These Keto Snowball Cookies are melt-in-your-mouth buttery, flakey cookies with small pieces of pecans and covered with sugar-free powdered sweetener. They are gluten-free and only contain 1.2 grams of net carbs per serving!
These sugar-free snowball cookies are a must-add to your Keto Christmas Cookies list this year! Keto dieters love butter, and these have a lot of butter but only 1.2 grams of net carbs per cookie, and such a lovely snowball looks perfect for a Christmas cookie platter!
Nobody will resist these healthy snowball cookies. Snowball cookies are also known as Russian Tea Cakes or Mexican Wedding Cookies. Both are originally made of a combination of all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, butter, and chopped nuts.
They are rolled in powdered sugar before serving, which gives them a snowball look. The Russian Tea Cakes or Pecan Snowballs always use finely chopped pecan nuts, while Mexican Tea Cakes can use other nuts like almonds, walnuts, or hazelnuts.
Here I am sharing a keto-friendly snowball cookie recipe called Almond Snowball Cookies, as they use keto almond flour!
Ingredients and Substitutions
These keto wedding cookies are easy low-carb treats to make with a few wholesome ingredients.
- Ultra-Fine Almond Flour – This is the most common keto flour used in keto baking, don’t use an almond meal. Almond meal is ground almonds with their skin on. It has a brownish color, and it will be too grainy and change the cookies’ color. Learn how to choose your keto flour.
- Powdered Erythritol – Not crystal, the powder erythritol looks like real powdered sugar, without the carbs, of course. It’s white and powdery. Also, note that not all keto sweeteners can be used in this recipe. In fact, powdered xylitol doesn’t work well in keto cookies. It keeps them ultra-soft and fragile. So choose powdered erythritol or allulose. Learn everything about Keto sweeteners.
- Soft Butter – Take the butter out of the fridge 30 minutes before using it in this recipe and beat with the powdered sugar until fluffy and light
- Vanilla Extract – for flavor
- Pecans – Finely chopped pecans are the particularity of Snowball Cookies. They are melt-in-your-mouth buttery cookies with tiny pieces of pecan. Great news, pecans are one of the lowest-carb keto nuts. So you can use them in your keto baking recipes.
How To Make Keto Snowball Cookies
These cookies are really easy to do. Here’s how in pictures.
Combine the soft butter and powdered sweetener in a mixing bowl.
Whisk until it forms a crumbly texture.
Add the other ingredients and combine until it forms a dough ball.
Form 12 cookie dough balls, place them on a baking sheet, and let them rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Bake the cookies for 18-22 minutes at 325°F (160°C). They will flatten while cooking.
When lukewarm, drizzle some powdered sweetener to give them their classic looks.
Storage Instructions
These keto Mexican wedding cookies must be stored in the fridge in a sealed container or zip-lock bags for up to 4 days. You can also make the snowball cookies ahead and freeze them. Thaw your wedding cookies at room temperature on a plate.
Allergy Swaps
These cookies tick almost all diet boxes. They are sugar-free paleo pecan snowball cookies and also egg-free keto cookies! But if you have other food allergies, I listed some options for you:
- Dairy-free – Unfortunately, you can’t use coconut oil for this recipe! The cookies will completely spread and flatten. A dairy-free butter is the best option here, but no other dairy-free spread. They contain vegetable oils that are not keto-approved. Margarine spreads will also spread the cookies that won’t form snowballs. Look for dairy-free vegan butter like Naturli. They make dairy-free vegan ‘blocks’ without vegetable oil. That’s your best option for dairy-free cookies.
- Nut-free – you can make low-carb snowball cookies nut-free. Replace the ultra-fine almond flour with the same amount of thin sesame flour. Replace the chopped pecan nuts with chopped seeds like sunflower seeds, or use hemp hearts.
More Cookie Recipes
If you’ve enjoyed these Snowball Cookies, you’ll love the following recipe:
Prevent your screen from going dark
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Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
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In a large bowl, beat the soft butter with powdered sweetener until light and fluffy – it takes about 1-2 minutes.
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With a kitchen spatula, stir in almond flour, salt, vanilla extract, and chopped pecans. You may have to use your hands to squeeze the ingredients together to incorporate them well. If the dough is too wet, add more almond flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.
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Roll one tablespoon of dough between your hands to form a cookie ball.
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Place each ball 1 inch apart onto the prepared cookie sheet – you will form 12 cookie balls.
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Place the cookie sheet with the 12 cookie dough balls in the fridge for 30 minutes. This is compulsory, or the cookies will spread too much!
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Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C).
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Bake for 18-22 minutes at 325°F (160°C) until slightly golden brown on the outside. The cookies will slightly expand and flatten.
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Remove the cookies from the oven, cool down for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet then transfer to a cooling rack for another 15 minutes until lukewarm.
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Meanwhile, prepare a small bowl with the extra powdered erythritol.
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Roll the lukewarm cookie balls into the powdered erythritol and return to the cooling rack until they reach room temperature.
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Store the cookies for up to 1 week in a sealed cookie jar at room temperature.
Serving: 1 cookieCalories: 99.7 kcal (5%)Carbohydrates: 2.6 g (1%)Fiber: 1.4 g (6%)Net Carbs: 1.2 gProtein: 2.5 g (5%)Fat: 9.5 g (15%)Saturated Fat: 1.8 g (11%)Cholesterol: 3.7 mg (1%)Sodium: 49.7 mg (2%)Potassium: 16.9 mgSugar: 0.5 g (1%)Vitamin A: 59.4 IU (1%)Calcium: 24.2 mg (2%)Iron: 0.5 mg (3%)
About The Author
Carine Claudepierre
Hi, I’m Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook, and founder of Sweet As Honey.
I have an Accredited Certificate in Nutrition and Wellness obtained in 2014 from Well College Global (formerly Cadence Health). I’m passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I’m also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.
I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet
Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!
All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.
Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.
I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!
