One of our favorite Christmas cookie recipes and it's perfect for people with a nut allergy! It's a tender cookie that just melts in your mouth.
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❤️ Why you'll love it
- Nut- free! If you have loved ones with nut allergies these are the perfect holiday treat. If nutmeg or allspice is included in the allergy list just leave it out.
- Snowball cookies are great home-baked gifts to give to your friends and family over the holiday season. They’re also ideal for cookie exchanges.
- This snowball cookie recipe is super simple and quick, using basic ingredients that you probably already have!
- These buttery cookies look like little snowballs with their sugar coating! You can add a lot of festive decoration just by adding these to the Christmas table.
We are not allergy prone in my family so this isn't something I thought about much until I had friends with nut allergies.
Oh my gosh! That changed everything! Nearly every Christmas recipe I own is full of nuts!
No nuts but all of the flavor and buttery-crumbly texture of the classuc snowball cookie recipe!
These are so good whether or not nuts are a problem for you.
🧾 Ingredients
🔪 Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions for this classic Christmas cookie. The full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Cream butter and add powdered sugar, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and molasses.
- Add flour and beat.
- Roll in balls and bake.
- Coat in powdered sugar.
🥫 Storage
You can store these traditional snowball cookies in an airtight container for several days at room temperature.
You can freeze the dough balls prior to baking or after they're baked. They'll be fine for up to 3 months.
Flash freeze unbaked cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet and then store in a freezer bag.
Store baked cookies in a freezer container with wax paper between the layers. For best results you'll want to roll them in powdered sugar after they are thawed.
📖 Variations
- Add chocolate chips for chocolate chip snowball cookies - or even sunflower seeds (for nut allergies).
- Add some chopped white chocolate.
- Make vegan snowball cookies by using vegan butter instead of real butter.
- Add some boozy flavor to these favorite Christmas cookies by including rum, kahlua, or your favorite spirits.
💭 Tips
Expert Tip: Use a small cookie scoop to create uniform-sized 1-inch balls.
- Cool your Christmas snowball cookies slightly on a wire rack before rolling them in powdered sugar. Too warm and the powdered sugar may melt but if the warm cookies cool too much then the powdered sugar won’t stick.
- Chilling your cookie dough in the refrigerator for a short time can help you to roll your cookies into smooth cookie dough balls.
- An electric mixer like a stand mixer is great when it comes to making shortbread cookies like these snowball sugar cookies but you could also use a hand mixer.
- The powdered sugar gives them the classic snowball look but you could roll in cinnamon sugar or plain sugar as well.
👩🍳 FAQs
These buttery cookies are essentially a shortbread cookie recipe that is then rolled in powdered sugar. They're super light, melt in your mouth, and resemble little snowballs for the holiday season!
Yes! These cookies are merely referred to by different names per region. They're also known as Russian tea cakes, Mexican wedding cakes, or Danish wedding cookies.
Absolutely! Simply use gluten-free flour instead of all purpose flour. I haven't used coconut flour or almond flour in this recipe but I'm sure they'll work with a little adjustments.
📚 Related recipes
The holiday season is not complete with an array of delicious cookies. You won’t need to search any further than these:
There's something for everyone!
🍽️ Serve with...
We love sipping on a generous mug of Mexican Hot Chocolate while nibbling these buttery cookies!
You could also serve your snowball cookies alongside other bite-size sweet treats by making an easy Christmas desserts board or cookie tray.
📞 The last word
It seems like every holiday treat is filled with nuts and if you have a loved one with a nut allergy it can be super frustrating.
Without the nuts you can lose texture and flavor... but these gingerbread snowballs are deliciously nut-free and full of spicy Christmas flavor!
I like them even better than the original recipe. If you love these try the condensed milk cookies! Light and buttery!
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Gingerbread Snowball Cookies
Print Pin Recipe SaveEquipment Needed
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- ½ cup powdered sugar, plus about ½ cup more for rolling the warm cookies in
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, if using table salt decrease the measurement to ⅓ teaspoon
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated from whole nutmegs if possible
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon unsulfured molasses, I use Grandma's Molasses
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Line a baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.
- Cream butter until light and fluffy.
- Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and molasses; and mix on medium-low speed until smooth and well blended.
- Add the flour slowly, mixing until well blended. Dough will look crumbly.
- Roll in tablespoon sized balls.
- Put on the baking sheet - keep them about an inch apart.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are light golden brown on the bottoms.
- Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes.
- Put about ½ cup of powdered sugar in a large bowl.
- Roll the warm cookies in the powdered sugar to completely coat them.
- Let cool completely.
Notes
- Cool your Christmas snowball cookies slightly on a wire rack before rolling them in powdered sugar. Too warm and the powdered sugar may melt but if the warm cookies cool too much then the powdered sugar won’t stick.
- Use a small cookie scoop to create uniform-sized 1-inch balls.
- Chilling your cookie dough in the refrigerator for a short time can help you to roll your cookies into smooth cookie dough balls
- An electric mixer like a stand mixer is great when it comes to making shortbread cookies like these snowball sugar cookies but you could also use a hand mixer.
- Store at room temperature in an airtight container. These may crumble during shipping.
Nutrition Facts
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First published December 15, 2021. Last updated October 4, 2022 for editorial improvements.
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