You will love this easy 6-ingredient recipe for Christmas snowball cookies with M&Ms.
We make these Christmas cookies every holiday season, along with a batch of soft gingerbread cookies, Italian anise cookies, Christmas cookie bars, no-roll sugar cookies, and no-bake peanut butter cornflake cookies.
What Are Snowball Cookies?
Snowball cookies are a buttery almond-flavored cookie that is coated in a layer of powdered sugar after baking. The powdered sugar on the outside of the cookies adds the perfect amount of sweetness to the buttery cookies.
Unlike traditional snowball cookies, this Christmas snowball cookie recipe is made without nuts. Instead, the inside of the snowballs is studded with festive red and green M&M candies.
Christmas Snowball Cookies
You will love how easy these M&M snowball cookies are to make using basic pantry basic ingredients.
They are also really fun for kids to help roll into balls and roll in powdered sugar. It can get a bit messy which the kids will love!
Tips For Making the Best Snowball Cookies
- Don’t care for M&Ms? Replace with crushed almonds or pecans. Or add some crushed candy canes like we did in our Peppermint Candy Candy Snowball Cookies.
- Don’t care for almond flavor? Use vanilla extract instead.
- This handy tool makes forming the dough into balls super easy.
- Rolling the warm cookies in powdered sugar can cause the sugar to get clumpy. If this becomes a problem you can dump it out and replace it with fresh powdered sugar.
- These cookies do not spread as they bake so you can place them closer together than a traditional cookie.
- Watch the cookies closely to be sure that they do not overbake. Overbaked snowballs will be very dry.
How to Store Holiday Snowball Cookies
Snowball cookies will keep for around 3-5 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. However, you will find that these cookies dry out after a couple of days, so eating them freshly baked is best.
If you want to store the for longer, feel free to freeze your cookies. You might just need to roll them again in powdered sugar once you have thawed them after being frozen.
Can I Freeze Raw Cookie Dough?
Yes, you can freeze your cookie dough. Just roll into balls, place on a cookie sheet, and flash freeze. Then once your cookies are hardened a bit, pop them in a freezer baggie and freeze for up to three months.
The night before you want to bake them just place the dough in the fridge overnight to thaw.
Why Did My Cookies Spread When Baked?
If you are finding your cookies spread when they are being baked, it is likely that your dough became too warm and soft from being handled, causing them to spread out in the oven.
So if you find they spread, just roll the dough into balls and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes before baking. It will help them to keep their shape without falling flat.
Christmas Snowball Cookies
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Print Pin Save RateIngredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup Christmas M&Ms
- 2 cups powdered sugar, for coating
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and almond extract until light and fluffy.
- In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour and salt. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Continue mixing until a dough forms. Fold in M&M’s.
- Scoop out about 1.5 Tbsp of the dough (this tool helps), roll into a ball, and place on a cookie sheet. Repeat to form all cookies.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, until bottoms are light brown. Allow cookies to cool for about 5 minutes, or until they can be handled.
- Add 2 cups of powdered sugar to a shallow bowl and roll each cookie in it. Place rolled cookies on a cooling rack. Once cookies are fully cooled, roll in powdered sugar once more before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by a third party and intended to serve as an estimate only. The accuracy of nutritional information is not guaranteed.
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All purpose flour or self rising?
all purpose flour
Can these be frozen?
I would suggest freezing them before coating them in powdered sugar… or giving them an extra coat after thawing.
Has anyone used another flavor other than almond?? Lmk 😊
I could not find almond extract this year so instead made these with orange extract. Instead of M & M’s I used dark chocolate chips and grated in some orange zest. They are sooooooooo good!!!
That sounds like an amazingly tasty combo! I might have to make a batch myself!
Can gluten free flour be used? Will they turn out the same? Is it the same amount of flour used when using gluten free? Is the baking time the same
Unfortunately, I have not tried the recipe with GF flour and I am not familiar with GF baking in general so I am not much help-sorry!
I make these and I put miniature chocolate chips in mine…really good…❤️
Can you use food coloring for the dough?
I haven’t tried this myself but I don’t see why it would be an issue.
Sounds fabulous! I’m trying them your way!!!
If I use nuts instead of m&m’s, is measurement still one cup?
Yes, you can use 1 cup of finely chopped pecans for a more traditional snowball cookie. Or any other nut you choose. Enjoy!
can you use miniature M & MS
Absolutely, mini M&Ms are perfect for these!
can you use a jam in the middle,? or would they run out in the oven ?
I have never tried so I can’t say for sure. Sorry!