why deny myself the pleasure of such an enjoyable pastime? Cookies like these keto snowballs do so well in the freezer, and then I have a wonderful assortment to give away to friends and family.
Keto Snowball Cookies or Russian Tea Cakes?
Or… Mexican wedding cakes? What do you call these tasty ball-shaped cookies rolled in powdered sweetener? I do love the name snowballs, since that’s exactly what they look like when they’re finished.
I received so many requests for Keto Snowball Cookies, being a standard holiday favourite for many families. Some people call them Russian Tea Cakes, others know them as Mexican Wedding Cakes.
Whatever you call them, they amount to the same thing…a tender, shortbread-like cookie in a round ball, sprinkled with copious amounts of powdered sugar.
Since I managed to nail a low carb version of my father’s favorite cookie, the Keto Pecan Crescent Cookies, I knew that making low carb snowballs would be a cinch. And I added some chopped walnuts and some cardamom for a burst of flavor.
Updated Low Carb Snowballs Recipe
I know that this is a much loved recipe and some of you are probably fearful hearing that I changed things up a bit. Never fear, my sweet keto friends! The recipe is much the same, with a few minor changes.
For one thing I reduced the almond flour a touch to make them more tender and melt-in-your-mouth. I also ditched the stevia extract, as many people prefer not to use it and my son appears to have a mild reaction to it.
When I first made these keto snowball cookies 7 years ago, I had a little difficulty getting them to roll properly in the powdered sweetener. It simply didn’t stick to the cookies as much as I had hoped. But somewhere over the years, Swerve changed their formula a bit and it’s much more like real powdered sugar.
So now they look and taste just like the snowball cookies your mum/grandma/cousin/aunt used to make!
How to make keto snowball cookies
These might just be some of the easiest keto Christmas cookies you will ever make. Here are my tips for the most tender, tastiest keto snowball cookies:
- Use a good fine almond flour like Bob’s Red Mill. That’s my top choice but some others like Wellbee and Honeyville are good too. I recently had a disappointing experience with the 365 brand from Whole Foods, as my dough for some other cookies came out very grainy.
- The walnuts should be quite finely chopped for a more cohesive dough. I recommend pulsing them in a food processor until they resemble coarse crumbs with a few bigger bits and pieces. You could also do pecans if you prefer.
- Don’t leave out the coconut flour, as it helps give these snowballs a good consistency so that they don’t lose their ball shape during baking.
- Not a fan of cardamom? Try some ground cinnamon instead. Use only ½ teaspoon as cinnamon is stronger than cardamom.
- Make sure that butter is well softened! You need to cream it well with the sweetener and you can’t do that with hard butter.
- Roll the dough as round as you can between your palms. The cookies will rise a tiny bit during baking so any lumps or bumps will even out.
- Let them cool completely and then roll them in powdered sweetener such as Swerve Confectioners. You can use other sweeteners but I am not sure how well those will coat and stick.
Can you make Keto Snowball Cookies ahead?
You sure can and in fact, I have some in my freezer at this very moment. You can roll them in sweetener first and then freeze or wait to roll them after they thaw.
As with all keto cookie recipes, you want to store them carefully in an airtight container. These are pretty sturdy cookies, though, so once frozen, they won’t crumble or break apart. And they can last up to two months.
To thaw, take them out of the container and spread them out so that they don’t touch each other. This helps keep the cookies from getting soggy.
More delicious keto walnut recipes
- Keto Maple Walnut Biscotti
- Keto Cinnamon Walnut Coffee Cake
- Keto Chocolate Walnut Torte
- Keto Maple Walnut Ice Cream
- Keto Walnut Fudge
- Keto Walnut Pie Crust
Keto Snowball Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups almond flour
- 1 cup walnut pieces finely chopped (almost ground)
- 2 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ - 1 teaspoon ground cardamom (or ½ teaspoon cinnamon)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ cup Swerve Sweetener (granular or)
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
Instructions
- For the cookies, preheat oven to 325F and line 2 baking sheets with silicone liners or parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, chopped walnuts, coconut flour, cardamom, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter with the sweetener until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg, and vanilla extract. Beat in the almond flour mixture until the dough comes together.
- Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place on baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake 16 to 18 minutes, or until just lightly golden brown. Remove and let cool on the pan.
- Place the powdered sweetener in a small shallow bowl. Roll each cookie until completely coated in the powdered sweetener.
Joan Gaska says
Hi Carolyn,
Thanks for all your recipes. I have enjoyed so many of them and find I like all that I have tried. Right now I’m in need of only coconut flour cookie recipes as several of my grand kids are allergic to almonds and are trying to avoid gluten also. Others of the family are diabetic and try to avoid wheat and sugar. Do you have any just coconut flour recipes? I will have to search!. Thanks for what you do!1
Carolyn says
I have tons! https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/?s=coconut+flour
Personally, I don’t think coconut flour by itself makes great cookies. But you can always make these with sunflower seed flour.
Kate says
I must be blind but I can’t find the video.
Carolyn says
It’s supposed to come up under “My Latest Videos”. I may have to embed it in the recipe card instead, if it’s not showing up.
Kate says
iT’S NOT COMING UP ON YOUR latest videos and I couldn’t find it on you tube either. Hope you can inbed it. Thanks.
Miriah Baxter says
I love your recipes and that you always give a nutritional break down with them but once in a while I see a Keto recipe by someone else that looks interesting and many times they don’t give the nutrition specifications for it. I’ve tried to use some online calculators but none I’ve found can calculate for Swerve or other sweeteners and nut flours. I’ve even Googled for Keto calculators! Can you give me any link to one that works for Keto recipes? Or is there only some program to buy?
Carolyn says
Hi Miriah – I actually paid for software myself so I don’t use online calculators. Mine is called MacGourmet and it pulls from the USDA database for accuracy but I’ve had to hand upload certain ingredients like Swerve. What I do for ingredients like that is not even enter the carbs into the system, since they don’t affect blood glucose. It gives me a more accurate picture of the carb count. But Swerve, BochaSweet, and allulose are the only sweeteners that I completely leave out the carbs, because I’ve tested them repeatedly on myself and they don’t raise blood sugar at all.
Miriah Baxter says
Thanks so much! When I see the doctor my A1C is sometimes high and I only use the substitute sweeteners so I need to do some testing myself! I don’t know if I can just look at my tests the morning after I’ve had some dessert with dinner or if I need to take say a teaspoon of each on an empty stomach and then do a test maybe 15 minutes later. I guess I should ask the doctor that!
Carolyn says
Do yo have a glucometer? I recommend testing them by having some on an empty stomach (you can have them in coffee if it helps). Test both before and after to see your baseline and then how much you actually went up.
Tracy Andries says
Thanks for the update. I make these every year but without the cardamom or cinnamon. I put a little almond extract in their place. Also, what I do is roll in powdered sugar when still a little warm and then roll again. The sugar stays on nicely. These cookies taste exactly like the high carb cookies with the plus of no guilt.
Carolyn says
Thanks, Tracy!
Deborah says
Hands down my favorite Xmas cookie this year! These were simply outstanding. I am one of those unfortunate people for whom Swerve does not work (I get a strong aftertaste from it) so I used a mix of Allulose and Boca Sweet…..worked beautifully as this cookie is not supposed to crisp. Used powdered Sorbitol to dust them with. Will not have to worry about freezing any….they will never be around that long, going, going, gone.
Honestly, I could not tell the difference from the original full carb version. Thank you!
FYI: love your new Baking Bible cookbook….making the brownies with the lovely mint creme layer on top this afternoon for company that are coming. Cant wait to taste it.
Carolyn says
Thanks so much, Deborah! Enjoy the book.
Cathy says
Hi!
Loving your recipes so far! Am leaving white sugar and flour behind. Just need some advice on the walnut cardamom cookies. They are so yummy. Storage advice, please? Air tight container in fridge…freezer…can keep at room temp for how long?
Thanks so much!!!
Keto Cathy
Carolyn says
They can be at room temp for up to 5 days in an airtight container. You can also freeze easily for several months.
Cindi Topper says
you might want to try Hawaiian Style, with chopped Macadamias. they call ’em Macadamia Meltaways. Yum! and soooo keto friendly!
Carolyn says
Sounds wonderful!
Amanda says
Hi, I’m fairly new to the Keto world so I was very happy to find this receipe as it is a favorite of mine all year long. My question is could I add chocolate chips in and if so would I need to canned any ingredients? Thank you!
Carolyn says
I think it would be fine and no change to the other ingredients.
Krissy Allori says
I’ve never been able to find a good snowball recipe using almond and coconut flours until now. YUM!
Kristyn says
I love snowballs!! They have become a favorite! They are great for cookie exchanges!
Ashley F says
These are awesome for Christmas! Perfect every time!
Rachael Yerkes says
These are seriously so good!!!
Kim says
These look SOOOO good Carolyn! I think I need to add them to my baking list!
Amanda says
This recipe makes me so excited! My family made Mexican wedding cookies (which we call Poof Balls since they just go poor in your mouth ????) in huge amounts every Christmas during my childhood. I haven’t had them in years because we discovered my gluten allergy. I will have to try these as written and try using my grandmother’s recipe/spices too. Looks like I’ll have lots of pans of poof balls in my kitchen this Christmas season! Thanks Carolyn, for bringing back an old family tradition!
Lydia says
Hi Carolyn!
Your website is my go to whenever I want to make anything sweet. Your recipes always hit the spot.
For this recipe, can I leave out the stevia extract? Or substitute it with something else?
Carolyn says
Yes, feel free to sub in more Swerve. It’s an older recipe, I don’t really use stevia anymore as my son seems to have developed a bit of an allergy.
Esther R. says
One of my favorite cookie recipes . Love it .
Erica says
I’ve never had conventionally-made snowballs, but my husband says these are almost exactly like them. All I can confirm is that they are delicious. I was almost out of confectioner’s Swerve, so I ground Truvia and MonkSweet until powdered, and then added my remaining 2 T Swerve and a small amount of tapioca starch to mimic the corn starch in powdered sugar. I began rolling the warm cookies in my powdered sweetener and was pleased with the snowy coating each received, until a few minutes passed and it turned wet and pasty from the residual warmth of the cookie. Does this happen to your cookies, Carolyn, or do you think it’s a result of the sweeteners/starch I used? I stopped coating the warm cookies when I noticed what was happening, and wiped the paste off of each one as well as I could. I’m waiting for the rest of the batch to cool completely, and for the pasty cookies to dry, before I do more rolling. I do expect the sweetener to cling nicely to the cooled cookies! Not sure what happened. It’s probably due to my adjustments. Perhaps others who decide to make their own powdered coatings can learn from my experience: experiment to find what coating method produces the best snow on your snowballs.
Carolyn says
It does tend to disappear into the cookie but mine doesn’t become pasty so I think that’s the tapioca starch.
Erica says
You’re probably right. I have a slight obsession with adding small amounts of tapioca starch to recipes. Almond flour, xanthan gum, and other low-carb ingredients are pretty great on their own, but when I add a small amount of tapioca starch to the mix and things turn out so close to conventional recipes, I feel like I can conquer the world. ? Maybe not necessary here though. Nevertheless, I rolled the cookies in my sweetener mix before serving, and they were plenty sweet with a light, dry coating. Very tasty! For our family Christmas party I made your spritz cookies, gingerbread spritz, snowballs, two variations of your chocolate peppermint stars (orange and hazelnut) and lemon thumbprints using your lemon curd and Twix thumbprint dough recipes. Everything turned out great. Thanks so much!
yesenia says
Getting ready to make these again. Skipping Splenda (Sucralose) since discovering this past year it causes migraines. But I still don’t have access to any fancy ingredients like Erythritol or liquid Stevia. I have the green bag of Raw Stevia and hope this will work in the dough and for powdering. I haven’t tried powdering granulated Stevia yet. Wish me luck!
This time though in addition to making them low-carb, I have to satisfy someone who is dairy-free which means substituting with Vegan margarine (Earth Balance) and and liquid eggs. Hope these don’t compromise the recipe.
I’m still unsure what made them so darn dry and dense last year.
Carolyn says
Good luck!
Mary says
Do you know if it would be possible to substitute THM flour blend? These sound amazing btw!
Carolyn says
It’s much drier so I am not sure it would work
Jennifer Farley says
Snowballs are my favorite cookies!