These gluten free snowball cookies, also known as Russian tea cakes and Mexican wedding cookies, are super tender butter cookies, made with chopped nuts and always covered in powdered sugar.
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What makes this recipe for gluten free snowball cookies so special?
Snowball cookies are somewhat fragile, compared to a classic chocolate chip cookie, for example. They tend to crumble, since they're really a type of shortbread cookie, and are meant to be delicate.
This recipe is special because it makes cookies that are properly fragile, and really do melt in your mouth with that beautiful buttery taste. But they're never dry, even with all that powdery sugar everywhere.
They're not neat and tidy cookies, but that's part of their charm. Imagine 3 of them perched on top of the pile in a holiday cookie box filled with all sorts of other colors and styles of cookies.
A dream holiday cookie box for me would have a handful of these gluten free Russian tea cakes/snowball cookies, just 2 gluten free gingerbread men (or women!), some of our other best gluten free cookies, but at least one gorgeous gluten free rainbow cookie. So beautiful right next to the snowballs!
Tips for getting these gluten free snowball cookies recipe right
Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about these amazing buttery delight gluten free snowball cookies! Much like the whipped shortbread cookies that we made the other week, these incredibly simple cookies are a mixture of butter, flour/starch, and sugar, but this time we're adding finely chopped nuts to the mix.
They still melt in your mouth, though, since the nuts should be very finely chopped. I chop mine in a miniature food processor or a blender.
Be sure not to continue grinding until you have a flour, as you want the nuts to provide a bit of texture and not to completely disappear into the batter.
What sort of nuts work best in this recipe for gluten free snowball cookies
When I use mostly raw pecans to make these snowball cookies (a.k.a. Mexican Wedding Cookies or Russian Tea Cakes), I grind the nuts a little more coarsely since pecans are such a soft nut. When I use almonds, I grind them more finely.
You don't want the cookies to have any noisy crunch, which would all but ruin the overall silky smooth texture. So it's really best to use nuts that are tender, even when raw.
Substitutions for gluten free snowball cookies ingredients
As always, unless I specifically state otherwise, I haven’t tested these cookies with any substitutions. These are just my best-educated guesses:
Gluten free dairy free snowball cookies
I haven’t tried it, but I bet these cookies would work just fine with butter-flavored Spectrum non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening in place of the butter.
Gluten free corn free snowball cookies
I recommend trying potato starch as a substitute for cornstarch in the recipe. Since most confectioners’ sugar is made using cornstarch, you’ll also have to source a corn-free version of that ingredient.
A fellow reader has mentioned in the past that Trader Joe's has a corn-free confectioners' sugar, but I haven't investigated that personally. It's worth a look, though!
If you use a gluten free flour blend that is already high in starch, like Cup4Cup, replace the cornstarch gram for gram with more Cup4Cup.
What about making these gluten free snowball cookies without nuts?
If you can't have/won't have/don't want to have nuts, instead of these snowball cookies, I recommend my meltaway cookies. Or my whipped shortbread cookies.
They're both very similar in taste and texture, but naturally nut-free! The nuts provide a depth of flavor to these cookies, but the other cookies of course have their own merits. You really can't lose.
How to make gluten free snowball cookies, step by step
Gluten Free Snowball Cookies | they melt in your mouth!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups 210 g all purpose gluten free flour (I like Better Batter here)
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your flour blend already contains it
- 10 tablespoons 90 g cornstarch
- 1 cup 115 g confectioners’ sugar, plus more for dusting
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon 90 g finely chopped raw pecans and/or almonds
- 16 tablespoons 224 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Lukewarm water by the teaspoonful as necessary
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar (77 g) and salt, and whisk to combine well. Add the finely chopped nuts and whisk again to combine.
- Add the butter and vanilla, and mix until well-combined. I find that pressing down on the butter with the back of a spoon helps to distribute it throughout the dough.
- The cookie dough will look somewhat sandy, and will clump in places. Add water by the teaspoonful, mixing after each addition, and mix to combine until the dough holds together when scoop or squeezed.
- Scoop the dough by the heaping tablespoon (an overfull #70 ice cream scoop is ideal here, but two spoons work well, too) onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving about 1 1/2-inches between pieces.
- Roll each piece of dough into a round gently between the palms of your hands. Don’t pack the dough; just shape it.
- Place the remaining 1/3 cup (38 g) confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl and place the balls of dough, one at a time, in the sugar. Toss to coat completely in the sugar and return to the baking sheet.
- Place the baking sheet in the freezer for about 5 minutes or until the cookie dough is firm.
- Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the cookies are set in the center and firm to the touch (they will be fragile, but shouldn’t be wet), about 12 minutes.
- Sometime between 10 and 12 minutes, the cookies will take on a slightly crackled appearance on top. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow to cool completely before rolling in more confectioners’ sugar (optional) and serving.
- These cookies can be stored for at least 3 days in a sealed glass container at room temperature. For longer storage, seal tightly in a freezer-safe container and place in the freezer.
- For best results, don’t toss in extra confectioners’ sugar before freezing. Defrost completely at room temperature before tossing in sugar a final time.
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Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Barb Lewis says
These cookies just made the holidays for my gluten free daughter who was feeling sad about not having her favorite cookie. It appears that if you use a #70 scoop which is approximately 1 T, you get 48 cookies instead of the listed 24… an added surprise. Will have to make more. I barely got one to try!
Nicole Hunn says
Aw, Barb, that’s so sweet. Happy holidays from my gluten free family to yours. :)
Brian Nicholson says
Nicole,
I need your advice please on a totally different topic ie bread making but don’t know to get in touch with you hence this message on this thread.
Is there another address I can contact you on.
Many thanks
Brian
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Brian,
You can use the “questions” form to contact me, but I’m afraid I don’t check those emails very frequently and have an assistant who responds to most emails. I’m afraid I’m not available for individual consultations, but if you’re on Facebook you should try joining my Facebook group as there are tons of helpful fellows readers who can likely help as well. Here’s a link to the group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythinggfoas/
Reggie Rullan says
Thanks for the recipe as Russian Tea Cakes was one of the 1st cookies I learned to bake as a child. Since going GF I had to abstain from it. I am also going sugar free. Will Stevia work with this recipe and in what proportion? Thanks again!
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Reggie,
I’m afraid that Stevia won’t work, no. I would recommend Swerve alternative sweetener since they even have a confectioners’ sugar variety. I bet it would work great.