Sugar-Free Keto Pecan Snowball Cookies
These Keto Snowball Cookies are sugar free, low carb, gluten free, grain free and can be dairy free too! These keto Christmas cookies are perfect if you’re on a keto diet, low carb diet or even if you just want to reduce your sugar intake, with just 1 g net carbs for these classic favorite little cookies!
Sugar-Free Snowball Cookies
Traditional snowball cookies have always been known as Gram’s Butter Balls in my childhood memories, and they were everyones favorite cookies.
They are also known as Russian tea cakes or Mexican wedding cookies, but whatever you call them, they are delicious and should be a must-bake during the holiday season.
This classic cookie was so easy to make with just 4 ingredients of flour, butter, pecans and sugar.
I would often be preparing them with my grandmother as a child and loved every minute of the cloud of powdered sweetener sugar all over me. Everyone looked so forward to them on our holiday cookie tray.
Ghee, Butter or Coconut Oil
Sadly when my grandmother passed, my mom tried to carry on the tradition. She still makes them but doesn’t have the time to make the dozens and dozens my grandmother would make for all our family and friends. That’s where I come in!
My gluten free classic snowball cookies recipe of my Grandmother’s Butter Balls are in my Naturally Keto cookbook. And they are good, but I have so many friends and family who need to be dairy free for health reasons and allergies.
I’ve used Ghee, which is a type of clarified butter and has very minimal amounts of milk solids in it, something like 99% free of milk solids. So if you’re dairy free and haven’t yet tried ghee, I would totally recommend it! If you have a dairy allergy to milk then swap with coconut oil instead of ghee.
I made these about 3 times before I got just the right mouth texture and taste. The first time I made them my oldest child, the picky teen, asked if he could try one. I never mentioned the name of them or what was in them.
He said, “YUM, these taste like Gram’s butter balls”!
Mission accomplished!
All 3 of my kids and picky hubby too loved these cookies each time I made them.
Even my MOTHER said, these taste like GRAMS!!!
I was so honored! My grandmother, I think, would have loved my healthier version of her recipe or at least I would hope she’s proud of me for trying to carry on her cookie tradition.
How to Make Keto Pecan Snowball Cookies
To view exact measurements, print recipe and see nutritional data, please scroll to the bottom of this blog post to view the recipe card.
Ingredients
Ghee or use room temperature butter or coconut oil for dairy free
Almond flour or see FAQs below to make these nut free
Swerve Confectioners Sweetener or low carb powdered sugar of choice
Extra confectioners to roll balls in
Step by Step Instructions
Place all ingredients into food processor, stand mixer or large bowl and use a hand mixer and process until cookie dough forms a ball. Pulse if needed.
Taste batter, adjust sweetener if needed.
Line a baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.
Use a small cookie scoop or about a tablespoon of dough make 24 cookie dough balls.
Roll each mound in the palm of your hand and place onto prepared cookie sheet.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place in freezer for 20-30 minutes.
Place in preheated oven and bake cookies for about 12- 15 minutes or until golden around edges.
Allow to cool a little bit, about 5 minutes.
Once able to handle roll each in some confectioners sweetener.
Allow to cool completely before storing in an air tight container.
FAQs
How to Prevent Flat Snowball Cookies
Freeze them OVERNIGHT before baking, helps keep them from spreading and flattening.
How to Store
Place any leftover snowball cookies, once cooled, in an airtight container in a single layer. Lay a piece of parchment paper and place more in a single layer. Refrigerate for up to 7 days or place in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Can I swap almond flour with coconut flour?
Swapping almond and coconut flour isn’t easy because 1/4 cup coconut flour is equal to 1 cup almond flour and requires more liquids and eggs.
How can I make this nut free?
Yes, you can evenly swap almond flour with sunflower seed flour but to swap out the pecans you would need some kind of seed to replace, perhaps sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
Can I use traditional flour like white or wheat pastry flour?
You could but then these would not be low carb keto snowballs because white flour and wheat flour are highly refined processed and high in carbs.
Can I change the sugar substitutes?
Yes, you can use any sweetener you like. I also love monk fruit sweetener. I avoid sugar alcohols like sorbitol and Maltitol and they tend to cause adverse reactions like stomach upset in some people. Use my sweetener guide and conversion chart.
Can I use coconut sugar?
You could but then they would be high carb not low carb as coconut sugar is a sugar whereas stevia and Swerve are low carb sweeteners that don’t spike blood sugar.
Can I use walnuts instead of pecans?
Sure! You can use walnuts instead of pecans if you prefer.
I hope you enjoy these snowball cookies as much as my family did! Here are some other cookies you might love for the season!
Happy Holidays!
Sugar Free Low-Carb Snowball Cookies
Sugar-Free Pecan Snowball Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 tbsp Ghee or coconut oil or use softened butter if not dairy free
- 1 1/2 cup almond flour or 150 grams
- 1 cup pecans or 120 grams, chopped
- 1/2 cup Swerve Confectioners Sweetener or 78 grams
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp vanilla liquid stevia
- 1/4 tsp salt
- extra confectioners to roll balls in
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into food processor and process until batter forms a ball. Pulse if needed.
- Taste batter, adjust sweetener if needed.
- Line a baking sheet with silpat or parchment.
- Use a small cookie scoop and make 24 mounds.
- Roll each mound in the palm of your hand and place on cookie sheet.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place in freezer for 20-30 minutes. Best if frozen overnight.
- Place in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden around edges.
- Allow to cool slightly, about 5 minutes.
- Once cool enough to handle, roll each in some confectioners sweetener.
- Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
thank you so much for this recipe. They really taste amazing. My mom used to make “snowballs” every Christmas. I still have some go flat even though I freeze them (I use butter) but you know what they still taste great.
Hi! I’m excited to make these for Christmas. Do you know if I could make them ahead of time and freeze them and then bake them later?
I bake them ahead and have frozen them once cooled. I’ve not tried preparing them and not baking them but I think you could make them into balls and place them in an airtight container, probably best to place parchment between the layers so they don’t stick. Thaw the night before you want to bake them.
Oh cool, thanks! I am also fine with preparing them all the way and then freezing them. Do you just remove 24 hrs ahead of time and thaw and then they’re ready to eat?
Yes I’m pulling mine out of the freezer on Christmas Eve morning and I think they will be fine to enjoy even on Christmas Eve night.
Wondering if measurement is the same if I replace swerve With a homemade version of icing sugar using arrowroot and coconut sugar?!
I would think they would be fine, although Swerve isn’t has sweet as other sugar free sweeteners and definitely not as sweet as coconut sugar so you may need a bit more.
I made these last night, and they are almost gone! My family loves them!!
I froze mine for 30 minutes in the freezer in a glass dish and then transferred them to a cookie sheet for baking. the center ones maintained their round shape but the ones around the edges got pretty flat. Next time I’ll freeze them longer. I also thought it was a bit sweet as written. next time I’ll use less sweetener. Otherwise a great adaptation of a favorite recipe! Thanks for sharing it!
I just wanted to let you know that these are actually not dairy free as written. If you have a milk allergy ghee is not an acceptable alternative to butter. Perhaps you should say it is light on dairy?
Ghee is 99% free of milk solids and most who are sensitive to dairy can use Ghee without issue.
Can I use coconut oil instead of butter/ghee? My grandmother always said Butter makes it Better, but sadly allergies prevent the use of dairy for us. Thank you so much!
Not sure why mine went completely flat. Any ideas?
Did you freeze them prior to baking? Change any ingredients?
I used regular swerve, had them out on the deck for 30 minutes and it is about 32 degrees here.
I still don’t think they were cold enough to cold there shape. A freezer is like 0-20 degrees to keep things solid cold and the butter really needs that in order to hold it’s shape.
Had mine in the freezer for 20 minutes and they are flat. More freezer time? Didn’t exchange any ingredients and used ghee.
I made these today for my son who is Type I diabetic. I used spend and put in food processor to makeep powdered sugar. They turned out really good!!!
I don’t care for stevia. Can I just add more Swerve and how much extra? Thanks.
I would say at least 1/2 cup more Swerve.
Wow, these snowball cookies look great! Perfect for winter, lol. Can’t wait to try them myself, must be super delicious!
so i bought the granular swerve instead of the powdered…if i whizz it in the food processor will turn into powder?
You could try that, I think it would work fine.
worked like a charm…what a tasty cookie!!
Sound wonderful! Could you use coconut flour instead of almond? I️ am allergic to almonds.
I wouldn’t use as much. Often you can’t swap almond for coconut in many recipes because coconut usually needs more liquids. Reduce the coconut flour to 1/2 cup, you won’t get as many but they won’t be super dry, r try using the cup of coconut flour but increase the butter to 2 sticks. This is all guessing as I’ve not tried it.
Can you use coconut oil instead of butter or ghee to make dairy free
I just found your site today and stumbled on these cookies. I’ve been making snowball cookies every year for the past 30 years, and my mother made them before that. They are a family favorite–my adult children request them every Christmas! This is my first year eating keto, and I was wondering how I was going to have the willpower to not eat them myself. You’ve saved the day with this recipe! Can’t wait to try it–and I’m hoping I’ll never go back to the original. After reading your family’s responses, I’m guessing my children won’t know the difference!
Is Earth Butter organic buttery spread keto friendly? & okay for Dairy-free?
It’s definitely ok for a dairy free option. As far as keto I think many would say, butter is better for a keto diet.
I made these today – use butter , taste was very good but they didn’t hold the shape – they got so flat 🙁
Don’t know what i did wrong – put them in the freezer for 15 -20min ,
Please help- i want to do them again the flavor is so good . Thx
I will be making these again using butter and will update the recipe.
Tried these today. Best step is to roll in the ball shapes and chill really well. That works better than baking immediately- I should know. 🙁
Flavor is right on- texture is a bit different due to almond flour- but still a winner!
These were so good. I baked them an extra 5 min cause I expected them to firm up to a crunchy cookie but they were chewy. I love chewy cookies so that was fine by me. I used butter and they really tasted like butter pecan. I’ll definitely change up and try them as pignoli cookies and anise cookies. Very good
When I put all of these ingredients into MyFitnessPal, making 24 servings, I get 106 calories, 10.6 g fat, 8.2 g carbs, 1.2 g fiber, 2 G protein.
I highly recommend lchf people check this for themselves!
Correction – I put in double the Swerve on the app. The carbs are 5, fiber is now 1.
I feel better now, but still believe that is a significant difference for carb sensitive people like myself.
Oh my word! I made these Christmas eve and they are seriously awesome. I used butter, and I did put them in the freezer for the recommended time. My baking time took a little longer, but I love how they held their shape so beautifully. My only issue with these little bites of heaven is my lack of self control around them!
Thank you!
These are so good Brenda! I was so glad to see this recipe since my Mom used to make these every Christmas (we call them ladyfingers and roll them into cylinders). I used butter since it’s what I had and I also used Sukrin instead of Swerve (Swerve has been giving me GI trouble). They are just like the ones my Mom made and I’m taking some to her on Christmas Eve (she is now in a memory unit and we’re having a little party for her). I’m so glad to be able to take her something she used to make and I can eat it too! I may take a break from dairy in the new year so next time I might try a coconut blend. Thanks so much for this recipe, it really means a lot to me.
I’m so glad! These are a much loved cookie in my family as well!
Where can I find sukrin and what is it made of? I think swerve has been giving me GI problems too.
I purchase it online:http://amzn.to/2BaYLsC
If I use butter, would I still need to freeze before baking to keep shape?
You may not, but it can’t hurt to at least refrigerate them for 20-30 minutes.
No swerve. Any substitute?
Any sugar free sweetener you prefer is fine.
I don’t have vanilla creme stevia, I have Liquid stevia and vanilla, and thought?
You can still use plain liquid stevia, same amount then use a bit more vanilla extract than I did. Taste and adjust.
I can’t wait to try this. Since becoming gf and sf I thought I’d have to give up my fave cookies!! Thank you!