Festive and delicious ~ Cherry Almond Snowballs! Easy to make, freezer friendly, and oh so tasty! Happy Holidays!
It’s that time of year again! CHRISTMAS BAKING! This year, I’m starting early and will be stocking the freezer over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for lots of yummy recipes!
Every year I make our Family Favorites but I also try a few new recipes. These Cherry Almond Snowballs are a new recipe that I adapted from my “Pecan Sandies” recipe but with flecks of glazed cherries and almond flavoring instead of the pecans. If you are not a fan of almond, just use vanilla extract instead. Besides being delicious they are a great make ahead freezer cookie. A great addition to your Christmas Cookie Tray.
Cherry Almond Snowballs
Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp almond extract (or vanilla if you are not a fan of almond)
- 1 TBSP cold water
- 1/3 cup glazed cherries, whole then chopped finely
- 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup icing sugar
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar with a mixer. Add almond extract and cold water. Mix to combine.
Finely chop glazed cherries. Measure flour into a small bowl and add chopped cherries to flour. Mix to combine and separate cherries.
Add cherry flour mixture to butter mixture. Mix to combine.
Using a small ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon, roll dough into balls and place on lined cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
Put icing sugar in a large baggie, add snowballs, one at a time, shake to cover with icing sugar. These snowballs are freezer friendly so make a batch today and store for the holidays. Enjoy!
NOTE: Measure the glazed cherries whole and then finely chop them Mix them in the flour so you can separate the cherries and there are no big bunches / chunks. If you are freezing these Snowballs, cook, cool and freeze ~ omit dipping them in the icing sugar until the Snowballs thaw. I used red cherries but you could also use a mixture of red and green.
You might also like my Red Velvet Snowballs!
Loving this Life Living “Around the Bay” ~ DD
Around the Bay with DD 
I made your snowballs…..followed recipe to a T……..but it was really dry and had to add more water. When baked, they came out of the oven hard as a rock…….I was very disappointed to have to throw away that much……was there something missing in the recipe or if not…..what happened? My oven temperature is fine. I bake all the time with novproblems
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So sorry to hear that Liz 😦 I’ve been making this recipe for years and they also come out great. I looked at the recipe and the ingredients are right. The only thing I can see going wrong is if the flour measurements weren’t exact (leveled), that would require more liquid. They are a dense cookie but they should melt in your mouth and not be hard as a rock. Disappointed that this recipe didn’t work out for you.
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Oh not to worry….I,ll try them again…ya never knoe….thanks and Merry Christmas
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Next time measure your flour with a spoon, don’t tap it down, and level it off…hopefully that will help 🙂 Merry Christmas!! 🙂
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20 minutes to bake a cookie is nuts. I baked mine for 10 and that was perfect.
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glad 10 minutes worked for you! every oven is different so some will cook faster than others! Merry Christmas! 🎄🎄🎄
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Can you use maraschino cherries in this recipe?
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Hi Brenda,
yes just make sure you dry them really well before and after cutting the cherries.
Happy Baking, DD ⚓
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Why do you not use powdered sugar?
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Powdered sugar is icing sugar 😋
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What do you mean by glazed cherries? Would that be cherry pie filling? Never heard of them.
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No, cherry pirate filling will not work for this recipe. Glazed cherries are what you would use for making cookies, small like a cranberry!
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Glazed are considered “candied” cherries
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Hi Kathy powdered sugar is icing sugar 😊
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Glazed cherries are like candy cherries that you would use if making fruit cake It’s available around the holidays in the baking section with candy citrus. (Lemon peel and cherries ) also know as candied citron
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This is a simple, yet, simply delicious recipe., quick, too! I’ll make them again for sure!
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Yes, simple and so tasty! I hate fussy recipes, you put in all that work and then they take just ok! LOVE this recipe too!! Happy Baking! DD ⚓
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Would cherry extract instead of almond or vanilla be too overpowering?
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I’ve never used Cherry extract. If you try it, use a little. Not sure how strong it is.
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It looks like you leave in the cherry pieces, yes or no?
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I have not made this recipe yet, however, I would like to know if I could substitute dried sweet cherries instead of using the glazed cherries?
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How do we glaze the cherries?
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With all due respect, yes, powder sugar is oftentimes referred to as “icing sugar*, because it is definitely the sugar used in homemade icing. But powder sugar (aka confectioners sugar) is definitely used in some cookie recipes.
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Definitely! I use powdered sugar in my shortbread recipe. Icing sugar, confectioner’s sugar, powdered sugar, all the same sugar😊
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The way the recipe is written it looks like regular sugar is in the cookies and icing/powdered sugar for dusting. Is that correct or should the sugar in the cookie also be powdered sugar?
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The wite sugar is in the cookie and the icing sugar is just for dusting!
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Excited to try this! And thank you for not having 48 ads to scroll through before getting to the recipe. It was a pleasure to read your post. Merry Christmas!
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Are dried cherries the same thing as glazed cherries?
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Glaze cherries her like candied cherries, Dried cherries have been dehydrated. You could still use the dried cherries in this recipe instead of the glazed ones. Happy baking!
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Should butter be salted or unsalted?
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Use Salted! I didn’t add any salt to the recipe.
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Can’t wait to try these! I’d LOVE to have your pecan sandies recipe if you would share it!
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