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 1/2 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 3/4 cups (180 g) almond flour
- 1 cup (117 g) walnut pieces, finely chopped (almost ground)
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 - 1 tsp ground cardamom, (or 1/2 tsp cinnamon)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (113.5 g) butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (91 g) erythritol sweetener, (granular or powdered)
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (91 g) 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.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Love these!
They turned out great! I just used slightly less flour. ☺️
If I add a more spices (like ginger, cloves, nutmeg, etc) at about 1/2tsp each to make these pfeffernusse cookies, should I add more moisture or back off of any of the flours a tad?
I don’t think you’d really have to change much. If you want them to flatten a bit more like pfeffernusse, try maybe 2 tbsp less flour?
Will these still work without the coconut flour and only almond flour?
Thanks!
You will need more almond flour. About another 1/4 to 1/2 cup.
These are amazing. I had my non keto family try them, and they loved them. Thanks so much for this great recipe.
So you think buttered flavored coconut oil would work in place of butter to be dairy free? Appreciate your thoughts!
Sure!
These turned out great!! So good!
I made a double batch of these snowballs and ended up with about 100 cookies. I only taste-tested one – I swear – and it was eat-a-few-more delicious!! Off to the freezer they go until next weekend before the powdered sweetener goes on.
These were delicious but mine flattened out in the oven rather than ball shaped. What did I do wrong?
Not enough flour, sounds like. If the dough was sticky as you were rolling it, that’s a dead giveaway.
I always make these cookies every year, but they are always really dry. How can I make sure they stay moist?
What kind of almond flour are you using? What sweetener? These are the exact texture of conventional snowball cookies when done right. I think something is going wrong here.
Bobs red mill almond flour and Splenda sweetener.
Okay… pretty sure it’s the Splenda. I don’t use it in my recipes because I don’t think it bakes very well.
Okay thank you. I will find something else to use. I can’t do swerve. Bothers my stomach.
WOW! These little Russian Tea Cakes are better than the original version. I toasted the walnuts first and used the entire teaspoon of cardamon. Perfection and super easy to prepare. For those following strict macros, I used a small cookie scoop and weighed each ball, they’re 18 g. My batch made 31 cookies. This is a keeper!
These are the best Keto cookies I have ever made. I made them with pecans and left out the cardamom. My husband agrees…they are fabulous!
I have always made the high carb version using pecans. It is my favorite. I think I will try this with pecans.
Please do!
Where in the recipe it says 1/2 cup Swerve sweetener (granular or).
What does the or mean? You can use powdered sugar instead?
yes, you can use the powdered swerve in the cookies.
Yum yum yum! These are such a treat. I used a little bit of pecan extract but next time I will try butter extract just for that added bit of richness. ❤️ Thanks Carolyn!
These are sooo good. I’d never heard of them before I found this recipe but now they are a family favourite. I always put in extra cinnamon not cardamom and add cinnamon to the powdered erythritol as well.
Carolyn, can I use sunflower seed flour instead of almond flour as I have allergy to almond? Also I am intolerant to egg yolk, can I use all egg white instead or flaxseed egg?
I think yes to both but add a tablespoon of lemon juice to avoid the green reaction between the sunflower seed flour and the baking powder.