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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Look no further for the best snowball cookies, because this is it! Very easy to make and has no weird ingredients. As with all of Carolyn’s recipes, it is clearly written and thoroughly tested. Don’t wait for the holidays to make this!
Made these today. I’m telling ya it was extremely hard to stop at four lol! Completely and utterly delicious. Thank you!
I made these and couldn’t stop eating them. SO GOOD! I recommend freezing half!
Just made these. They smell amazing! Have not tasted yet. What is the best way to store these once baked?
Made these tonight – delicious!!! Quick question – is the last 1/2 cup confectioners sugar used to roll the balls in? Or does it also go in the dough? I used it to roll them in once they cooled but I wasn’t positive and they taste delicious so I hope I did it right. ☺️
I made these cookies exactly as recipe is written, and chilled the dough for an hour before rolling into balls but just like every keto cookie recipe I’ve ever made, these cookies spread flat as a pancake. I was skeptical that these would remain in a ball shape, and of course they did not. Does anybody have tips to prevent this from happening? I did not make ANY modifications to this recipe & used swerve granulated sweetener and bobs red mill almond and coconut flour. Why does this always happen? No matter what brand of butter I use, salted or unsalted, it always spreads so flat, even when I chill dough overnight .
It means you are not using enough flour… Please try at least another 2 tbsp of almond flour and half tbsp of coconut flour. You are mismeasuring somehow, but without being in kitchen with you, I can’t say how. You do not need to chill these at all if you have enough flour in them.
Good morning:
In your recipe ingredients, you have ½ cup Swerve Sweetener (granular or). What comes after “or”?
Thanks. I am making them today, but I will go with the granular.
It should probably say “or another granular erythritol sweetener”
Hello!
Can these be frozen or refrigerated?
Yes.
Is there any way to make these without any nuts?
Absolutely, just skip them.
My #1 favorite cookie recipe, any time of the year. Truly melt-in-your mouth!! Love all your recipes but this is a life enhancer for sure.
I remember eating these from my early childhood, my grandma would make dozens of them and we would eat them all and she would make more. We called them pecan dreams, so used pecans instead of walnuts and no cardamom. I would make these as an adult, so happy to be able to eat these again!!
My neighbor can’t eat sugar or gluten so I gave her some of the snowball cookies. Her daughter said Mom and I both think those snowball cookies are the best cookie we’ve ever eaten! And the two people I do some private keto cooking for have also requested more. It’s an easy recipe I just love it. I just can’t remember if I measured the pecans before or after I chop them? Sucks getting old!
That’s wonderful!
perfect! the second time I made them.the best low carb cookies I’ve made so far. 😋 used pecans instead of walnuts, otherwise exactly like the recipe.
Can I substitute the ground pecans in your keto baking cookbook, pecan snowball recipe with pecan flour? Need to use my pecan flour up.
It’s much more finely ground so it may throw off the consistency a bit… might make it crumbly. I would do less than chopped pecans.
Ok going big or going home! LOL gonna try it and I’ll let you know how my
cookie-tastrophe turns out! Merry Christmas! Love your recipes! Made the tagalong bars on our ornament craft day. Turned out excellent!!
Update on pecan flour was pretty good. Used little less then 3/4 c pecan flour. They stayed together. Was not as fragile as a pecan snowball more cakes but still tasted like pecans . They were dirty snowballs inside but that’s ok lol. My family will gobble them up like a scooby doo snack. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Will Bocha Sweet sweetener work for these? I’m not able to use Xylitol.
Look at the ingredients on Bocha Sweet, mine says Xylitol.
I made these today made exactly as the recipe called for using pecans instead of walnuts. My husband absolutely loves these. These turned out buttery and light. It is very near the flour recipe in taste and consistency. Thank you for your efforts. And, everyone have a very blessed Christmas!