These Almond Snowball Cookies are spiced Christmas cookies with a twist: they’re naturally gluten-free, made with almond flour and cozy chai spices!
It’s easy to judge a cookie by its looks. For every great recipe we share, there are usually several behind-the-scenes mistakes. And that’s absolutely the case with these Almond Chai Spice Snowballs! These cookies took months to prepare. The challenge: We wanted to create a delicious, gluten-free Christmas cookie with ingredients that sounded normal. After a few attempts that were total bombs, a new idea for almond snowball cookies with chai spices surfaced. After lots of trial and error and melted cookies and lots of taste testing and maybe a little swearing (oops!) this recipe was born. Read on for this recipe for Snowball Cookies with Spiced Chai Almonds.
Related: Perfect Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
How to make Chai Spice Almond Snowball Cookies
What came out of all the trial and error was a rich buttery spice chai cookie that received rave reviews from friends and family. Cardamom is the star of the show – I never thought cardamom would give chai spices their familiar spiciness! Try to find ground cardamom for this recipe. With leftover cardamom, you might want to sprinkle all of your baked goods! We used coconut sugar, an alternative sweetener that’s still sweet but slightly lower on the glycemic scale; Feel free to substitute brown or white sugar. This is our first spicy Christmas cookie recipe of the season and I know we will be making it for Christmases to come.
Important: Work quickly when rolling out the biscuits so that the butter does not soften and the biscuits melt in the oven. We recommend chilling half of the dough while you roll out the first half of the cookies.
Almond flour vs almond flour
These chai spice almond snowball cookies are made with almond flour (ground almonds). We like to use almond flour for our naturally gluten-free desserts. Some grocery stores carry both almond flour and almond flour.
What is the difference between almond flour and almond flour? Both are made from ground almonds. Almond flour is ground finer and is made from blanched almonds that have no skin. Almond flour is coarser and contains the shells of the almonds. Since the texture of these cookies depends on the light, fluffy texture of the almond flour, be sure to only use almond flour in this recipe.
Since almond flour can be a bit pricey, here’s a $1 off coupon on any Bob’s Red Mill brand product. Good pastries!
Looking for Christmas cookie recipes?
In addition to these chai-spiced snowball cookies, here are some of our favorite Christmas cookie recipes:
This recipe is…
This Chai Spice Almond Snowball Cookies recipe is gluten-free and vegetarian. See note in recipe for vegan version.
The description
These Almond Snowball Cookies are spiced Christmas cookies with a twist: they’re made with almond flour and cozy chai spices!
- ¼ cup butter, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons Coconut sugar (like Bob’s Red Mill or white sugar substitute)
- 1 ¼ cup Almond Flour (like Bob’s Red Mill)*
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1⁄2 teaspoon Cinammon
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground clove
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom (no substitute!)
- ⅛ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ cup icing sugar, for dusting
- Mix the butter and sugar in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until completely combined. Add the remaining ingredients (except the icing sugar) and mix again until you get a homogeneous paste. Unmold onto plastic wrap and shape into a ball; refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (make sure the temperature is right; adjust if your oven gets hotter than normal). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Roll into about 20 1-inch balls, pressing dough where crumbly as needed. Important: Work quickly to prevent the butter from softening, resulting in a melted cookie in the oven. We recommend chilling half of the dough while you roll out the first half of the cookies.
- Place the cookies on the baking sheet and bake, turning the pan halfway through to cook evenly, until the cookies are lightly browned but still soft, 8 minutes. (Be careful not to over-bake or the cookies may lose their shape.) Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes (do not touch, the cookies will set as they cool) . Once set, transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- When completely cool, place ¼ cup of powdered sugar on a plate and roll each ball in sugar until coated.
Remarks
*Do not substitute ground almonds which is a different product; Only use almond flour here! For a vegan option, use ¼ cup melted room temperature coconut oil in place of the butter; Combine all ingredients (except powdered sugar) in a bowl using a wooden spoon, then bake at 325°F for 10 minutes. The resulting cookie isn’t as rich and has a more crumbly texture; You might want to add a little more sugar in this variant to make up for the lost richness.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Cooked
- Kitchen: American
Keywords: Almond Flour, Snowball Cookies, Almond Snowball Cookies, Chai Spice Cookies, Christmas Cookies, Gluten Free
This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. All opinions are ours; We are big fans of their products and use them often. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who keep A Couple Cooks in action!
