These almond snowball cookies just melt in your mouth. They are perfect Christmas cookies and look like darling little snowballs. They remind me of these Russian Tea Cakes but these snowball cookies have more of a melting consistency. Get it? Melting? Hee hee.
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The almond paired with orange zest is a delicious and highly irresistible combination. Here’s the story behind these: I bought tons of almond meal/flour for the endless macaron testing that I did and had some leftover so I decided to try it in these snowball cookies. And WOW!!!
These are melt-in-your-mouth good and the best snowball cookies I’ve ever had!
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Can Snowball Cookies be Frozen?
This snowball cookie recipe freezes really well so they are a make-ahead cookie #SCORE!! Make them fully including powdered sugar and just dust with fresh powdered sugar once they are thawed and sitting on your cookie platter. They’ll taste just as good as the day you made them!
Ingredients for Snowball Cookies:
- We used store-bought almond meal/flour. The package should say either “Extra Fine Almond Meal” Or “Almond Flour”. You can make your own almond flour using blanched almonds.
- Use unsalted butter for this recipe.
- Do not skip the oranze zest. A little goes a long way in both flavor and aroma.
- For the cookies to form correctly, dry ingredients must be measured correctly.
How to make Snowball Cookies:
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line 1 extra large (I LOVE that I can fit them all on this 3/4 size cookie sheet) or use 2 regular cookie sheets with parchment paper.
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer (highly recommend this mixer) fitted with the whisk attachment, cream together 2 sticks butter, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla, until smooth.
2. Switch to the paddle attachment and gradually mix in 2 cups all purpose flour and 1/2 tsp salt. Once well incorporated, add 1 cup almond meal and 1/2 Tbsp orange zest and mix until well incorporated.
The dough stuck slightly to the spatula but not at all to my hands. If very sticky, add 1-2 Tbsp more flour (I didn’t need to).
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls (this small ice cream scoop made it so easy and exact!) and place them on prepared baking sheet 1 inch apart. You should get 38-40 cookies.
Don’t make them too large or they won’t bake through properly. Bake 11-13 min, or until bottoms are golden and edges are barely golden (I bake 11 min for softer cookies). Remove from baking sheet and let cool 5 minutes.
4. Fill a bowl with powdered sugar and roll the cookies in it while they are still warm (not hot, or they make the powdered sugar gummy). Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
It’s best on a wire rack so the powder sugar doesn’t become moist but they will still be ok if they cool on the parchment paper.
5. Once cookies are at room temperature, roll in powdered sugar again or dust the tops with a mini sieve (here’s the one in my picture) to give them that snowy look.
Watch How to Make Snowball Cookies:
We love these tea cookies year round (not just for the holidays), but they sure are a treat and look beautiful on a Christmas cookie platter!
More Christmas Cookie Recipes:
- Russian Tea Cakes – crumbly, buttery perfection
- Shell Cookies – laced with meringue and walnuts
- Baklava – the ultimate holiday treat!
- Jeweled Biscotti – perfect for holiday gifting
- Angel Wing Cookies – Polish Chrusciki
Almond Snowball Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb unsalted butter, (16 Tbsp) softened at room temperature
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar , plus 1 1/2 cups more for rolling cookies
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, *measured correctly
- 1/2 tsp fine salt, I used fine sea salt
- 1 cup almond flour, or fine almond meal
- 1/2 Tbsp orange zest, from 1 medium orange
Instructions
Prep:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a 3/4 size cookie sheet or 2 regular cookie sheets with parchment paper.
How to Make Snowball Cookies:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, cream together 1/2 lb butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla, until smooth.
- Switch to paddle attachment and gradually mix in 2 cups all purpose flour and 1/2 tsp salt. Once incorporated, add 1 cup almond meal and 1/2 Tbsp orange zest and mix until well blended. The dough will stick slightly to the spatula but not to finger tips. If very sticky, add 1-2 Tbsp more flour.
- Shape dough into 1-inch balls (a small ice cream scoop makes it easy and exact). Place them on prepared baking sheet 1 inch apart. You should get 38-40 cookies. Don't make them too large or they won't bake through properly. Bake 11-13 min, or until bottoms are golden and edges are barely golden (I bake 11 min for softer cookies). Remove from baking sheet and cool 5 min.
- Fill a bowl with powdered sugar and roll the cookies in it while they are still warm (not hot). Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cookies are at room temp, roll in powdered sugar again or dust the tops with a mini sieve for a snowy look.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
I hope you are having a Merry Christmas season. Is your tree up? Are you done shopping? Did you order Christmas cards? So many questions!! 🙂
I made this last Saturday and they were one of the easiest and yummiest cookies I have made!! 😀
Thank you for the wonderful review!
Tried this recipe and I have never made such yummy cookies ever before. Oh just too delicious
I’m glad you enjoy the recipe so much Sonia! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Natasha: I just made the cookies, and they are delicious. I used waxed paper instead of parchment and my over got really smoky. Then I removed the cookies from the paper and they still continued to smoke. Why is that? (My oven is clean). Thank you!!!
i don’t think you should be using waxed paper in the oven.
The wax coating on the thin paper has a low melting and scorching temperature. Waxed paper is not for oven use.
That is exactly right Chris! 🙂
My dough is not firm it’s like just flour … do you know what could of happened? I followed your recipe :/
Hi Romina, have you watched the video recipe to see where you may have gone wrong? Did you use the same measurements and amounts of ingredients? It sounds like maybe you’re butter to flour ratios are off if the dough is not coming together. Please see the tip in the recipe on measuring flour. I hope that helps!
I made another Batch and this time it worked 😊👍🏼
YAY!! I’m so happy to hear that 🙂
I typically am NOT a fan of these cookies because I’m not a big fan of nuts. But WOW…I ADORED these. The almond flour is so fine that you get the flavor and added texture without a “nutty” crunch. The orange zest totally reminds me of the Italian wedding cookies my aunts made (different cookie)…and these were just phenomenal. Great recipe!
I’m happy to hear how much you enjoy the recipe Diane! Thanks for sharing your excellent review!
I posted it on my Facebook page as well for my friends who are always looking for an easy cookie recipe around the holidays. I was a professional pastry chef, so they always look to me for recipes. Hope you get a lot more followers from it!
Thank you so much for sharing!!! I sure appreciate it! 🙂
Hi Natasha,
This is my first time to make these cookies as Christmas Gift to my friends. So, how long keep storage for these snowball cookies?
Many Thanks!
Christina, after baking, they stay good for at least 5 days at room temperature in tupperware :). These cookies also can be frozen up to three months.
Natasha,
Is it mean after frozen up and then room temperature for while that can eat. Do not need to bake again. Thanks.
Hi Christina, you can bake and roll these in powdered sugar then freeze. Once they are thawed, you can eat them right away (sprinkle with a little more powdered sugar if you’re serving them at a party). I even like to eat them partially frozen because I’m not always patient enough to wait for them to thaw. They are great right out of the freezer! 🙂
Thanks a lot!!
You’re welcome Christina!
They are delicious but super crumbly. Are they supposed to be super crumbly?
Hi Hannah, I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies! If the cookie dough mixture was dry compared what you see in the video, it would probably be due to proportions being different. When measuring dry ingredients, if you do not have a kitchen scale, make sure you see the note in the recipe on measuring correctly. Pushing a measuring cup into the flour bin can result in up to 25% more flour than what is called for in the recipe (I have tested this). I’m thinking that might be the cause or if any other ingredients proportions were changed. Also, over-baking can cause them to be more dry and crumbly so make sure you are using the regular bake mode and not convection.
Hi, Natasha!
Wonderful biscuits!
Can you please indicate weight, haw many grams is the butter? In Europe the products are measured in grams.
Thank you so much!
Nice Christmas I want!
Bulgaria – Sofia
Hi Maria, I just filmed this recipe and I have all of the measurements in grams in this new post for the same recipe.
Hi Natahsa… I was wondering if they will still turn out into a cookie if I use regular flour ?
Hi Anna, I would not recommend that for this recipe. You should check out our walnut snowball cookies that just have regular all-purpose flour.
how far in advance could they be made if it’s hard to freeze them? If they are going to be in a container in fridge could the powdered sugar be on it or still take them out and do it? Just wondering if the recipients could keep them awhile
Hi Sharon, I haven’t tried freezing them, so I’m not able to provide specifics but I think that could work. If adding the powdered sugar before freezing, I would freeze between layers of plastic wrap in a freezer safe container.
Hi Natasha,
I am going to make these cookies for Christmas this year. Can I make them ahead and freeze them?
I haven’t tried freezing them, but I think that could work. If adding the powdered sugar before freezing, I would freeze between layers of plastic wrap in a freezer safe container.
Hi,
These look heavenly and anxious to make them soon. Not a fan of almond flavoring – can all while flour be used?
Thanks!
Hi Kathy, this recipe works with the almond flour, but I would suggest you try our tea cakes (very similar without the almond) if you prefer to only use flour 🙂
How come my dough comes out to be look crumbles?
Hi Rachel, are you having trouble forming he balls? It may be due to using too much flour – just in case you missed my tip at the top, here it is: “Bakers Tip: *To measure flours, spoon into a measuring cup and scrape off the top.” I hope that helps!! 🙂
So is Almond meal and Almond flour the same product? Do they have the same affect? So for this recipe or macaroons, it doesn’t matter which type you use? Or specifically for this recipe? I found Almond flour in Winco bulk bins and they have specks of almond skins in them while in bags, I don’t remember what type of Almond it was, but it was triple the price and no specks of almonds.
It should not have any dark specks of almond skins – the mixture should be uniform in color (an off white). Almond meal and almond flour are similar and can both be used if they don’t have pieces of the almond skins in the bag. Almond flour is just more finely processed which is easier to use in this recipe but if you use almond meal, you will want to pulse slightly longer to reach the same consistency.
My family loves these cookies. This is my 4th time making them and each time they come out perfect. Thank you so much for sharing it. (:
You’re welcome! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Such yummy cookies. So glad I tried this recipe. Kids loved it. Thank you Natasha.
Of course Elena! I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Loved it. Made it according to recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the awesome review! 🙂
I made them yesterday with my 6 year old daughter to make Xmas gifts for her teacher and they came out great! really do melt in your mouth and very easy to make, my daughter followed my instructions and she did it herself! many thanks for sharing!
I’m so happy you enjoyed them. Thank you for sharing that with us!
I want to make these for Thanksgiving. Are they similar in taste to french maccarons? Thanks.
Hi Elizabeth, these are quite a bit different than macarons. These are crumbly and buttery and soft.
I really want to make these today, but I don’t have an orange to use for the zest. Would mandarin work? Any substitutes?
Hi Lily, I think mandarin would work fine 🙂