Russian Tea
Cakes
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
12 mins
Total Time
27 mins
Also known as Mexican Wedding Cookies, Snowballs, or just
Tea Cakes, these easy to make, crunchy sugar-dusted nut balls are not too sweet
and melt-in-your mouth delicious!
Course: Cookies
Servings: 48 Cookies
Author: Tricia
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus 2 cups for rolling the cookies
- 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup finely grated pecans, measured after grating (see notes)
Instructions
1.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking
sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2.
Sift together 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar, the
flour and salt. Add to a large mixing bowl along with the butter, vanilla and
grated pecans. Mix on low with an electric mixer until the dough is starting to
come together. Increase the speed to medium and blend until all ingredients are
incorporated.
3.
Place the remaining 2 cups of powdered sugar in
a low-rimmed pie plate and set aside.
4.
Scoop the dough (I use a small cookie scoop) and
roll firmly into a 1-inch dough ball. Place the cookies on the parchment lined
baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom.
5.
Once baked, immediately remove several cookies
from the baking sheet using a small spatula and turn them upside down in the
bowl of powdered sugar. Allow the hot cookies to rest in the sugar for about 30
seconds then carefully turn to cover the bottoms. If you mound the powdered
sugar toward the center of the plate, this will help when you go to cover each
hot cookie. Working with one cookie at a time, gently turn in the sugar until
the entire cookie is covered. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Working quickly,
repeat with the remaining hot cookies until all are coated.
6.
Once cooled (after about 1 hour) roll the
cookies in powdered sugar again and store in an airtight container in a cool
location. These cookies will keep about a week making them great to make ahead!
Recipe Notes
·
Grated pecans will have a powdery, light
texture. Scoop the grated nuts into a measuring cup, then lightly tap the cup
on a countertop to lightly pack the nuts. Then add more grated pecans to the
cup until you reach the desired 3/4 cup total. If you don’t grate the pecans, I
cannot guarantee these cookies will turn out correctly.
·
The flour is measured before sifting. When
measuring flour, gently scoop the flour into the measuring cup and level off
the top using the dull blade of a table knife.
·
If you believe your oven runs hotter than it
should, you may want to bake at 375 degrees. Test a small batch of cookies
first, or reduce the time baked to ensure they don’t burn. Remove from the oven
when the tops are set and the bottom is lightly browned.
·
Don’t place the dough balls on a hot baking
sheet. It’s best to alternate between cooled baking sheets or pieces of
parchment. I use a rimless baking sheet that I love (see below for a link) so I
can slide parchment onto the sheet and bake immediately.
·
Even though you can fit a large amount of
unbaked cookies on each baking sheet, I prefer to bake just a few each time
since you have to roll them in the powdered sugar while hot. The hot cookie
melts the powdered sugar and forms an icing covering the entire cookie - yum!
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