{Gluten-Free} Soft Lemon Snowballs
| December 11, 2013 |
It’s that time of year again – The Food Blogger Cookie Swap, hosted by my friend Julie from The Little Kitchen and Lindsay from Love & Olive Oil! It’s only my second year participating but definitely a holiday treat to look forward to.
All food bloggers are invited. Basically, after registering with your donation to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, you get the names of 3 food bloggers that you will be sending cookies to, and 3 food bloggers have your name. So just after Thanksgiving, before Christmas, you start getting cookies in the mail. Who doesn’t love getting packages?
Last year OXO was the sole sponsor and I got a cute “Be a good cookie” spatula in the mail. This year, OXO returned as a sponsor along side Gold Medal Flour, Dixie Crystals, and Grandma’s Molasses. Julie and Lindsay were able to raise $13,778.40 for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer this year thanks to these sponsors and all of the bloggers that registered to bake! Congrats guys!
I always try my best to make a healthy or skinny cookies that everyone would love. No one wants a “diet” cookie. This recipe definitely took some testing. I failed a few attempts at first but I finally got the recipe just right AND it’s super easy to make. You don’t even need a fancy stand mixer or anything! (Although I do like to take advantage of any chance I get to pull out my KitchenAid.)
These are not your traditional snowballs. Firstly, they are soft. The almond flour gives the cookies a moist and soft texture. I started with coconut flour but the cookies were horrible, so don’t try subbing the flours unless you plan to modify other aspects of the recipe too. Secondly, these are lemon.
… what kind of Disney fan would I be if I didn’t throw in a Disney gif right here?
Diet tip!
Between this cookie swap, my family’s annual cookie party, and other holiday parties I am around A LOT of cookies during December. One of the best ways I found to curb my cookie nomming is planning. Before a party, I tell myself how many cookies I will allow myself to eat and I usually pick a number between 0 – 4 depending on my fitness level that day and how well I had been following my diet that whole week. When you bring cookies home with you, pre-package your cookies into snack baggies with 2 in each bag. That way it’s easier to take them for lunch and limit how many you eat versus keeping them all in one cookie tin and allowing yourself to munch on them late at night.
{Gluten-Free} Soft Lemon Snowballs
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 large egg white (beaten)
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- powdered sugar to coat the cookies in
Mix all the ingredients together, excluding the powdered sugar, using a spoon or spatula. The “dough” should be the texture of grits or thick oatmeal.
Refrigerate the mixture for minimum 2 hours. Overnight is best.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll the dough into little balls, just under one inch in size. Place them on a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes until the bottom of the cookies are golden.
Let them cool for a few minutes. Then roll them into the powdered sugar while the are still warm. Store in an airtight container.
Recipe makes 12-15 cookies.
**Paleo Hack: Swap out the sugar for raw honey. Add an additional 1/3 cup of almond flour and 1 1/2 cups of unsweetened coconut. When they come out of the oven, drizzle them with more honey instead of rolling them in sugar. Thanks to Nom Nom Crunch reader Tony for the recipe hack!
Check out some of the cookies I got in the mail! Click the photo to go directly to the recipe!
Thanks so much Monica (Dainty Morsels), Sunshine (Crave Local Orlando), and Amy & Laura (The Table Blog) for the amazing cookies!
I love sugary lemon drops. So cool and refreshing. What a great pick for the swap!
[…] sells these gluten-free lemon drop cookies. That inspired me to try making my own. I found this recipe to try, but I ran into a couple problems. I didn’t have any lemon juice or lemon extract. […]
Too much liquid for paleo version. Added another 1/3cup almond flour and 1 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut. So good I want to eat them all!!!
Thanks for the tip! I’ll update the post with your recommendations to modify the recipe for paleo so others can have the same success you found.