A couple of days ago it was my Mom’s 75th birthday. My sister and I flew her to New York City with my aunt and cousin to celebrate. Mom loves New York, so we did it up right and took in a couple of shows while we were there. The big challenge was trying to find places to eat gluten-free. Mom was diagnosed with Celiac disease just a couple of years ago, so she’s been maneuvering this world full of gluten and trying to figure out how to eat without it, how to order in restaurants and how to enjoy food again. Here’s my holiday treat for Mom: Gluten-Free Orange Almond Snowballs
Mom is a big reason why I have a pretty large section on my site dedicated to gluten-free (or adaptable) recipes, and she’s a big reason why I’ll be including some gluten-free options in my cookbook too. I’ve learned that it’s awfully helpful for gluten-free folks to find their way around if we make it easier for them by labeling, offering alternatives to ingredients, etc. Eating gluten-free doesn’t mean eating icky ingredients or strange things that no one else eats. It just means eating things that don’t contain gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley, rye and other things). If you’re gluten-free, you can still eat a lot of normal everyday things, but with baking you have to be a bit creative since you cannot eat regular wheat-derived flour.
This recipe utilized almond flour, also known as almond meal (or finely ground almonds). The best and most economical place to find it is a Trader Joe’s in the nut aisle. And yes, that photo there shows how much dough this recipe makes- just a handful of dough. The recipe makes fifteen 1-inch snowball treats. Perfect for the gluten-free person who doesn’t want an overabundance of sweet treats around their house. Or perfect for the gluten-eating person to make a small batch to surprise their gluten-free friend.
The dough is rolled into heaping teaspoon-sized balls. Fifteen, to be exact.
After baking, the warm treats are rolled in powdered sugar to make “snowballs.”
These are not a crunchy snowball treat. These bake up crisp on the outside, but the inside is filled with a tender, moist texture sweetly flavored of almond and orange. And best of all, Mom likes them 🙂 Happy 75th birthday Mommy!
And we had a fabulous time in New York City at Christmas Time!!! This is the stuff dreams are made of. I love NYC!!!
Gluten Free Orange Almond Snowballa
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond flour/meal (ground almonds)
- ⅓ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 large egg white, beaten
- 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix almond flour, sugar, egg white, orange zest and extract. Stir until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
- Spoon out even tablespoonfuls of dough and roll into balls. Place on the prepared baking sheet. You should be able to make 15 little balls of dough. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the balls of dough are firm and are golden underneath.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes, then give them a roll in powdered sugar.
Notes
- Almond flour/meal is most easily found by the Bob's Red Mill brand. Ask your grocery store manager if you are unable to locate it.
- Orange extract can be found at Whole Foods and other specialty markets.
- Try subbing lemon zest and lemon extract to create Lemon Almond Snowballs instead.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
P.S. You might also notice that I’m sharing some of my favorite gluten-free blogs in my right sidebar here. Check ’em out! >
Visit other cookie recipes utilizing almond flour on these blogs:
Gluten- Free Coffee- Almond Cookies by Healthy Green Kitchen
Gluten- Free Chocolate- Almond Cookies by Cookistry
Raspberry- Almond Thumbprint Cookies by Oh She Glows
Mini Honey- Almond Cookies by Skinny Sweets Daily
Almond- Chocolate Chip Cookies by RecipeGirl
These are very very good! 😀 😀 Your kitchen will smell great from the orange zest too! They’re also very easy to make. I like that it only requires one bowl. The hardest part about them is beating the egg white (which isn’t that hard anyway). One thing though, I didn’t get 15 balls. I only got 13. Granted, I could have made some of them smaller, but then I think they would be too small. Next time I’ll just aim for 12. Also, once they’re out of the oven, DON’T try to form them back into a ball, they will break. Maybe this was a rookie mistake but I thought it was worth mentioning. No harm done, I just ate that one right away. 😛
I made these cookies the other day and they were absolutely delish. Fast forward to last night– I prepped the batter for today’s holiday party, put it in the fridge, and today they’re an ooey gooey mess. won’t roll at all. I tried adding a bit more almond meal and sugar, but no luck. any suggestions?
I guess they don’t work as a make-ahead batter.
Love this recipe very tasty but not to be had too often.
A GF recipe without tons of crazy ingredients! Thank you!
I just made these for the holidays. I doubled the recipe thank goodness because they are incredible. I have never baked with almond meal before and I was pleasantly surprised by the lightness of these cookies.The hint of citrus is so refreshing. I am going to go hide them now from my husband and son before they all disappear. Thanks Lori. Happy Holidays!!