Cardamom Hazelnut Vegan Snowball Cookies
The cookie of many names- I call them vegan snowball cookies, but they’re also known as Russian tea cakes, Mexican wedding cakes, Italian wedding cookies, Greek wedding cookies, pecan Susans, butterballs, kourabiedes, and I’m sure many more regional nicknames. Whatever you call them, these powdery cookies melt in your mouth, and we’ve flavored ours with cardamom and hazelnuts. They’re a simple cookie to make, and a perfect way to celebrate winter and the holidays!
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It’s the Most Cardamom Time of the Year!
I haven’t really cooked with cardamom much before, but after making my Santa Lucia buns I can’t stop! I want to put cardamom in everything- it tastes so festive and jolly. It’s sweet, strong, and hints at fruity flavors without tasting like fruit. In Sweden they put it in everything, from sweets to burgers. So, inspired by that, I made my first savory cardamom dish tonight. It was a spicy stew made from beans and turban squash, served over rice. The cardamom added an amazing warming element to the dish, and I’m defiantly going to be making something like that again. Recipe maybe?
Vegan Christmas Cookies
I recently decided one of my Christmas traditions is going to be creating a new Christmas cookie recipe on Very Vegan Val every year. Last years cookies were infused with spruce needles, and I’m not sure that that recipe can ever be beat. The year before I made some Almond Rosehip Shortbread Cookies, not for Christmas necessarily, but we can pretend. This year is the snowball cookies- it’s celebrating my new love of cardamom, but it’s more than that. This year has been one of the snowiest in a long time- we keep getting hit with enough snow to cover the ground and coat everything with glistening white- and so these melt-in-your-mouth snowball cookies are perfect for our winter so far. I’ll still be making a batch of my spruce cookies though… I think they’ll always be my favorite.
Looking for Vegan Holiday Recipes? Try one of these!
- Holiday Baked Vegan Cheese with Guava Swirl
- The Ultimate Vegan Christmas Cookie- Vegan Spruce Sugar Cookies
- Eggplant, Chestnut, and Mushroom Vegan Holiday Loaf
- Vegan Santa Lucia Buns with Saffron and Cardamom
- Classic Vegan Chocolate Ganache Truffles
- Green Tea Vegan Matcha Truffles (AKA Grinch Truffles)
Making Vegan Snowball Cookies
What I love about these cookies is how simple they are. Vegan butter, flour, powdered sugar, and nuts are basically all you need to get the melt-in-your-mouth snowball cookie effect. We also added a little almond extract (although you could also use vanilla or just do without), and cardamom for added flavor. What I learned from making my batches of these is you really want to roll them into balls before baking. My first few batches I just used a cookie scoop and let the semi-spheres that the scoop made bake. But starting with a half-sphere lead to a much flatter cookie than starting with a round ball, so I really recommend taking the extra second to roll them. Follow the recipe, put on a little Brenda Lee, and you’ll be in snowball heaven!
Cardamom Hazelnut Vegan Snowball Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegan butter
- 1/3 cup (40g.) powdered sugar, plus more for coating
- ½ tsp. ground cardamom
- Pinch of salt
- ½ tsp. almond extract
- 1 cup (120 g.) all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup finely chopped hazelnuts (about 40 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Set aside an ungreased baking sheet, or prepare with a silicone mat.
- In a stand mixer, cream together the vegan butter, powdered sugar, cardamom, and salt. Once well combined, add the almond and beat for a few more seconds. Next add the flour, in two batches, stopping to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl so it is all well combined. Finally, add the chopped hazelnuts and mix.
- Scoop out small cookies with a small cookie scoop (about 2 tsp. of dough per cookie), and roll into round balls. Place on the tray, giving them a couple inches of space between them. This recipe should make about 12 cookies.
- Bake for around 15 minutes, until the edges have started to become golden- they will spread out a little while baking, but they should remain fairly semi-spherical. Prepare a medium-sized bowl with powdered sugar, and let the cookies cool for a few minutes, so they aren’t painful to touch. While still warm, toss each of the cookies in powdered sugar to completely coat them, then place on a cooling rack. Once completely cooled, store in an air-tight container.
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