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 look so good! I have Celiac and am always looking for tasty treats, especially ones with such good flavor combos. They would be the perfect addition to a meal for a friend in need or a new mom with a gluten allergy. Thanks for sharing!
thank you thank you thank you for writing GF recipes ! i have been following your blog for a while and found out i had celiac this past may. its so nice that a “regular” food blogger is writing GF recipes because it means you are probably making “good” ones ! you can easily compare to gluten containing food and let us know how close your GF version is to “regular” baked goods. i truly appreciate it. thank you sooooooooooooo much.
I am in need of gluten free treats! I have so many friends who cannot eat gluten, and these actually look tasty. Thank you for this recipe!
I tried these, and they turned out wonderful. The flavor was amazing. The texture was delicate and tender. Thanks so much for another keeper. I too would like to try with other types of nuts. I think it would adapt nicely.
What a fun birthday with your Mom. These cookies are great for Christmas, and so nice to be able to share something delicious that is also gluten free!
I’ll be trying these with hazelnut flour/meal…..and it’s a REALLY good thing it’s a small batch!!!
These look beautiful and so gooey inside. I love it, and even better that it is gluten free. My SIL has a gluten allergy too, so these would be really perfect for her! 🙂
Lori, what a brilliant idea! They look so tender on the inside.
These are my favorite holiday cookie. So glad to see a GF version.
yum! i’m intrigued by the orange and almond combo 🙂