These are a holiday classic around my house. Not only are they incredibly easy to make, they taste delicious. For a nice variation, you can use a pistachios, pecans or any other nut instead of the walnuts.
These cookies are also known as Mexican wedding cookies or butter balls.
The recipe and detailed instructions are at the end of this post. For this recipe, we need butter, all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, walnuts, and vanilla extract. Looks like we have it all. Ready, set, bake…
Using a mixing bowl with the paddle attachment cream butter and vanilla until smooth.
Add the 1 1/2 ounces powdered sugar and flour into the butter mixture, at a low speed, until just combined. Mix in the chopped walnuts. Careful not to overwork the flour. The more you mix the flour the tougher your cookies will be. For the most tender results, run the mixer only until each ingredient, not including the butter and vanilla in the first step, are just combined.
Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon roll dough into one inch balls, and place them two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. The cookies will not expand all that much, you can get up to 30 on a regular sized baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned, at 350°F in the preheated oven. When cool, roll in remaining powdered sugar. Roll in the sugar a second time.
Recipe: Russian Tea Cakes
Print Recipe
Yield: 30 Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (227 g) butter, at room temperature
- 10 ounces (284 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 ounces (43 g) powdered sugar
- 3 1/2 ounces (99 g) walnuts, chopped
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 1 3/10 ounces (94 g) powdered sugar (for decoration)
Instructions
- Using a mixer with a paddle attachment cream the butter and vanilla until smooth.
- Add the 1 1/2 ounces powdered sugar and flour into the butter mixture, at a low speed, until just combined. Mix in the chopped walnuts.
- Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon roll dough into one inch balls, and place them two inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned, at 350°F (175°C) in the preheated oven. When cool, roll in remaining powdered sugar. Roll in the sugar a second time.
2 Comments
What a wonderful website. Russian Teacakes, (along with Chocolate Crinkles) are my favorite Christmas cookies. I roll them in the powdered sugar while still warm so it makes a sort of icing. And then roll again when cooled. I’ll be making your Basque Cake tomorrow and look forward to working my way through all of your delicious looking recipes.
My daughter wanted cookies to take to her Russian class, and these sounded just the thing. I made half the quantity to see how they turned out and am wishing I had made more! I didn’t have any walnuts handy, so used ground almonds, which worked fine. Thanks for the recipe!