📋 Gingerbread Almond Snowball Cookies Recipe
Also known as Mexican wedding cookies, these Easy Gingerbread Almond Snowball Cookies are a simple light, buttery and cakey ball shaped cookie covered in powdered sugar. They are quick to prepare, making them the ultimate snowball Christmas cookie and the perfect edible gift or addition to any holiday baking tray!
Servings 24 snowballs
Calories 154kcal
Equipment
- food processor (or mixer)
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all - purpose flour
- 1 cup finely ground almonds
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Garnish
- ¼ cup powdered/icing sugar
- red and green sparkling sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/176 degrees C. Do NOT grease your cookie sheet. Alternatively, you can line it with parchment paper.
- In a food processor mix butter, white granulated sugar, salt, vanilla, flour, ground almond, ginger and cinnamon, and process until mixture clings together. * I found this is the best way to make these.1 cup unsalted butter, softened, ½ cup white granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 cups all - purpose flour, 1 cup finely ground almonds, ½ teaspoon ginger, 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Alternatively, if you are using a mixer, beat butter, then add granulated sugar, salt, vanilla, ginger and cinnamon. Then beat in as much flour as possible with the mixer, stirring in remaining flour and ground almond with a large spoon.
- Shape into dough balls (1 inch in size) . * If you are having difficulty forming them into balls, you can wet your hands a little to make it easier. *Roll them gently between the palms of both hands.
- Place a ½ inch to 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake in preheated oven for for about 15-18 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.
- Transfer to wire rack and cool for 5 minutes.
- Mix powdered sugar with red and green sparkling sugar. Roll each snowball in mixture.¼ cup powdered/icing sugar, red and green sparkling sugar
- Sprinkle on additional green and red sparking sugar as desired.
Notes
TIPS FOR SUCCESS
- Grind the nuts fine. If you are grinding your own almonds, grind them in a food processor. If you don't have a food processor, I recommend buying ground almonds - you can buy them in any grocery store. If your nut pieces are too large, the cookies won't stay together.
- Crumbly Dough. The Almond Snowball Dough will seem a little crumbly and cling together in chunks -that is normal.
- Roll Warm Cookies.Roll the cookies in powdered sugar while they are still warm. It helps the icing sugar stick to the cookie.
- Don't make your dough balls too big. If you make your cookies balls too big they won't cook through and will likely crack.
- Don't handle your dough too much. Don't handle your dough more than you need to when forming the snowballs. This could warm the butter too much and lead to spreading and flat cookies. Once you have a round shape, gently roll it between the palms of both hands.
- If your cookies crack. If your cookies have cracks in them, gently push the cookie back together when it comes out of the oven (it's still quite pliable at this stage). Really small cracks will be covered by powdered sugar.
- Accurately Measure ingredients. This recipe is very finicky in terms of the exact ratio of dry to 'wet', with wet being the butter and vanilla. If you don't measure precisely, the cookies will fall apart!
Nutrition
Calories: 154kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 26mg | Potassium: 13mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 236IU | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg
