It’s easy to judge a cookie by its appearance. For every good recipe we share, there’s usually several behind-the-scenes failures. And that’s absolutely the case with these chai spice almond snowball cookies! These cookies were months in the making. The challenge: we wanted to create a tasty, gluten-free Christmas cookie with normal sounding ingredients. After a few attempts that were complete bombs, a new idea for chai spiced almond snowball cookies surfaced. After numerous attempts and melted cookies and lots of taste testing and maybe a little cursing (oops!), this recipe came to be. Keep reading for this chai spiced almond snowball cookies recipe.
How to make chai spice almond snowball cookies
What came from all the trial and error is a buttery, rich chai spice cookie that got rave reviews from friends and family alike. The cardamom is the star of the show–I never realized cardamom is what gives chai spice its familiar zing! Try to find some ground cardamom for this recipe. With the leftover cardamom, you may find yourself wanting to add a pinch in all of your baked goods! We’ve used coconut sugar an alternative sweetener that’s still sugary but a bit lower on the glycemic scale; you can feel free to substitute brown or white sugar. This is our first spiced Christmas cookie recipe of the season, and it’s one I know we’ll be making for Christmases to come. Important: when you’re rolling out the cookies, work quickly to avoid the butter softening, which results in a melted cookie in the oven. We recommend refrigerating half of the dough while rolling out the first half of the cookies.
Almond flour vs almond meal
This chai spice almond snowball cookies are made using almond flour (ground almonds). We like to use almond flour in our naturally gluten free desserts. Some grocery stories carry both almond flour and almond meal. What’s the difference between almond flour vs almond meal? Both are made from ground almonds. Almond flour is ground finer and made from blanched almonds, which have no skins. Almond meal is coarser ground, and contains the skins of the almonds. Because the texture of these cookies is dependent on the light and fluffy texture of almond flour, make sure to only use almond flour in this recipe. Since almond flour can be a little pricey, here’s a coupon for $1 any Bob’s Red Mill brand product. Happy Baking!
Looking for Christmas cookie recipes?
Aside from these chai spiced snowball cookies, here are a few of our favorite Christmas cookie recipes:
Soft Gingerbread CookiesPeppermint MeringuesGinger Cookie Ice Cream SandwichesThe Best Soft Ginger Molasses CookiesShortbread Cookies with Chocolate DrizzleCherry Quinoa Chocolate BarkNarwhal Gingerbread Cutout CookiesChewy Pumpkin Oatmeal CookiesHealthy Peanut Butter Buckeye BallsGingersnap Sandwich CookiesCranberry Pistachio Chocolate ClustersEasy Peppermint Bark
This recipe is…
This Chai Spice Almond Snowball Cookies recipe is gluten free and vegetarian. See the note in the recipe for a vegan variation. This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. All opinions are our own; we’re huge fans of their products and use them often. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who keep A Couple Cooks in action! 3.5 from 2 reviews
