Name: Vegan Swedish Heirloom Snowball Cookies
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Ingredients: 2 cups flour (all purpose (sifted preferably)); 1 cup vegan butter (room temperature); 1.5 cups powdered sugar (sifted); 1/2 teaspoon salt (fine); 1 tablespoon vanilla extract; 1 cup walnuts (or pecans (chopped) - optional)

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Vegan Swedish Heirloom Snowball Cookies ❄️ These buttery, melt-in-your-mouth traditional holiday cookies are so easy to make. With just 5 basic ingredients and and a few minutes, you can have a batch of these irresistibly delicious sweet treats ready to enjoy!

Vegan Swedish Heirloom Snowball Cookies on plates.

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Families often have beloved seasonal recipes that are passed down through the generations. In our home, it just isn't Christmas without a batch of my mother-in-law's Homemade Vegan Fudge, my Scandinavian great-grandmother's Vegan Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies, and her wintery wonderful Vegan Swedish Heirloom Snowball Cookies.

These classic snowball cookies are similar to shortbread, made with butter (vegan of course!), flour, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt. They're known by many names like Mexican Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, Pecan Sandies, Snowball Cookies, or as we call them in my family, Swedish Heirloom Cookies. The delicate ball-shaped cookies are rolled in powdered sugar while warm from the oven, giving them a festive snowball appearance and a melt-in-your-mouth texture.

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Why we love this cookie recipe so much
Ingredients
Instructions
🥕Baking tips
Equipment
🥕FAQ's
Recipe
Food Safety

Vegan Swedish Heirloom cookies on a plate.

They're simply scrumptious!
So easy to make
Only 5 basic ingredients
No eggs and non-dairy
Perfect for parties, cookie exchanges, and gifts

Ingredients

Basic snowball cookie dough

Flour - all purpose (sifted)
Butter - vegan/non-dairy (room temperature)
Powdered sugar - vegan (sifted)
Salt - fine
Vanilla extract

Variations & add-ins

Chopped nuts - walnuts, pecans or almonds (In this recipe I used pecans)
Almond extract
Cardamom, cinnamon or nutmeg (ground)

🥕See the printable recipe card below for complete details.

Instructions

Vegan butter and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl.

Preheat oven to 350℉

In a mixing bowl, cream together vegan butter, powdered sugar, and salt.

Gradually mix in flour and vanilla. Add nuts or other optional ingredients.

Cookie dough in an electric stand mixer.

Vegan Swedish Heirloom cookie dough in a bowl.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

A tablespoon filled with a scoop of cookie dough.

Using a tablespoon or scoop, create rounded balls of dough by rolling them in your hands. Try to keep the cookies uniform in size.

Place dough balls on cookie sheet.

Vegan snowball cookies on a baking sheet ready to go in oven.

Bake at 350℉ for 12-15 minutes until bottom of cookies are lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and carefully place cookies onto cooling rack.

Pour additional powdered sugar into a bowl. While still warm, place the cookies directly in the bowl (a few at a time) and spoon sugar over the top or you can use a sifter or tea strainer to dust them with powdered sugar.

Arrange cookies on a plate or tray and enjoy!

🥕Baking tips

Keep a close eye on the cookies after 10 minutes of baking. Oven temperatures can vary and you don't want these to over-bake or become dry. Perfectly baked vegan snowball cookies will be firm to the touch and just lightly golden on the bottom (not over-all).
As with most baking recipes, accurate measurements can be the difference between a hit or a miss. There are good reasons for using dry measuring cups for dry ingredients and liquid measuring cups for wet ingredients. A food scale can be a home cook's best friend, particularly with baking. They can be very inexpensive and well worth having.

Equipment

Vegan Swedish Heirloom Snowball cookies arranged on plates.

🥕FAQ's

Do I need to use parchment paper if I have a non-stick pan?

Here’s the scoop: Parchment paper may not be necessary, but there are some very useful reasons for using it.

It can help keep cookie dough from spreading too much while baking. The surface texture or “tooth” of the paper helps hold the dough in place.
A layer of parchment helps provide even baking by creating air space between the baking sheet & paper which can regulate the overall temperature of the baking surface. Ever notice how some pans get hot spots?

Parchment also keeps cookies from sticking to the pan, which can be an issue particularly with chocolate chip cookies (if the chips burn onto the pan).

I always use a layer of parchment whenever I use aluminum foil or an aluminum baking pan. I don’t like aluminum to come into contact with my food.
Finally, using parchment keeps your pans looking new and makes clean-up a whole lot easier.

Why should I use a sifter? Isn't flour and powdered sugar pre-sifted?

Yes, many flours and sugar are pre-sifted, however they can develop lumps after packaging and settling, particularly in areas with high humidity. While some recipes don't need perfectly lump-free flour or sugar, I find theses cookies turn out best with a finer crumb, which is aided by sifting the flour and sugar prior to mixing. Is it essential? No, but it's helpful.

How should I store these cookies?

I find snowball cookies are best consumed within 2-3 days. They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature or refrigerated. You might find after a day or two, the powdered sugar coating has "melted" into the cookies a bit, due to the high butter content in the dough. If so, you can lightly dust them with more powdered sugar before serving. Don't add too much or you might end up with gooey cookies.

What is the difference between Snowball Cookies, Swedish Heirloom Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, and Pecan Sandies? Aren't they all the same thing?

Kinda sorta. All share the same basic ingredients - flour, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla - but there are variations between recipes. What I find interesting is the differences in ingredients are not consistent with the specific names of the recipes. Some Mexican Wedding Cookie recipes include cinnamon, others don't. I've also seen recipes that use granulated or brown sugar. Some use nuts, some don't. Same with Russian Tea Cakes. Pecan Sandies, of course, always include pecans. Some recipes for Swedish Heirloom Cookies might include ground almonds, almond flour or almond extract. Ours doesn't.

Just as I have modified my family recipes over the years, using all plant-based ingredients, I'm sure others have tweaked their family recipes, adjusting them to their tastes. Recipes evolve over time.

If you love this recipe for Vegan Swedish Heirloom Snowball Cookies, you might like to try these family favorites:

Vegan Swedish Heirloom Cookies on plates.

very vegan 🌱 very good

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, please rate it in the comments below. Sharing your experience helps others decide if they should give it a try too. Thanks a bunch!🥕

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