Vegan Snowball Cookies (GF)
These nutty, buttery, meltaway cookies are delicious little shortbread balls double-rolled in powdered sugar. You can call them Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes, or classic Christmas cookies, but these vegan snowball cookies are heavenly.
Servings 25 snowballs
Calories 79kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup White rice flour
- ½ cup Nut meal (ground walnuts or pecans)
- ⅓ cup Corn starch or tapioca starch and other substitutes
- ⅓ cup Cane sugar
- 3 oz Dairy-free butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract (optional)
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Water optional - see instructions
- ¼ cup Powdered sugar (confectionary sugar)
Instructions
Making the snowball cookies
- Preheat the oven to 390 Fahrenheit (ca. 199 °C).
- Add all ingredients (rice flour, nut meal, corn starch, sugar, butter, salt, and vanilla extract) to a food processor and pulse until you get a crumb-like texture.
- Take a mixing bowl and add the dough from the food processor. Knead it with your hands for 2 minutes to form a ball. Depending on the butter you use or the exact measurements, if you still feel that the dough is too dry, add 1-3 teaspoons of water. One teaspoon at a time.
- Take 1 Tablespoon of cookie dough and form a ball with your hands.
- Line a baking tray or cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place the cookie balls on it. You can place them relatively close, as they will not expand during baking.
- Bake them for 10-12 minutes. Check it after 8 minutes to see whether they're getting brown or not. Cookies with rice flour tend to brown slower. So if they are brown, they are more than ready.
Covering them with powdered sugar
- They are pretty soft right out of the oven. So leave them on the parchment paper to cool down. While they are still warm, dust them with powdered sugar using a sifter.
- If they are completely cooled down, roll them in powdered sugar again. You will only get a luscious white snowball-like finish if you double up like that. (See notes for more explanation.)
Video
Notes
- Measure it with a scale – Baking is about precision. It is a question of science how different ingredients react to each other under heat. I measure ingredients first on a scale and convert the recipe back to cups. I use King Arthur's Weight Chart to ensure the cup measurements align with the grams. If you want to make perfect cookies every time, your measurements should be precise.
- Parchment paper instead of a baking sheet – I recommend using parchment paper instead of a baking sheet, especially if you bake multiple batches. You can take the parchment paper from the baking tray and place it on a cooling rack. Then you bake the next round without any waiting time. If you use a silicone baking sheet, you need to wait because these snowball cookies will likely deform if you try to move them while they are hot.
- Place them close – As there is no baking powder, baking soda, or any other type of leavening, they will not rise significantly. You can place them relatively close to each other.
- When are they ready? – If they start to brown on the edges, you are too late. Cookies with rice flour usually remain light-colored.
- Why do you need double dusting? – When you dust them with powdered sugar right out of the oven, the heat will melt it a bit, creating the perfect surface for the next round of powdered sugar to stick to the snowballs. If you only do one round, they will not likely be as snowy.
Nutrition
Serving: 1snowballs without powdered sugar coating | Calories: 79kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 46mg | Potassium: 6mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 1mg