I just love this time of year when our days are busy and full as we try to pack in old traditions and new. This recipe for Snowball Ice Cream is one of my favorite traditions for Christmas Eve. It’s a simple process to form balls out of ice cream and roll them in coconut flakes. Dress them up with icing holly or just pop a candle in the top for the birthday celebration!
My girls adore this tradition and it’s even more special because their Grandma showed us how she remembered doing it as a little girl. My mom’s version had little plastic holly leaves, so very vintage. We use some very simple piping to add Christmas decorations with icing, but plain ice cream snowballs are also beautiful and delicious.
After a Christmas Eve dinner of roasted beef tenderloin and carrot souffle, serve these beautiful and tasty snowballs.
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🍨 Ingredients:
- shredded coconut – for coating the ice cream, you can use shredded or flaked, sweetened or unsweetened. I have found that unsweetened coconut is typically smaller and fluffier pieces and coats the ice cream easier than sweetened coconut, which is typically in longer shreds.
- red and green icing – Use a buttercream or royal icing. We’re not doing a huge amount of piping, so you can even use some canned icing and tint it red and green with gel food coloring. Decorating the top of the snowball is completely optional.
- ice cream – we use vanilla for that all white snowball look. You can use a different flavor, but the ice cream will probably show through the coating of coconut
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Optional Garnish:
Grab some candles or premade decorations for the top of your ice cream snowballs!
🔪 Instructions:
PREP: Prepare paper cups, cupcake liners, or a muffin tin so they’re ready to put the ice cream in quickly. Separate the liners so you can transfer the ice cream balls even with food on your hands. Be sure you have freezer space ready!
Step 1: Begin by forming your big scoops of ice cream. I used a rounded ice cream scooper and ran it under hot water; then blotted it on a paper towel before scooping into the ice cream bucket. Quickly place the scoop back into the freezer by setting them into extra cupcake cups, a muffin tin, or on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet.
Step 2: After the ice cream balls have been back in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, take one out at a time, use your hands to form a uniform ball and quickly roll it through a pile of shredded coconut. Place it into a baking cup or cupcake liner. Place the snowball ice cream back into the freezer to harden.
Step 3: If you’d like to add a holly wreath to your snowball, it’s easy enough for anyone to do! Color about ½ cup of icing red and color another ½ cup of icing leaf green. If you’re only doing a few snowballs (e.g., I just make them for our immediate family), you can just color a couple spoonfuls of icing. Place the red icing in a piping bag fitted with a coupler and a small round tip, like Tip #2 or #3 and the green icing in a bag fitted with a leaf tip, like Tip #67.
Step 4: Remove the hardened “snowball” from the freezer and pipe a ring of leaves in a wreath pattern around the top. You may want to use a circular object like a cookie cutter or a clean cap to make a slight circular indentation in the ice cream to follow. The leaves should be fairly small and facing in different directions to give the holly wreath some texture.
Step 6: Finish the wreath by piping several clusters of three small red “berries.”
Step 7: Place a candle in the center of the wreath and return to freezer until you’re ready to sing Happy Birthday!
Recipe Tips for Ice Cream Snowballs
Keep plenty of space in your freezer cleared so that you can easily move the snowballs in and out while preparing them.
Freeze between steps to keep the snowballs from melting. Once the ice cream starts to melt, it will run between the flakes of coconut and starts making a mess. Keep things cold and frozen for the prettiest results.
Piping holly wreathes is optional. Leave your snowball ice cream simple and plain or add some pre-made royal icing holly (affiliate link.) Look on sites like etsy for vintage plastic holly pieces too!
If you tried this Snowball Ice Cream or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
Snowball Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups vanilla ice cream
- 3 cups coconut shredded or flaked, unsweetened
- 1 cup icing buttercream or royal icing
- red and green food coloring gel-based
Instructions
- Form scoops of ice cream, about ½ cup each. Quickly place the scoop back into the freezer by setting them into extra cupcake liners, a muffin tin, or on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet. Refreeze for at least 30 minute.
- Take one ice cream snowball at a time, quickly roll between your palms to make a uniform ball and then quickly roll it in a pile of shredded coconut. Place the ball back into the freezer to harden (30 minutes more.)
- If you'd like to add a holly wreath to your snowball, color ¼ cup icing red and ¾ cup of icing leaf green. If you're only doing a few snowballs, just color a couple spoonfuls of icing. Place the red icing in a piping bag fitted with a coupler and a small round tip, like Tip #2 or #3 and the green icing in a bag fitted with a leaf tip, like Tip #67.
- Remove the hardened "snowball" from the freezer and pipe a ring of leaves in a wreath pattern around the top. You may want to use a circular object like a cookie cutter or a clean cap to make a slight circular indentation in the ice cream to follow. The leaves should be fairly small and facing in different directions to give the holly wreath some texture.
- Finish the wreath by piping several clusters of three small red "berries."
- Store snowball ice cream in the freezer until ready to serve. Add a candle to the top center if desired for serving.
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Comments & Reviews
Vicky Potthoff says
Where can i buy these. I need 30 dozen for a Christmas event Nov 18 and 19th in San Francisco
girlinspired says
I’m not sure, Vicky. You can check in with local bakeries perhaps?
Brenda says
I can remember having these christmas eve when we were little. My parents were married christmas eve so it was like a treat for their anniversary.
girlinspired says
Ahhhhh, it was my mom’s childhood tradition, too. I’ve never met someone else who had this tradition. I love that your parents had this anniversary tradition. 😍😍
CakeSpy says
These are beautiful and brilliant!! I love it.
Charity says
That is a great tradition! Growin up, my family always read about Jesus’s birth by candlelight while drinking hot chocolate on Christmas Eve… but I haven’t really done much as far as traditions with my own daughters.