Keto Snowball Cookies
Buttery almond flour and toasted pecan snowball cookies rolled in powdered erythritol. Keto Christmas cookies with 1 g net carb and 3 g protein per cookie.
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If you are building a plate of keto Christmas cookies this year, start with the one that looks like it already has snow on it. These keto snowball cookies are buttery, crumbly little rounds of toasted pecan and almond flour, rolled in a soft white coat of powdered sweetener. One cookie has about 1 g of net carbs, so you can put out a real plate and not stand guard over it.
I made them the way I make every recipe here, in my own kitchen first, with the oven on and the counter getting dusted white. The smell of toasting pecans comes first. That is the moment the kitchen starts to feel like December.
Where snowball cookies come from
Snowballs are one cookie with a lot of names. Depending on who you ask, they are Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes, pecan sandies, polvorones in Spanish, or just snowballs. The classic is simple: butter, flour, chopped nuts, and a thick coat of powdered sugar. The texture is sandy and tender rather than chewy, which is why some people call them pecan sandies.
Nobody seems to agree on where the cookie began. Some food writers trace it to Spanish cooks who carried it across the ocean, others to Arabic cooking, where nut flours were common long before they were trendy. Even the name is argued over. What nearly everyone agrees on is that it belongs on the holiday plate: it keeps well, it travels well, and it looks like snow.
That made it an easy one to bring over to our side of the table. The nuts were already the star. The only things that had to change were the wheat flour and the sugar.
How these keto Christmas cookies recipes come together
If you have scrolled through a few keto Christmas cookies recipes, you know the usual snag: the dough spreads into flat puddles in the oven. Almond flour is mostly fat, so it softens fast. Two small habits fix that. Use butter that is soft but still cool to the touch, not greasy, and chill the dough for 30 minutes before you roll it.
I toast the pecans first. It takes about 8 minutes and makes the cookie taste like pecans instead of just buttery. Then I chop them fine, almost to crumbs, so every ball holds together. A little coconut flour soaks up the extra moisture, and one egg ties it all up. The dough is thick and a bit crumbly until you press it in your palm, and then it rolls smooth.
When they come out, wait before you roll them. A warm cookie melts the powdered sweetener into a paste. Let them cool on the pan until you can hold one comfortably, give it a first roll, then roll again once they are fully cool. That second coat is what makes them look snowy.
Please do not taste the dough. It has a raw egg in it, and the FDA is clear that you should never eat or taste raw dough or batter, so save your appetite for the baked cookie.
What makes them low carb
Each cookie has about 125 calories, 3 g of protein, 12 g of fat and about 1 g of net carbs. The card lists the total carbs, which is a little higher, because the powdered erythritol counts in that number. Erythritol is a sugar alcohol, a sweetener that, according to the NIDDK, produces a smaller rise in blood glucose than other carbohydrates, so it is taken out when you work out net carbs. The math is written out in the recipe notes so you can check it yourself.
Cookies like these are small, rich and meant to be eaten one or two at a time. They are a keto dessert for the Christmas plate, not a protein recipe, and I will not pretend otherwise. If you want a jam-filled cookie beside them for color, my low carb Christmas cookies are the raspberry thumbprints, and they bake at a similar temperature, so both trays can share the oven. And if your crew loves pecans, my keto pecan softies with sea salt and dark chocolate are the chewy cousin.
Swaps
A few changes work, and a few do not.
- Walnuts or almonds instead of pecans, toasted and chopped the same way.
- A powdered monk fruit and erythritol blend in place of plain powdered erythritol.
- Dairy-free butter sticks for the butter. The dough is a bit softer, so chill it a little longer.
- Keep the almond flour finely ground and blanched. Coarse almond meal makes a gritty cookie.
The macros on the card are for the recipe as written, so swaps will change them.
01Ingredients
02Gear & pantry
03Method
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0 OF 9 DONE04Recipe notes
- 01Each cookie has about 1 g net carbs and 3 g protein. The card lists total carbs (7 g, sugar alcohols included): about 7.5 g total carbs - 1.3 g fiber - 5.0 g erythritol = about 1.2 g net carbs per cookie. The erythritol is subtracted. The nutrition box shows rounded whole numbers (7 total, 1 fiber, 1 net), and the exact figures are in this note. Do not taste the raw dough, it contains a raw egg. Make ahead: keep in a sealed container on the counter up to 5 days or in the fridge up to 2 weeks, and roll in powdered erythritol again before serving. Freeze baked cookies for 2 to 3 months. Dough balls can be frozen and baked from frozen, adding 2 minutes. Nutrition counts all of the rolling erythritol, although a little stays in the bowl.
05Nutrition
Per serving- Calories
- 125
- Protein
- 3G
- Net carbs
- 1G
- Fat
- 12G
- Fiber
- 1G
Net carbs are total carbs minus fiber. Numbers are estimates from the ingredients listed.
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Make ahead, storing and freezing
These get better on day two, when the pecan flavor settles in. Pack them in a sealed tin or box and leave it on the counter for up to 5 days, or put it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. The coating soaks in as they sit, so give them one more roll in powdered sweetener right before you serve. You can freeze the baked cookies for 2 to 3 months, or freeze the dough balls on a tray, bag them, and bake from the freezer with 2 extra minutes. Roll them after baking either way.
Snowball keto Christmas cookies FAQ
Why did my snowball keto Christmas cookies spread flat?
The butter was too warm, or the dough skipped the chill. Almond flour dough softens quickly. Chill the dough for 30 minutes and use soft butter that has not started to melt.
Can I make them without the egg?
This recipe has not been tested without it, so there is no promise here. The egg holds the cookie together, and almond flour has no gluten to do that job.
How many cookies does the recipe make?
24 cookies, a heaping tablespoon of dough each, with one cookie as one serving.
Why are my Christmas cookies keto style so crumbly?
They are meant to be tender and sandy. If they fall apart in your hand, press the dough firmly into a tight ball before baking, and let the cookies cool completely before moving them.
Set a few on a small plate with a mug of something hot, and watch how fast the plate empties.
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