Name: Recipe for Sugar-free Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 1/3 cup whole pecans toasted (42g ); 1 cup unsalted good quality butter (226g ); 3/4 cup sugar- free powdered sugar (78g); 1 tbsp vanilla paste; 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (use less if using salted butter); 1 tablespoon cornstarch (sifted); 1 3/4 cups white flour (sifted, 211 g); 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional); 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg; 1/4 tsp ground anise seeds (optinal); 3/4 cup miniature sugar-free dark chocolate chips (140g , link in text); 1 cup sugar-free icing sugar for coating (I use Swerve, link in text)

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The best easy recipe for healthy snowball cookies that melt in your mouth! You will LOVE these sugar-free Christmas cookies studded with toasted pecans and plenty of melty gooey dark chocolate chips in every bite!

Sugar-free Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies – A healthy twist on a classic Christmas Cookie!

Snowball cookies, Mexican wedding cookies, Russian teacakes – whatever you want to call them – we are OBSESSED with these melt-in-your-mouth buttery balls of deliciousness! There are actually already a couple of recipes for snowball cookies on the blog. Check out these Mexican Wedding Cookies with Lime and Macadamia or my Macadamia White Chocolate Snowball Cookies.

What I am not obsessed with? All the sugar added to the traditional recipe for snowball cookies!

This easy Christmas treat recipe combines my obsession with snowball cookies with my love for chocolate and if you love any of those things you will be all over these.

My sugar-free recipe for healthy snowball cookies is healthier than the traditional version and lower in calories. While regular snowball cookie can have up to 150 calories, these skinny Christmas Cookies only apport 82 per cookie! What is not to love about guilt-free Christmas treats?

These chocolate chip snowball cookies are melt-in-your-mouth soft and tender and super buttery! Ideal as food gifts for the holidays. What’s not to love about an easy sugar-free Christmas cookie with toasted pecans (or walnuts), warming Christmas spices and plenty of melty gooey chocolate chips in every bite?

Ingredients needed for making Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies:

These Mexican wedding cookies are so simple to make and require few ingredients.

Butter: make sure to use the best quality butter you can find/afford. The butter is what makes or breaks these so use REAL butter.
Sugar free powdered sugar: I used Swerve icing sugar for this recipe to make these snowballs cookies sugar-free and lower in calories.
Salt: Very important as these cookies are on the sweet side! The salt helps to balance the sweetness. Use less if using salted butter.
Vanilla paste: Use real Bourbon vanilla. The vanilla bean paste adds so much flavor to these cookies. You can also use a vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds.
Flour: As baking is such an exact science, I prefer measuring my ingredients using my scale. I f you are using cups, make sure to spoon and level the flour. Here’s how you do it.
Cornstarch: the cornstarch is important to achieve that melt-in-your-mouth texture these cookies have.
Pecans: make sure to toast the pecans as this simple step adds loads of flavor to these simple sugar-free Christmas cookies. You can use walnuts instead of pecans.
Sugar-free mini chocolate chips: Make sure to get the miniature ones – regular is too big.

How to make this recipe for snowball cookies:

Step 1 & 2 : Toast the pecans and let them cool down. Then grind them in a spice mill until fine, with some coarse bits left.

Step 3: Beat together the room temperature butter (not warm or melted at all) with the sugar-free powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. This should take about 2 minutes.

Step 4: Add the sifted cornstarch, vanilla paste, salt, and ground toasted pecans. Beat everything together until smooth! Mix sifted flour with nutmeg, anise, and cinnamon. Add in the flour and mix quickly. I switch to manual mixing after one quick stir to avoid overmixing. Now the mixture should look like picture 4.

Step 5 & 6: Fold in the miniature chocolate chips. Mix the batter until a thick dough forms. Do not overmix it or your cookies will be tough. Let the batter chill about 2 hours.

Step 7: Using a tablespoon of dough per cookie, roll the dough into balls and place on a lined baking sheet. Pop the sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes while preheating the oven to 350 F.

Step 8: Bake 8 – 12 minutes. Mine always take 10, not longer and they are perfect. Remove the sheet from the oven and let the cookies firm up on the tray for 3 minutes. Fill a bowl with icing sugar.

Step 9: Place the still warmed cookies in the powdered sugar one by one and cover with sugar. Let them cool down on a wire cooling rack, then roll them in the powdered sugar again.

Make them gluten-free:

For gluten-free chocolate chips snowball cookies, use gluten-free flour.

Make them vegan:

Make these chocolate chip snowballs vegan by using margarine or vegan butter instead of butter. Use vegan chocolate chips.

Can I freeze chocolate chip snowball cookies?

These chocolate chip snowball cookies freeze pretty well. You can freeze them as unbaked dough or as already baked cookies. However, what I recommend is freezing the unbaked dough. Fresh cookies are always best and the sugar coating suffers during thawing.

For freezing UNBAKED cookie dough: shape the snowballs, put them on a baking sheet in a single layer and pop the sheet in the freezer. Now transfer to an airtight freezer bag for longer storage. Defrost the cookies overnight in the fridge and bake as directed per the recipe. If they are still hard, you don’t have to chill them in the freezer before baking. I
For freezing BAKED cookies: to freeze the baked cookies, roll them in powdered sugar while warm, then cool completely, and freeze them on a baking sheet. No second layer of sugar. Once the cookies are frozen solid, you can transfer them to airtight freezer bags. Thaw the snowball cookies at room temperature for 1-2 hours and then roll them in powdered sugar for a pretty presentation.

Tips for making chocolate chip snowball cookies:

The pecans need to be cooled completely before grinding them. To prevent them from turning to butter, I add a tbsp of the flour I have already measured out.
If you live in a hot climate and you notice your cookie dough is getting too soft as you roll the cookies, put the bowl back into the fridge and let it firm up.
The snowball cookies need to be 100% cold and firm before going in the oven, or they will burn and spread!
They actually taste best after a couple of days during which the flavors get time to deepen and meld together.
As we are working with small amounts, I use a mini food processor to pulse the pecans. I chopped them rather finely as we like them that way. If yours are a bit coarser, that is fine. Watch carefully when pulsing, the pecans can go from small pieces to pecan butter within seconds!
I recommend you use Silpat baking mat for this recipe for snowball cookies. Otherwise, they’ll spread too much or get overly browned bottoms.
To get them just perfect, double-dip your snowball cookies in powdered sugar! Once while they are still warm – literally as soon as you can move them without breaking. Then dip them again for another final coat. This double-dipping ensures thoroughly powder-coated Snowball cookies.
Store them in an airtight container at room temperature. Re-roll in additional powdered sugar as needed.
These are best eaten within a week.

More healthy sugar-free dessert recipes on the blog:

More holiday cookies:

★ Did you make and love this easy healthy recipe for Sugar-free Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies? Give it your review below! And make sure to share your creations by tagging me on Instagram!

close-up of chocolate chip snowball cookies in a small bowl

5 from 1 vote

Recipe for Sugar-free Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies

You will love this sugar-free Christmas cookie recipe for chocolate chip snowball cookies. They literally melt in your mouth and are stuffed with miniature chocolate chips and toasted pecans, then rolled in sugar-free icing sugar.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American, Mexican

Keyword chocolate chip snowball cookies, recipe for snowball cookies, sugar-free snowball cookies

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 30 cookies

Calories 82 kcal

Ingredients

1/3 cup whole pecans toasted 42g
1 cup unsalted good quality butter 226g
3/4 cup sugar- free powdered sugar 78g
1 tbsp vanilla paste
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt use less if using salted butter
1 tablespoon cornstarch sifted
1 3/4 cups white flour sifted, 211 g
1/2 tsp cinnamon optional
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground anise seeds optinal
3/4 cup miniature sugar-free dark chocolate chips 140g , link in text
1 cup sugar-free icing sugar for coating I use Swerve, link in text

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the pecan nuts in an even layer on the sheet pan. Bake them until fragrant for about 5-7 minutes. Watch them carefully, you don't want to burn them. Remove them and allow them to cool completely before transferring them to a mini food processor or spice mill. Pulse or finely chop. You want a powder with some very small pieces left. Avoid over-pulsing or you'll end up with pecan butter. I add a tbsp of flour to the nuts to prevent this.
Either in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment OR a large bowl combine room temperature butter and 3/4 cup sugar-free powdered sugar. Cream together until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes.
Add the vanilla, salt, cornstarch, and pecans. Beat the mix until smooth and combined. Now, stir together sifted flour and spices and add the flour mix to the butter mix. Beat slowly, until just combined and smooth. Add in sugar-free chocolate chips and mix until combined. I switch to a spatula at this point to avoid overmixing.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours to chill and firm up.
Line a sheet pan with a Silpat liner. Measure out cookie dough using a 1 tablespoon for each ball and roll into cookie balls. Place them on the sheet. They do not spread too much. 3 cm space between each cookie should be plenty. If the cookie dough gets too warm from being rolled or sitting in a warm kitchen, return it to the fridge or the freezer. Pop the baking sheet into the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes before baking. While chilling, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Bake for 8-11 minutes. I find the sweet spot is 10 minutes. Remove the sheet from the oven, and let cookies stand on tray for 2-3 minutes. Fill a bowl with 1 cup of sugar-free icing sugar. Now cover each cookie with icing sugar by placing them in the sugar and dusting it with sugar. They should still be warm.
Place cookies on a wire cooling rack. Let cool down a few more minutes and then roll in the powdered sugar again.
Store them in an airtight container. They are best after 2 days and should be consumed within a week.

Recipe Notes

The pecans need to be cooled completely before grinding them. To prevent them from turning to butter, I add a tbsp of the flour I have already measured out.
If you live in a hot climate and you notice your cookie dough is getting too soft as you roll the cookies, put the bowl back into the fridge and let it firm up.
The snowball cookies need to be 100% cold and firm before going in the oven, or they will burn and spread!
They actually taste best after a couple of days during which the flavors get time to deepen and meld together.
As we are working with small amounts, I use a mini food processor to pulse the pecans. I chopped them rather finely as we like them that way. If yours are a bit coarser, that is fine. Watch carefully when pulsing, the pecans can go from small pieces to pecan butter within seconds!
I recommend you use Silpat baking mat for this recipe for snowball cookies. Otherwise, they’ll spread too much or get overly browned bottoms.
To get them just perfect, double-dip your snowball cookies in powdered sugar! Once while they are still warm - literally as soon as you can move them without breaking. Then dip them again for another final coat. This double-dipping ensures thoroughly powder-coated Snowball cookies.
Store them in an airtight container at room temperature. Re-roll in additional powdered sugar as needed.
These are best eaten within a week.