These scrumptious Raspberry Filled Snowball Cookies are a fun spin on classic snowball cookies. I make them gluten-free using a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend, but you can easily make them with regular flour too!
We’ve all had traditional snowball cookies around the holiday season, but have you ever stuffed them with jam?
I’m here to tell you, it’s well worth the effort, as it takes your snowballs from delicious to a delightful surprise party for your taste buds! Each bite brings the buttery comfort of shortbread cookies with the sweet, tangy contrast of fruit for a cookie that feels romantically old fashioned yet exotic.
The way I see it, these raspberry snowballs are the perfect addition to your holiday cookie exchange. They make amazing gifts as they bring a burst of vibrant raspberry flavor to the mix!
If you’re looking for a low-carb version, make my Keto Pecan Snowball Cookies!
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for raspberry almond snowball cookies.
Ingredients for Raspberry Snowball Cookies:
Flour: I use gluten-free all-purpose flour, but regular all-purpose flour works great too. My preferred gluten-free flour blend is Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour. Let me know in the comments below if you try a different GF blend!
Pecans, Walnuts, Sliced Almonds, or Almond Flour: Pick your favorite nut. Because the nuts get finely chopped or ground up, I take an easy route by using almond flour since I always keep it on hand.
Unsalted Butter: The all-star ingredient that brings all of the other cookie ingredients together into a shortbread-like consistency.
Powdered Sugar: We use powdered sugar as the sweetener for the cookie dough and we also roll the finished cookies in powdered sugar for some extra sweetness.
Raspberry Jam or Raspberry Preserves: Our raspberry adventure is brought to us by raspberry jam! I use regular raspberry jam with seeds for the raspberry filling, but you can also go with seedless raspberry jam.
Almond Extract and Vanilla Extract: Vanilla and almond extracts add warm flavor to give the cookie portion a boost of excitement.
Sea Salt: A little sea salt enhances all of the flavors.
Now that we’ve covered the basic ingredients, let’s make these epic Christmas cookies!
How to Make Raspberry Filled Snowball Cookies:
Begin by transferring the nuts (pecans, walnuts or sliced almonds) to a food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely chopped.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium high speed until well combined. Mix in the vanilla extract and the almond extract. Note: If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer.
Combine the all-purpose flour, chopped nuts (or almond flour), and sea salt in a large bowl and stir well.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture a small amount at a time until it is completely combined. Start on a low speed to keep the flour in the bowl, then increase to a high speed once it is all incorporated.
The mixture will look slightly crumbly at first, but the dough starts to become cohesive the longer it is mixed. Simply keep mixing until a very thick dough has formed and any little crumbles have been incorporated.
Use ½ Tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop ½ tablespoon of cookie dough. Use your hands to roll the dough into a ball, then form a deep trough in the dough (like a bowl). Add ½ teaspoon of raspberry jam to the little dough bowl.
Scoop out another ½ tablespoon of cookie dough and press a deep trough into it. Place it on top of the raspberry filled dough ball and if need be, press the sides together gently to form a complete ball of cookie dough.
Repeat this process for the remaining dough and raspberry jam placing the dough balls on a large rimmed baking sheet that’s lined with parchment paper.
Leave space in between each dough ball to expand slightly during the baking process. Note: If a cookie sheet doesn’t fit in your refrigerator, you can store the dough balls on large plates.
Refrigerate the cookie dough on the baking sheet for at least 1.5 hours.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until the dough appears firm and is slightly golden brown. Mine took 11 minutes on the dot, but the cooking time will be higher for larger cookies.
Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool until they are just slightly warm. Roll the slightly warm cookies in powdered sugar while they are still warm. Move them to a wire rack to cool completely.
If you’d like, you can give them a second roll through powdered sugar once they have cooled completely.
Recipe Tips:
- When you assemble the stuffed snowballs, they won’t look round at first. This is normal. The baking process helps to round out the dough, and rolling the cookies in powdered sugar gives them their sphere appearance. This is to say, don’t worry if your unbaked cookies look sloppy…they will work themselves out!
- This recipe makes about 30 cookies. You can halve the recipe if you’re going for less.
- If you’re making the dough in advance, form it into a large ball or a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap to store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.
- You can use a small cookie scoop if you have one. Just note that the size of the cookies may be larger depending on the size of your cookie scoop.
Storage Options:
- Room Temperature: Store the cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 4 days.
- Refrigerator: Keep the cookies in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- Freezer: Freeze cookies in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
And that’s it! Your newest favorite Christmas cookie that the whole family will love!
If you love holiday baking, also try out some of these classic Christmas cookie recipes!
More Christmas Cookies:
- 5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Almond Flour Oatmeal Cookies
- Paleo Mexican Wedding Cookies
- Almond Flour Lemon Cookies
- Keto Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
- Paleo Russian Tea Cakes
Raspberry cookies for life!
Raspberry Snowball Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) gluten-free all-purpose flour or regular all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (75g) raw pecans walnuts, or almonds*
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter (1 cup, 16 Tbsp) , softened
- ½ cup (50g) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract
- ⅓ cup to ½ cup raspberry jam (3 oz)
For Rolling
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Begin by transferring the nuts (pecans, walnuts or sliced almonds) to a food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely chopped.
- Combine the all-purpose flour, chopped nuts (or almond flour), and sea salt in a large bowl and stir well.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium high speed until well combined. Mix in the vanilla extract and the almond extract. Note: If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture a small amount at a time until it is completely combined. Start on a low speed to keep the flour in the bowl, then increase to a high speed once it is all incorporated. The mixture will look slightly crumbly at first, but the dough starts to become cohesive the longer it is mixed. Simply keep mixing until a very thick dough has formed and any little crumbles have been incorporated.
- Use ½ Tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop ½ tablespoon of cookie dough. Use your hands to roll the dough into a ball, then form a deep trough in the dough (like a bowl). Add ½ teaspoon of raspberry jam to the little dough bowl. Scoop out another ½ tablespoon of cookie dough and press a deep trough into it. Place it on top of the raspberry filled dough ball and if need be, press the sides together gently to form a complete ball of cookie dough.
- Repeat this process for the remaining dough and raspberry jam placing the dough balls on a large rimmed baking sheet that’s lined with parchment paper. Leave space in between each dough ball to expand slightly during the baking process. Note: If a cookie sheet doesn’t fit in your refrigerator, you can store the dough balls on large plates.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough on the baking sheet for at least 1.5 hours.
- When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until the dough appears firm and is slightly golden brown. Mine took 11 minutes on the dot, but the cooking time will be higher for larger cookies.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool until they are just slightly warm. Roll the slightly warm cookies in powdered sugar while they are still warm. Move them to a wire rack to cool completely. If you’d like, you can give them a second roll through powdered sugar once they have cooled completely.
