Vegan Coconut Snowball Cookies
Classic vegan snowball cookies made without nuts! These coconut based snowball cookies are soft, sweet, and a deliciously easy dessert to make for the holidays. Vegan, nut free, and gluten free friendly.
Snowball cookies are a delicious combination of vegan butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Most recipes call for chopped pecans, which you can add to this recipe, but I wanted to make a nut free version so here it is!
Free from: Dairy free, Egg free, Soy free (optional), Nut free, Gluten free (optional)
This recipe uses shredded coconut for an extra touch of sweetness in the cookies. If you love coconut, you are gonna LOVE these cookies!
But of course, you can totally make them the traditional way with toasted pecans or walnuts.
No matter what you call them, be it snowball cookies, Russian tea cakes, Mexican wedding cookies, butterballs, snowdrops, or more, just don’t call me late to the kitchen when these are being made!
These cookies are a Christmas cookie box classic, along with others like gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, double chocolate chip cookies, and my personal favorite chocolate snowball cookies!
Ingredients
For the full list of ingredients, complete with recipe amounts, please see the recipe card below.
- Vegan Butter: Since there are so few ingredients in this recipe it’s really important to not use any vegan butter. You want to use one that will have a mild flavor and has a good fat:water ratio. In testing, I found that Earth Balance buttery sticks (soy free version is available) and Miyoko’s European Butter performed the best.
- Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar goes both inside the cookies and then gets rolled three times on the outside. This triple rolling technique is guaranteed to make your snowball cookies be coated in a thick layer of sugary goodness!
Substitutions and Variations
- To make these gluten free, use your favorite gluten free flour blend. I always bake with King Arthur Measure for Measure and get great results!
- To make these soy free, make sure that your vegan butter is soy free. Earth Balance makes a soy and nut free butter available, but my favorite is Miyoko’s European butter with is soy free, however it does contain cashews, so be careful if you are avoiding nuts!
- To make with pecans as is traditional, add an equal amount of chopped pecans to the dough in place of the shredded coconut.
- Want to use other nuts? Try this with chopped walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, or macadamia nuts.
- Want to make these with sprinkles!? That is a super fun and kid friendly cookie in place of nuts. Use a few tablespoons of jimmies or other sprinkles.
- To make peppermint snowball cookies, add a few drops of peppermint oil to taste.
Instructions
Make sure to check out the recipe card below for the full recipe and ingredient list.
It’s super important that you chill the dough for at least an hour when making these. The dough is super soft and in order to not have melted snowballs in the oven, you need to let them get cold.
Roll the cookie dough balls for the first time before baking them.
Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes. It will be hard to tell when they’re done because you don’t want to burn them, but they should have a light golden color to them and not look wet.
Remove them from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes. Then it’s time for round two of rolling!
Roll the cookies for a second time in more powdered sugar. They are still warm so a lot of the sugar will melt into the cookie. That’s okay! These cookies get the majority of their sweetness from the outside in, so don’t worry.
Transfer them to a wire rack and let them cool completely before rolling in sugar for a third and final time.
After that, they are done!
Top Cookie Tips!
- Sift your powdered sugar before rolling the cookies. This way you won’t have clumps of sugar to roll around.
- Use softened butter to make the cookies, but really make sure that you chill the dough before baking. You don’t want melted snowball cookies in the oven!
- Make sure you use powdered sugar in the cookie dough itself and not granulated sugar. The granulated sugar is too wet when it bakes and will cause the cookies to melt into puddles.
How to Store + Make Ahead
Countertop: Store leftover snowball cookies on the countertop in an airtight container for up to a week.
Fridge: You can make the cookie dough up to 2 days in advance – any longer than that and the dough begins to dry out.
Freezer: Store frozen cookie dough balls in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Add an additional minute of baking time to the frozen cookie dough balls, no need to thaw in advance! Store frozen baked cookies in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Allow them to thaw and come to room temperature before serving after being frozen.
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Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Mixing bowls and spoons
- Cookie scoop
- parchment paper
- Baking sheets
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegan butter softened
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour see notes for gluten free alternative
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shredded coconut flakes
- 1 cup powdered sugar for rolling cookies, divided
Instructions
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the softened vegan butter with the 3/4 cup of powdered sugar. Mix this until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes on a medium speed. Add the vanilla and mix that into the butter.
- Add the dry ingredients. Turn the mixer off and into the same bowl add the all purpose flour, salt, and coconut flakes. Mix on low until the dough forms. This is a soft and sticky dough!
- Chill the dough. Place the bowl in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours and up to 3 days in advance. It is super important that this dough chills!
- Shape. After the dough has chilled, use a 1 tablespoon scoop to roll each cookie dough ball. Before baking, roll it in half of the powdered sugar mixture. Place cookies on a tray 15 cookies per tray.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Make sure the oven rack is in the middle of the oven.
- Bake. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes. The cookies will be slightly golden brown in color on the top and bottom.
- Final rolls. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes and then roll in the remaining half cup of powdered sugar. The cookies will be warm and the sugar will melt a little on the cookies. That’s okay. Finally, roll a third time when the cookies are completely cool. This is when the powdered sugar will really stick. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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Vegan cookies for every occasion! From classic vegan chocolate chip cookies to sugar cookies perfect for the holidays, these cookies are easy to make and always super delicious.
