Easy Snowball Cookies [Various Flavors]

Snowball cookies are an irresistible holiday classic – they’re light, ‘buttery’, & rolled in powdered sugar. Plus, they’re so simple to make with 4 ingredients and one bowl. Now entirely dairy-free + vegan!

4-Ingredient Vegan Snowball Cookies Recipe

No matter what you call them; snowball cookies, butterballs, Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes – among other names, the holidays wouldn’t be complete without these ‘buttery’, rich, melt-in-your-mouth vegan snowball cookies on your table, Christmas cookie trays, for gifting, and/or at every festive event.

A traditional snowball cookie recipe is already ‘almost vegan’ and contains no eggs or milk. By swapping dairy butter to non-dairy, this 4-ingredient recipe is so simple to veganize (we can’t believe we haven’t tried it before), and looks and tastes exactly the same.

Essentially, they’re like shortbread but coated in powdered sugar – what’s not to love? Plus, we’ve made our snowball cookies without nuts, but keep reading for several crowd-pleasing flavor variations (like pecan, peppermint, and lemon). Whip up a batch and enjoy them all season with a warm mug of coffee, hot chocolate, or vegan eggnog.

You might also enjoy baking up more batches of vegan holiday cookies, like chocolate crinkle cookies, snickerdoodles, double choc chip peppermint cookies, and jam thumbprint cookies.

The Ingredients and Substitutes

• Vegan butter: Use a high-quality vegan block of butter (rather than a soft spread), like Miyoko’s or Earth Balance. If you use salted, omit extra salt from the recipe.
• Vanilla extract: Use natural vanilla for the best flavor.
• All-purpose flour: All you need is regular all-purpose flour.
• Sea salt: Or kosher salt, but not table salt. This balances/enhances the flavors.
• Powdered sugar: This is the main sweetener within the cookie dough, as well as to coat the cookies to give them the ‘snowball’ look. Use organic powdered sugar to ensure it’s vegan (as some use animal bone char to process it).

To use less refined sugar, use a coffee/spice grinder or a small blender to grind raw cane sugar, coconut sugar, etc., into a powdery consistency. The color will vary.

Snowball Cookies Flavor Variations

• Pecan snowball cookies: Add about ¾ cup of finely chopped/crushed pecans (raw or toasted). Alternatively, try walnut snowball cookies, almond snowball cookies, or use pistachios/hazelnuts. Boost the nuttiness with a few drops of almond extract.
• Lemon snowball cookies: Add the zest of one lemon + ½ tsp lemon extract. Lime Or orange would also work.
• Peppermint snowball cookies: Add 1 tsp peppermint extract + 2-4 crushed candy canes for super festive Christmas snowball cookies.
• Coconut snowball cookies: Add ½ cup shredded coconut.
• Cherry snowball cookies: (alone or with nuts) Add a small handful of chopped maraschino cherries.
• Vegan chocolate chip snowball cookies: Add ½-⅔ cup of mini vegan chocolate chips.
• Cinnamon: Add ¼-½ tsp – this pairs wonderfully with pecans and/or vegan choc chips.

How to Make Snowball Cookies

• First, preheat the oven to 400F/200C and place an oven rack one higher than the middle row. Then, line a baking sheet with parchment paper/a silicone mat.
• Next, use an electric mixer or stand mixer to cream the vegan butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar into a creamy, fluffy consistency (usually 3-4 minutes).

• Then, add the flour and salt and mix until fully incorporated.

But be careful not to overwork the cookie dough, or they can become dense.

• Working with about 2 tablespoons of dough at a time (using a small cookie scoop will help), roll the dough into balls and transfer them to the baking sheet with about an inch between each one.

• Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the bottom of the cookies have lightly browned, but the top is still soft.

If the top looks a little raw still, that’s fine. The residual heat will continue to bake them outside of the oven.

• Remove the cookies from the oven and leave them to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before rolling them in powdered sugar.

• Finally, place them on a cooling rack to fully cool for another hour, then enjoy the delicious vegan snowball cookies!

Optionally roll them in a second coating of powdered sugar when fully cooled for even more melt-in-the-mouth sweetness.

FAQs

Pro Recipe Tips

• Measure the flour properly: It’s best to fluff it up in its bag, spoon it into the measuring cup, then level the top with the back of a knife. That way, you avoid using too much and ending up with dense cookies.
• Use room temperature vegan butter: If it’s too warm, the cookies will spread in the oven.
• For even-sized cookies: It’s best to use a small cookie scoop. Otherwise, they might bake unevenly.
• Don’t overbake the vegan cookies: They should only just be turning golden brown on the bottom but still soft on top when they’re removed from the oven. The residual heat will get the rest of the job done. If over-baked, they become dry and hard.
• To make the confectioners’ sugar stick: Dip the vegan snowball cookies once while warm and then again when cooled.

Storage Instructions

Once fully cooled, store the powdered cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days or in the fridge for up to a week.

You can also freeze the vegan snowballs, but it’s best to do so before rolling them in powdered sugar. Flash freeze them on a baking sheet for 2-3 hours (or place them in layers separated by parchment paper), then transfer to a Ziplock/Stasher for up to 3 months.

Leave them to thaw in the fridge or on the counter, roll in powdered sugar, and enjoy.

More Vegan Christmas Cookies Recipes

• Triple ginger vegan cookies (gingersnaps)
• Lemon shortbread cookies
• Cinnamon chocolate chip cookies
• Basic vegan chocolate chip cookies

You might also like our recipes for gingerbread cake or fruit cake loaf!

Photos by Alfonso Revilla