These buttery, melt in your mouth vanilla almond cookies are easy to make and look like little snowballs. A great addition to your cookie platters during the holiday season.
Similar to Mexican wedding cookies and Russian tea cakes, these vanilla almond snowballs will quickly become one of your favorite homemade cookie recipes that you make every single year. Slightly crispy with a shortbread like texture, bursting with vanilla and almond flavor and just the right amount of sweetness, they are the perfect Christmas cookies. Wonderful for any time of the year, these simple almond flour cookies are so irresistible, you won’t be able to keep them stocked in the cookie jar!
If you’re looking for another delicious cookie recipe for your holiday cookie boxes, definitely check out these gingerbread bars with cream cheese frosting, molasses cookies and these chewy peanut butter cookies.
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with my friends at Bob’s Red Mill. I used their Super Fine Almond Flour and their Unbleached White All-Purpose Organic Flour for these delicious cookies and I absolutely love Bob’s products! Thank you for supporting the brands that help bring new content to Big Delicious Life.
Jump to:
Ingredient notes
I love this recipe because it only calls for 7 simple ingredients and no eggs! The super fine almond flour is the real workhorse in this recipe, adding tons of almond flavor and a light, buttery, shortbread like texture.
- Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour
- Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached Organic White All Purpose Flour
- Butter – softened to room temperature. Do not melt butter in the microwave, it will affect the texture of the cookies. I use salted butter in all of my baking recipes. Unsalted works too.
- Powdered sugar – this helps give the cookies a super fine crumb. Don’t substitute granulated sugar! The cookie dough isn’t overly sweet because the finished cookies get rolled and dusted in lots more confectioners’ sugar to make them look like little snowballs!
- Vanilla and almond extract
- Sea salt
Step by step instructions
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees f. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together room temperature butter, ¾ cup of powdered sugar, almond and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy.
Step 2: Add in flour and salt and mix again on medium speed until just incorporated. Do not over mix.
Step 3: Add in almond flour and mix on low speed just until the dough forms. It should be soft, but not sticky.
Step 4: Roll the cookie dough into one inch balls and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Do not flatten. Bake cookies for 14-17 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are just barely golden brown. Immediately transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool for 5-10 minutes.
Step 5: While the cookies are still warm, but not hot, roll them in powdered sugar.
Step 6: When the cookies are completely cooled, use a dusting wand or sugar shaker to cover them in more powdered sugar so they look like little snowballs.
Recipe tips
- Use room temperature softened butter. Let the butter sit out on the counter for 30-45 minutes. If you’re in a hurry, cube it up with a knife in smaller pieces. Whatever you do, resist the urge to microwave it, that will not work in this recipe!
- Use a small cookie scoop to perfectly portion the dough and get uniform size snowball cookies.
- Wait until the cookies are just warm to the touch before rolling them in powdered sugar. If they are too hot, the sugar will melt and it will make a gummy, sticky like coating on the baked cookies. They will still be delicious, but they won’t look like little snowballs!
- Use a dusting wand or sugar shaker to give the cookies a layer of powdered sugar that looks like snow!
- Do not over mix the dough. The texture is light and buttery, over mixing will give you tough cookies.
- If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can also use a hand mixer.
How to store snowball cookies
Store cookies in a single layer in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week. If you make them ahead of time, just give them a fresh dusting of powdered sugar before serving on your cookie tray for guests.
You can also freeze the finished cookies in an airtight container or zip top plastic bag. When you’re ready to enjoy them, thaw in a single layer on the counter and then give them a fresh coat of powdered sugar.
Vanilla Almond Snowball Cookies
These buttery, melt in your mouth vanilla almond cookies are easy to make and look like little snowballs.
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees f.
-
In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, ¾ cup of powdered sugar, vanilla extract and almond extract until smooth and creamy.
-
Add in flour and sea salt and mix on medium speed until just combined.
-
Add in almond flour and mix on low speed until dough comes together.
-
Scoop dough into one inch balls, roll between hands and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet at least two inches apart.
-
Bake for 14-17 minutes until the bottoms and edges are light golden brown.
-
Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool for 5-10 minutes.
-
Roll warm cookies in more powdered sugar and place back on rack to cool completely. Dust cooled cookies with more powdered sugar to look like snowballs.
Notes
Store cookies in a single layer in an airtight container for up to one week. See post for more recipe tips.
Nutrition
Calories: 172kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 2gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 110mgPotassium: 15mgFiber: 1gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 237IUCalcium: 14mgIron: 1mg