Name: Russian Tea Cakes
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 13 min
Total time: 53 min
Ingredients: 2 1/4 cups flour; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 cup butter (softened); 1/2 cup powdered sugar (plus more for rolling the cookies in); 1 tsp. vanilla; 3/4 cups finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Although they’re called Russian Tea Cakes, these are actually delicious cookies. They are a Christmas tradition for many families including mine.

My step-mother is an amazing baker and she always included these on her holiday cookie trays. You might also know these cookies as Mexican Wedding Cakes, Snowballs, or Italian Wedding Cookies.

Welcome back to year 6 of our Festive Christmas Event where we team up with a bunch of talented blogging friends to bring you a plethora of creative ways to celebrate your holiday season.

We will be baking some cookie recipes for you, sharing some party games, making some handmade gifts, doing some ornament crafting, and sharing our Christmas movies family fun. There will be breakfast recipes and as always our decorated Christmas Trees which is always a fun tour of homes.

New this year is Gift Guides. We are right there with you shopping from home due to Covid 19 and we understand how hard that can be so we have been busy little Elves doing tons of research to create fabulous Gift Guides to help you with your holiday shopping.

You will find new ideas every Monday and Wednesday between Oct. 19th through Nov. 18th. Scroll all the way down to find all the ideas linked at the end.

Russian Tea Cakes

These cookies bake up in a jiffy, especially if you have a food processor. My secret weapon in a pinch? Use a stainless steel pastry blender to chop up the nuts into small bits. Then, chop them to a fine powder using a mortar and pestle.

Scroll down for a printable recipe card and some variations on the basic recipe.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for rolling the cookies in

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cups finely chopped walnuts or pecans (for Italian wedding cookies, it’s more traditional to use almonds).

Instructions:

Blend the nuts in a food processor and set aside. Combine flour and salt.

Cream the butter and powdered sugar together using a hand or standing mixer. Add in the vanilla.

Gradually mix in the flour and salt, followed by the nuts. Blend thoroughly, then use your hands to pat into a ball of dough.

Place in a plastic Ziploc bag and let chill for about 30 minutes. Don’t skip this step. It’s really important for getting the dough to the right consistency!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Form small balls from the cookie dough and place on a cookie tray about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 11-13 minutes.

Remove cookies from oven and roll in more powdered sugar. You may want to roll them twice if you like a nice thick layer.

Can I freeze these cookies?

YES! They freeze beautifully.

In fact, this was my step-mother’s secret for prepping ahead for entertaining. She would bake up batches of cookies all through the weeks leading up to Christmas and keep them in containers in the freezer.

They don’t take very long to thaw out and retain their delicious flavor.

Variations:

GINGER SPICE: Add 1 tsp. of ginger and 1/2 tsp. of allspice to add those Christmassy spices to the flavor.
COCOA SNOWBALLS: Add 3 tbsp. of cocoa powder to the butter and sugar mixture and cream it all together. Increase the vanilla to 1 1/2 tsp. Decrease flour by 2 tbsp.
LEMON TEA CAKES: Use almond extract instead of vanilla. When creaming the butter and sugar, add in the grated zest of a lemon. Use almonds in place of the pecans or walnuts.
Experiment with different types of nuts like cashews or hazelnuts.

Russian Tea Cakes

These cookies bake up in a hurry, especially if you have a food processor. Another exciting option for chopping nuts to a fine powder in a hurry is to use a mortar and pestle. Other names for them include snowballs, Italian wedding cookies, Mexican wedding cakes. They’re delicious!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Italian, Mexican, Russian

Keyword Italian wedding cookies, Mexican wedding cakes, Snowballs

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 13 minutes

Chilling Time 30 minutes

Total Time 53 minutes

Servings 48

Calories 85 kcal

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar plus more for rolling the cookies in
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cups finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Instructions

Blend the nuts in a food processor and set aside. Combine flour and salt. Cream the butter and powdered sugar together using a hand or standing mixer. Gradually mix in the flour and salt, followed by the nuts.
Blend thoroughly, then use your hands to pat into a ball of dough. Place in a plastic Ziploc bag and let chill for about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Form small balls from the cookie dough and place on a cookie tray about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 11-13 minutes.
Remove cookies from oven and roll in more powdered sugar. You may want to roll them twice if you like a nice thick layer.

Nutrition Facts

Russian Tea Cakes

Amount Per Serving

Calories 85 Calories from Fat 54

% Daily Value*

Fat 6g9%

Saturated Fat 3g19%

Cholesterol 10mg3%

Sodium 46mg2%

Potassium 24mg1%

Carbohydrates 6g2%

Fiber 1g4%