Vegan Cherry Nut Snowballs
Enjoy these snowball cookies all year long.
So these may not look like your traditional snowball cookies but that’s because I’m a terrible ball roller and I like to add cherries to my batter. These look a little bit like those snowballs you made as a kid with dirty snow. Promise they taste good!
Might seem a little off-season but they are actually predicting snow this weekend in Toronto and it got me to craving one of these delicious treats. Plus, I’m still working through all my wonderful purchases from that recent trip to the Bulk Barn.
Have you ever made snowballs? This recipe is adapted from the Vitamix recipe for Snowballs. I’m always amazed by the power of my Vitamix Pro 750. Look how easy it made the batter for these snowballs.
Blend, roll and bake. So simple!
Then toss in icing sugar. Who else here loves icing sugar aka powdered sugar aka confectioners’ sugar? As a kid I was constantly sneaking icing sugar to satisfy my sweet tooth and I also loved those little powdered donuts. Many years later and I still find it irresistible. C’mon, go make yo’ self some of these snowball cookies.
Vegan Cherry Nut Snowballs
Ingredients
- ¾ cups mixed nuts
- 1/2 cup dried cherries
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour, divided use
- 1 cup vegan margarine
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoons salt
- ½ cup icing sugar
- icing sugar, for coating
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius). Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.
- Add nuts and cherries to the blender. Secure lid and select variable speed 1. Turn machine on while slowly increasing speed to variable speed 5. Blend for ~10 seconds. Check your result and pulse if needed.
- Pour cherry nut mix into a medium sized glass bowl and set aside.
- Clean blender and add half the flour (1 and 1/8 cup), half the vegan margarine (1/2 cup), vanilla, salt, icing sugar, then remaining margarine (1/2 cup) and the remaining flour (1 and 1/8 cup). The VItamix recipe indicates this order is important so I've only ever done it according to their directions.
- Secure lid and turn blender to variable speed 1. Start blending and increase to variable speed 5. It will take ~15 seconds to get a well mixed batter. I recommend using your tamper to push the ingredients into the blades. If you aren't using a Vitamix, or your machine doesn't have a tamper, you may need to turn the blender off after 5-10 seconds and scrape the sides and blend again.
- Add resulting mixture to the cherry nut mixture and stir. Use your hands if required to get well blended and uniform.
- Scoop a spoonful of batter and roll into a ball (~1 inch in diameter) and place on baking sheet. Repeat until all batter is used. Recipe makes 24 snowballs.
- Place baking sheet in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes until the balls have set but haven't yet started to brown.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before rolling in icing sugar. After rolling, place on metal rack to finish cooling.
- Store in an airtight container.
