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.
Free Bonus: Secrets to Keto Baking!
Sign up for your favorite recipes delivered straight to your inbox plus get our FREE bonus: Secrets to Keto Baking!
I’m so sorry for the misspelling of your name. I hate autocorrect lol
Caroline can you tell me if the almond flour from Costco and sam’s gives it a grainy texture? Those are two brands that I have on hand. I tried making your chocolate chip cookies with them and they were “sandy” looking and the texture was the same…sandy/grainy. I’m wanting to make the wedding cookies but just need to know about the almond flour I have on hand. Thanks!!!
I don’t use it but based on your description of the sandy texture, I would think it isn’t quite as finely ground as others like Bob’s.
Just made this cookie and they came out great.
Didn’t have time to bake them last night and I was worried. But left the dough out of fridge before I rolled and baked them.
Cookies where firm on outside but moist inside. The powdered sweetener even coated nicely on the cool cookie!
Is the texture of these soft and moist? I assumed soc\, but mine turned out very dry. I must have made a mistake or overcooked?
Not soft… sandy, but not crisp. Like a shortbread. So if they were very dry, then yes, something went wrong.
Can i make this cookie without Egg?
No, this requires eggs to hold together properly.
Curious if I can use brown sugar swerve for the granulated sweetener? I have Monkfruit on hand but using the brown swerve sounds awesome! Just worried they might be too soft.
You may just want to bake them a little longer to firm them up. But it should be good!
These cookies taste good but they fall aprt when picked up. I do not think you can give as a gift since they fall apart into a crumbly mess.
If they are a crumbly mess, then something went wrong on your end. They hold together perfectly when made as written. Can you tell me what sweetener and what almond flour you used?
Fantastic cookies! Easy to make and the result is amazing. Highly recommend!
These sound bad *ss!
I’m going to make them asap and report back!
These were so easy to make and they are SO yummy! So many friends (even non-keto) asked for the recipe!
Thank you, Carolyn! ????????
Absolutely love this recipe! I used pecans instead of walnuts and the were great! Always a hit during the holidays!
I was wondering if pecans could be used. That is the way we have always made them. I am going to check this recipe out this holiday!
This recipe is amazing! The texture is right on! I used pecans and just skipped the powdered sweetner. So good! Then I used the same base and added cocoa and coffee powder for Mocha Balls. Then I used Orange extract and fresh cranberries chopped fine and they were also fantastic! They freeze so well too! Thank you so much for making my Christmas!
NIIIIICE! I’m going to try the orange cranberry too!
I added half a tsp of almond flavoring as well as the vanilla and it added something and I feel it was an improvement
Hello Carolyn,
Can I use cacao butter in place of butter? And do you know how much cacao butter I have to use? The same quantity of butter?
Thank u
Cacao butter will not work for regular butter, sorry. VERY different consistency, doesn’t melt well like butter. If you want to be dairy free, try coconut oil.
Ha-ha, found the button under the recipe. Thank you for the reply.
Glad to hear it! 🙂
How much gram is the half cup butter in this recipe, please?
Some sites say 113g, others 119g, and others 125g.
Could the difference of 12g butter impact the end product much?
Tank you.
Please use the metric equivalent button on this recipe… it will give you the right amounts.
Thank you for the reply but it did not answer my question, unfortunately.
Some sites say 1/2 cup of butter is 113g, others 119g, then others 125g is 1/2 cup butter, so which one Carolyn thinks I need to use with her recipe, please? Thank you.
It did answer your question… the amount in my metric conversion is the correct amount –> 113.5g.
113.5g = 4 ounces = 1/2 cup = 1 stick. Any site saying 119 or 125g is not a direct metric conversion.
Hmm, my measured 1 cup walnuts came up as 95g, not 236g.
Sigh. I apologize. This system does the conversion automatically and it’s a mess when it comes to nuts and nut flour (but it’s spot on for butter and such). Please go with the 95g.