These Almond Snowball Cookies are easy, melt-in-your-mouth buttery cookie bites crispy on the outside, coated with a dusting of icing sugar, and filled with crunchy roasted almond pieces. They are made in under 30 minutes with 4 simple ingredients.
I love making snowball cookies, which are also known as Mexican wedding cookies, or, for some reason, they are also called Russian tea cakes, despite not coming from Russia. I’ve already made several versions, like my Walnut Snowball Cookies, Pecan Snowball Cookies, or Peppermint Snowball Cookies.
But I wanted to make an easier version. And, believe me, this version is easy indeed. It’s made with only 4 ingredients and ready in less than 30 minutes!
Ingredients and Substitutions
Here are the 4 ingredients you need for this recipe:
- Almond Flour – It provides the base for the cookies and keeps them gluten-free. Almond flour adds a soft, tender texture to the cookies. You might be able to substitute it with sunflower seed flour if you’re avoiding almonds, but other flours like all-purpose or coconut flour won’t work the same due to different fat and moisture content.
- Powdered Sugar – This adds sweetness and helps give the cookies their characteristic “snowball” coating. Powdered sugar also provides a delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture. You can use powdered erythritol or another powdered sugar substitute for a sugar-free version.
- Melted Vegan Butter – Plant-based butter adds moisture, richness, and a buttery flavor. Use refined coconut oil if you want a subtle flavor or margarine for a more neutral taste. Ensure the vegan butter is unsalted to avoid altering the flavor balance.
- Roasted Almonds – These add crunch and a deeper roasted almond flavor to contrast the soft, buttery texture of the cookies. You can replace these with chopped roasted hazelnuts or pecans for a different flavor.
How to Make Almond Snowball Cookies
These snowball cookies are my easiest take on the classic recipe. It just take a few steps, as you can see in the pictures below.
Pour all the dough ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Form a large dough ball that is slightly sticky.
Gently form small cookies on a baking sheet and bake them at 350 °F (180 °C) for 15 minutes.
Roll the warm cookies in powdered sugar to give them the classic looks.
Carine’s Baking Tips
I’ve listed below a few more tips to make sure this recipe is completely no-fail.
- Use Super-Fine Almond Flour – For the smoothest texture, use ultra-fine almond flour. If you only have coarse almond meal, you can pulse it in a food processor to make it finer. This ensures the cookies have a light, tender crumb.
- Roast Your Almonds for Extra Flavor – While you can buy pre-roasted almonds, roasting them at home in a 350°F (180°C) oven for 10 minutes will enhance the flavor and aroma, making the cookies even more delicious.
- Chill the Dough for Better Shaping – If your dough is too soft to shape into balls, refrigerate it for 10-15 minutes. This will firm up the butter and make the dough easier to handle.
- Form Cookies Gently – When shaping the cookie dough into balls, handle the dough gently to avoid overworking it. Overworking can cause the cookies to become dense instead of light and crumbly.
- Double-Coat with Powdered Sugar – For an extra snowy effect, roll the cookies in powdered sugar a second time once they’ve completely cooled. The first coat melts slightly, creating a sticky surface that holds a second layer.
- Store with Care – Store the cookies in an airtight container with layers of parchment paper between them to prevent the powdered sugar from sticking and melting. They stay fresh at room temperature for up to a week or can be frozen for longer storage.
- Make Ahead for Better Flavor – These cookies can be made a day ahead as they often taste better the next day when the flavors have had a chance to meld together. Store them in an airtight container for maximum freshness.
More Snowball Cookie Recipes
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Almond Snowball Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup Almond Flour - (note 1)
- ⅔ cup Powdered Sugar - divided, 1/3 cup + 1/3 cup (note 2)
- 3 tablespoons Melted Dairy-Free Butter (Unsalted) - (note 3)
- ⅓ cup Chopped Roasted Almonds
Optional
- ½ teaspoon Almond Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slightly oil the paper with cooking oil spray. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, stir almond flour, half of the powdered sugar, finely chopped roasted almonds, melted vegan butter, and almond extract if used.
- Stir to combine the ingredients, then use your hands to squeeze and form a dough ball. If the dough is too dry, simply add a little bit more melted vegan butter until it sticks together, and you can form cookie balls.
- Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, roll gently each into a ball, and place it on the baking sheet, leaving a thumb of space between each.
- Slightly press the top of each cookie dough ball with your hand, but not too much. You want thick cookie balls.
- Bake the cookies for 15 minutes at 350 °F (180 °C) on the center rack until golden brown.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before gently transferring them to the bowl filled with the remaining 1/3 cup of powdered sugar.
- Gently roll the cookies into powdered sugar to coat them, then let them cool down on a cooling rack.
When making these cookies I was sure to form cookies into small balls, however, they flattened during the cooking process. I ended up with more cookies than mentioned in your recipe. Is it possible I made them too small?
If they flatten it means you didn’t add enough almond flour, it’s easy to not pack the almond flour enough in the cup, ending up with 1/4 cup less than needed. Almond flour is lighter to measure than all-purpose flour. Your cookie dough should be firm when you roll into balls if soft and fragile it means it will spread. The recipe mentioned to divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, so if you have more cookies, it means you divided the dough into smaller balls.
Me gusta mucha! Es muy rico, gracias
hello,
made these today and while they tasted delicious, the middle of the cookies were not cooked all the way, but I had to take them out because the bottoms were getting too dark, almost burnt . Any suggestions??
thank you!
It seems like a problem with the baking sheet, the bottom shouldn’t bake faster unless the pan diffuse heat too fast. A thick cookie sheet works best for almond flour because almond flour recipe I would try that, or flatten the cookies a bit more
Yummy! Super delicious.
looks wonderful
all of your recipes do
i will make them for a cookie exchange party i am going to attend
i wish your recipes would say how many cookies this will make.
i need to make 60
Thank you, I always tells how many cookies my recipe serve, it’s written before the ingredients next to serving. Here it says serving: 8 cookies so for 60 cookies you need to make the recipe 8 times.