Keto Pecan Snowball Cookies (Keto Christmas Cookies) (2024)

by Uliana Zoellner | Nov 22, 2018 | Desserts, Gluten-Free, Healthy, Holidays, Keto, Low Carb, Snacks, Sweet, Sweet Keto Recipes, Vegetarian | 69 comments

Keto Pecan Snowball Cookies (Keto Christmas Cookies) (1)

  1. Martha Young on August 26, 2022 at 6:52 pm

    This cookie dough would make a delicious crust for a layered dessert. Just press the dough in a baking dish and bake. Cool and add putting layers.

    Reply

  2. Michelle on November 18, 2021 at 8:11 pm

    Haven’t made these yet but I’m planning to. After reading all the comments, it seems the issue is the type of almond flour (which is ‘defatted’ in Germany). Since most, if not all, almond flour sold in the USA is not defatted, I’m wondering if adding some coconut flour would solve the problem. It’s keto friendly but much drier. I’ll let you know how it works when I try this recipe.

    Reply

    • Lucy on December 25, 2021 at 6:39 am

      I followed the directions yet when it was time to make my ball for refrigerating, I encountered a problem. It seems to me 7 Tbs. Of butter is too much for the amount of dry ingredients, so I needed to add more almond flour, & am sure a measure of coconut flour would make the product drier. Or simply decrease to about 6 Tbs. Butter!. Being my first time with these delicious cookies, I followed directions to a ‘T’!, not wanting to make any mistakes! The end product is pure bliss. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good Keto snowball. Lol💕

      Reply

  3. Sherry on September 25, 2020 at 11:00 pm

    My cookies melted, but they were still far and away the best low carb cookie/dessert I’ve ever made. I just let them brown a bit around the edges, cool on the parchment to crisp up, and sprinkled a bit of powdered sweetener on top and they were wonderful. They are totally addictive. Next time I’ll experiment with a bit less butter instead of bothering to order defatted almond flour. But if that doesn’t work, I’ll get the defatted stuff before Christmas. Just to have the traditional cookies. But if they never look round, I’ll still be happy.

    Reply

  4. Liz on December 20, 2019 at 5:09 pm

    I would like to be able to print your recipes. Is that function available?

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on January 16, 2020 at 3:17 pm

      You can find the option to print a recipe next to the difficulty level.

      You can also follow this link for the printed version of the snowball cookies:
      https://hungryforinspiration.com/recipes/keto-snowball-cookies/?print=1

      Reply

  5. Ls on December 18, 2019 at 5:07 am

    Mine melted 🙁 I chilled for 30 minutes and preheated the oven 30 minutes before as well. They are delicious but sad that they melted..

    Reply

  6. Kelly on December 9, 2019 at 1:14 am

    Great almost too light though. I think next time I will add an egg for stickiness.

    Reply

  7. Mellisa on November 23, 2019 at 11:54 pm

    Reading the comments i decided to adjust some things. I added 2 extra tbls of almond flour, 1/8 cup swerve brown and 1/8 cup white plus baked them for 14 minutes. They turned out amazing!

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on November 25, 2019 at 3:28 pm

      That’s such a great comment!
      Thank you so much for sharing your modifications – maybe it will help others as well!

      And I’m also super glad they turned out great! 😋
      Much love
      Uliana

      Reply

  8. Victoria on November 23, 2019 at 7:30 pm

    This is one of my favorite cookies in the whole world!!! I just put my first batch in the over and decided to put Lillys sugar free chocolate chips ground up in them! Just like the store bought wedding cookies! melt or not I love these cookies…

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on November 25, 2019 at 3:30 pm

      Thank you so, so much for your wonderful comment!
      I’m so happy you like the cookies! 😀

      Have a lovely day and much love
      Uliana 🙂

      Reply

      • Christina M. on December 6, 2019 at 3:46 am

        Put me on the melted list 🙁 em even with chilling.

        Reply

  9. Danae on November 7, 2019 at 2:07 am

    Thank you for this recipe!! My mom has made a normal flour version of these for years, and theyve always been my favorite. This recipe did not disappoint!! I have gone low carb (not keto) , and am having a hard time giving up dessert. These are going to be an awesome treat! Ours melted in the oven as well, even after the suggestions of preheating and chilling the dough. We threw around the idea of possibly adding a bit more flour next time? Either way, I don’t care what they look like- they taste great!

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on November 9, 2019 at 10:23 am

      Hey there, thank you so much for your comment!
      So sorry, the melting happened to you too but I’m happy that they still tasted great!

      Adding more flour could definitely help I think.
      I’m currently experimenting with a few more batches (including a chocolate version) and I think the cup/gram conversion probably needs an update as I made the recipe a year ago and wasn’t as used to working with the US system.

      I really hope that at some point I will be able to come to the bottom of the melting issue – I’m always so sorry when this happens.

      Anyway, a lot of rambling – thank you again for your comment and have a great day!
      Much love
      Uliana

      Reply

  10. Aileen Leyba on November 4, 2019 at 10:05 am

    Ok silly question do you add the powdered Erythritol or is that just for rolling? Could it be possible that is why others are melting? These look amazing very excited to make these!

    Reply

  11. Linda French on February 14, 2019 at 6:26 am

    Made these delicious I have pictures but did not know how to post them to the site, so just letting everyone know how good they were.
    I have made 4 batches since Xmas – I live by myself but my friends love these I give some away.

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on February 14, 2019 at 1:11 pm

      You’re too sweet!
      Thank you so much for your lovely comment. 🙂

      Honestly, I also have no idea if it’s possible to post pictures in the comments – I guess I should know my site better ????.

      Much love, Uliana 🙂

      Reply

  12. Isabel on January 28, 2019 at 5:51 am

    Finally made these tonight. They were delicious ???? I used the Swerve confectioners sugar instead of granulated then did a small sprinkle on top. Thank you much for the recipe!

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on January 28, 2019 at 10:46 am

      That’s great, I’m so happy you liked them. 😀

      Much love, Uliana

      Reply

  13. Anna on January 3, 2019 at 9:24 am

    After reading the comments here, I thought I should let you know that mine did NOT melt! I chilled the dough as instructed and the cookies turned out great. I used tagotose instead of erythritol because that’s what I had, but I don’t think it made any difference. I used your cup measurements. I didn’t roll the cookies in powdered erythritol because I didn’t have any and they were already super sweet. Thank you so much for posting this recipe. It was hard seeing all those Christmas cookies my family was enjoying and not being able to have any!

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on January 3, 2019 at 1:15 pm

      Hey Anna!

      Thank you so, so much for taking the time to comment!
      It truly means a lot and I’m so happy to read that your cookies were a success. 🙂

      It’s only natural that we are more likely to give feedback when something doesn’t go as planned so I appreciate it even more that you took your time to let me know that everything worked out fine. 🙂

      Much love, Uliana

      Reply

  14. Frances Jean Bender on December 31, 2018 at 11:03 pm

    I followed all suggestions as well and mine melted too 🙁
    I hope they taste good

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 31, 2018 at 11:17 pm

      I’m sorry about this :/

      I hope that too!

      Uliana

      Reply

    • August on November 14, 2019 at 6:12 am

      I looked at 10 min and they were fine but soft so i left them in longer THEN they started to melt. Caught it in time tho!

      Reply

  15. Pam on December 31, 2018 at 9:11 pm

    Could I add a scoop of protein powder to these? and what would happen if I left the erythritol out completely and just used coconut and vanilla flavoring?

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 31, 2018 at 11:18 pm

      The protein powder should be no problem. 🙂

      But I don’t think leaving out the sweetener is a good idea because it adds volume as well. If no erythritol or other sweetener is added the ratios will probably be off.

      Uliana

      Reply

  16. Joella on December 26, 2018 at 2:09 am

    Ok these are tooooo good! Only problem I have which is no big deal the sugar just melted after I rolled them. Even when the cookie was cooled. No big deal they are so yummy!

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 27, 2018 at 11:42 am

      Thank you so much!
      I’m always happy when someone likes my recipe!
      This happened to me with a different recipe as well, but my cookies were still warm.
      Thankfully the cookies were still delicious! 🙂

      Uliana 🙂

      Reply

  17. Michelle on December 25, 2018 at 8:59 pm

    These were really good. Mine melted, despite chilling them first. I just reshaped them back into a ball while still hot and popped them into the freezer for about 15 minutes and they were all good.

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 27, 2018 at 11:40 am

      That’s a great tip!
      When they’re fresh out of the oven they are still soft and reshaping them is a great idea.
      Thank you for sharing it!

      Uliana 🙂

      Reply

  18. Pam on December 23, 2018 at 10:03 pm

    Hiya, I also made the cookies. Made them into balls, put in freezer for 30 minutes. Baked at 10 degrees hotter for 13 minutes….. look like melted balls too???? hmmm…. will play around with it and see if something else works. I do appreciate the recipe and the work that goes into one. I am a chef, trained by a chef at culinary school. 20 years of cooking and baking… but keto is a new creature, so different rules and medium to work with. Trial and error!

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 24, 2018 at 10:13 am

      Hey!

      Thank you for your nice comment!
      It definitely is trial and error.
      I already made 3 additional batches with different temperatures and settings trying to get into detective mode and find out what causes this but mine always turn out fine.
      Low carb baking can be tricky sometimes and if you as a professional chef says that too I’m a bit relieved!

      It would be awesome if you could let us know if you find a way to avoid the melting. 🙂
      Hopefully, this batch was still delicious.

      Merry Christmas!
      Uliana

      Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 23, 2018 at 9:34 pm

      I’m very sorry about this :/

      Uliana

      Reply

  19. Senayda on December 19, 2018 at 5:24 pm

    Does the butter need to be salted or unsalted??

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 19, 2018 at 5:30 pm

      Unsalted 🙂

      Uliana

      Reply

  20. Nancy D. on December 18, 2018 at 3:29 pm

    So disappointed, my cookies melted all over the place. I tried draining the butter they were swimming in, but they look awful. I used all of the ingredients listed to a T.

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 18, 2018 at 4:15 pm

      Hey Nancy,
      I’m so sorry they melted. A few other people had the same problem.
      It did not happen to me as you can see in my instruction video and I’m really trying to figure out why this might be happening and how it may be prevented.
      I did a bit of research and this seems to be a common problem with “normal” snowball cookies as well – the ingredients aren’t the culprit but the most likely issue is the oven temperature.
      When the oven is not hot enough, the butter in the cookies will melt before the cookies can harden.

      Like I stated a few times in the comments before and in my update in the instructions, here are a few tips for preventing this issue:
      1. preheat the oven long enough, at least 10-15 minutes
      2. increase the temperature by 5-10° for the first 3-4 minutes
      3. the commenter before you also stated that it might be a good idea to chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes to prevent the melting

      Again, I’m super sorry this happened to you – I’m giving my best to make the recipe work for everyone.

      Uliana

      Reply

      • Leanne on November 19, 2019 at 7:15 pm

        I’m wondering if the variance could be with the almond flour, if the ones that melted could be using almond meal instead of flour? I know there is a lot of natural oils in the almond flour and when I add butter to some of my cheese cake crusts when it bakes an browns a lot of oil is released and is dripping with oil: Just a thought?

        Reply

        • Uliana Zoellner on November 22, 2019 at 7:47 pm

          Hey Leanne!

          I always thought about that possibility, as I noticed that the definition of almond flour and almond meal seem to contradict themselves sometimes.
          The almond flour in Germany is usually dehydrated and has some of its’ fat removed whereas almond meal is simply 100% ground up almonds.
          Some sites in the US say that they’re the same and some describe the same differences as we have here in Germany.

          It could definitely matter, as my recipes usually turn out different with almond meal than with almond flour. 🤔

          Anyway – thank you for sharing your thoughts and for commenting!

          Much love
          Uliana 🙂

          Reply

  21. Cheryl Brown on December 18, 2018 at 2:03 am

    I make this cookie every year per Redbook Magazine from the 1980s called Great Aunt Gladys Sand Tarts. They are my family’s favorite Christmas cookie. I am going to make these and see if they notice ! Thanks so much!

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 18, 2018 at 12:58 pm

      They’ve quickly become my favorite as well!
      I’m happy that you will try them out, I hope you and your family will like them!

      Much love, Uliana 🙂

      Reply

  22. Brooklyn on December 13, 2018 at 8:38 pm

    Can you please give me the cup measurements instead of grams. Thank you!

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 13, 2018 at 8:55 pm

      Hey!

      I recently switched to oz instead of cups because as a European I’m not used at all to using cups and I messed up quite a few times with wrong conversions and I don’t want this happening again.
      So if you have a kitchen scale I recommend to use that instead because it will give you more accurate measurements.

      If you don’t have a kitchen scale, here are the gram to cup conversions I’ve got from this website.
      Please keep in mind though that I can’t guarantee that these conversions are 100% accurate.

      almond flour: 1 cup
      chopped pecans: 1 cup
      erythritol: 1/2 cup
      butter: 1/2 cup

      Uliana 🙂

      Reply

  23. Nicole on December 9, 2018 at 7:25 pm

    Mine melted in the oven and became flat. What did I do wrong?

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 9, 2018 at 8:31 pm

      Hmm, that’s odd, I’m sorry this happened to you!

      It’s super difficult to give a “diagnosis” without knowing more but I’ll give my best.
      From the top of my head, there might be a few things that could be responsible for this.

      Did you preheat the oven before putting the cookies in?
      If the oven wasn’t hot enough when the cookies were put in it, the fat may have melted before the cookies hardened.
      You could also try to increase the oven temperature by 10-15°.
      I can’t say for sure but it seems like the oven temperature might be the most likely issue here.

      Another thing you may want to try is to add a bit more almond flour.
      Unfortunately, sometimes the recipe may vary because of different products used.
      The almond flour I used was very fine and absorbed a lot of moisture – maybe the almond flour you used left you with a different consistency.

      Did you use the same sweetener?
      Some low carb sweeteners are better suited for baking than others.

      I’m very sorry I can’t help you out more!
      Hopefully, your next batch will be a success!

      If you have any more questions, just write another comment and I’ll answer as soon as I can.

      Much love, Uliana.

      P.S.: I also switched the amounts from cups to oz.
      I felt like the conversion from grams to cups produced a lot of errors and misunderstandings and I want to provide the clearest instructions possible.
      Oz seems to be a better choice for recipe posts like this.

      Reply

      • Kara on December 10, 2018 at 12:52 am

        I have had the same problem. I am on batch 4 and all have melted. They cookies are amazing though.

        Reply

        • Uliana Zoellner on December 10, 2018 at 8:30 am

          I’m a bit baffled about this!
          I went into detective mode and skimmed through the comment sections of other snowball cookie posts and the melting seems to be a common problem.
          Besides the oven temperature, I couldn’t find a good explanation for this though and this still doesn’t explain everyone’s problem. It’s very weird.

          Sorry, I couldn’t be of more help – I’m still glad that they tasted good, that’s the most important thing!

          Uliana 🙂

          Reply

          • Nancy Witek on December 18, 2018 at 4:04 am

            I chill the dough before baking. It prevents the “melting” and produces a much lighter and flakier cookie!

          • Uliana Zoellner on December 18, 2018 at 1:00 pm

            That’s such a great tip, thank you so much for sharing it with us Nancy!
            I will try it next time as well and see how the texture will change.

            Love, Uliana 🙂

    • Jenny on December 10, 2018 at 3:05 am

      These are delicious!! Mine kinda melted too. After the 12 minutes I didn’t think they were done. I ended up baking them longer. Do yours look browned at all? I’m wondering if maybe my butter was too soft.

      Reply

      • Uliana Zoellner on December 10, 2018 at 8:36 am

        Hey!

        So glad you liked them! 🙂
        It’s quite normal for the cookies to still seem a bit soft or “mushy” when you touch them, they will harden when they cool down.
        So normally, 12 minutes would be enough but my first batch was in the oven for too long as well.
        In my experience almond flour tends to burn a bit faster than wheat flour and I had to scrape off some dark bits from my first batch that was in the oven for too long.

        My second batch was fine after 12 minutes though.

        Maybe the butter was too soft or the oven wasn’t hot enough when they were put in the oven, but to be honest I’m really baffled about this as well.
        You’re not the only one with melted snowballs and I can’t pinpoint the problem. I wish I could bring a bit more expertisé to the conversation but I’m also only a hobby baker. :/

        After all, I’m still glad most of you really liked them, even if they were melted snowballs. 🙂

        Uliana 🙂

        Reply

        • Jenny on December 10, 2018 at 6:30 pm

          I will be trying them again with colder butter and only cooking 12 min. I will let you know!! And I think I will try chopping my pecans more too. ????

          Reply

          • Uliana Zoellner on December 10, 2018 at 9:43 pm

            Sounds good!
            I wish you good luck, I really hope they’ll turn out better this time!

            Uliana 🙂

        • Kathy on March 10, 2019 at 6:00 am

          Mine melted too. I used blanched almond flour. Could that have been the difference?

          Reply

          • Uliana Zoellner on March 11, 2019 at 10:52 am

            Hmm, I don’t think so because the almond flour I used was blanched as well.

    • Elliot on December 15, 2018 at 2:51 pm

      Mine did something very similar – looks more like a tear and share kind of thing than cookies 🙁

      Reply

      • Uliana Zoellner on December 15, 2018 at 4:59 pm

        I think the most likely issue is the oven temperature. :/
        Sorry this happened to you!
        I hope they still tasted good!

        Uliana

        Reply

  24. Tami on December 8, 2018 at 10:39 pm

    1/2 cup of erythritol contains 96 carbs. Divide that by 15 cookies, yields 6.4 carbs per cookie in sweetener alone. How did you arrive at 1.9 carb per cookie?

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 8, 2018 at 11:01 pm

      Erythritol is a sugar alcohol which your body can’t digest.
      Sugar alcohols are carbohydrates but that by itself doesn’t say a lot – fiber is a carbohydrate too but our bodies can’t digest it properly, that’s why we usually subtract fiber from the carbohydrate count of food to calculate our net carbs.
      The same goes for sugar alcohols – they just pass through our systems without leaving an impact at all.
      (Which is a good thing if you don’t want to spike your blood sugar.)

      So because erythritol passes through our system basically “untouched”, you can subtract the carbs from erythritol completely.

      Hope this clears up the confusion 🙂

      Love, Uliana

      Reply

  25. Susan Toolan on December 8, 2018 at 2:09 am

    I’m so happy I found this recipe on pinterest! I just ordered all the ingredients to make the pecan snowball cookies as they are my favorite cookie!

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 8, 2018 at 2:39 pm

      Ohh I’m so happy you want to make them!
      I can honestly say they are my favorite keto-friendly holiday cookies right now as well!

      Love, Uliana 🙂

      Reply

  26. Janice Cerbasi on December 7, 2018 at 1:29 pm

    Wondering if you can use coconut sugar instead you Erythritol. Does it have an after taste like other sugar substitutes

    Reply

    • Uliana Zoellner on December 7, 2018 at 1:52 pm

      Hey Janice!

      I think you could replace erythritol with coconut sugar, but I’d reduce the amount slightly to 35-40g or approx 2 1/2 tbps because erythritol isn’t as sweet as coconut sugar.
      Keep in mind though that coconut sugar isn’t keto-friendly.
      It spikes your blood sugar almost as much as normal table sugar.

      Unfortunately, I can’t say for myself if coconut sugar has an aftertaste or not because I’ve never tried it myself – but a good friend of mine likes to use it and she compares the taste to brown sugar, so it probably tastes a bit “malty”.

      Uliana 🙂

      Reply

    • Tracy L Ware on March 1, 2019 at 2:20 am

      make sure your using stick butter and not margarine

      Reply

      • Karen on December 7, 2019 at 5:05 am

        I think it may make a difference on how fine your pecans are my husband added too many after he ground them for me. I ended up freezing the dough and cooking it longer and he loves them!

        Reply

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