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Russian Tea Cakes are melt-in-your-mouth delicious!
Old-world Russian Tea Cakes are easy to make and eat!
Russian Tea Cakes are also known as Mexican Wedding Cookies, Snowball cookies, Butter Balls or just plain Tea Cakes. These crunchy sugar-dusted nut balls are not too sweet and easy to make making them great for the holidays.
This cookie recipe brings a flood of happy memories to mind. Even the smell of them baking triggers vivid thoughts of my mom and the years when our own children were small.
I’ve been making these cookies since I was a young girl, and given that I’m a grandmother now, that’s been a while.
I still have my mom’s original typed recipe that I keep in a plastic sleeve.
As you can tell, this recipe is very old and barely held together with tape. I work from a photocopy now so it won’t deteriorate any more.
This recipe for Russian Tea Cakes has been well loved for a very long time. The description reads “crunchy, sugar-dusted nut balls” and that pretty much says it all.
These are hands-down, without a doubt, my husband’s favorite cookie for the holidays.
The ingredients are simple, and I believe that’s why these are so good. I’m often baffled how recipes using the same list of ingredients can turn out so different, but they do!
The science of baking is absolutely fascinating.
Overview: Ingredients needed to make Russian Tea Cakes:
- powdered sugar or confectioners’ sugar to sweeten the cookie dough and more for rolling the hot baked cookies
- all-purpose flour
- salt
- unsalted butter at room temperature
- vanilla extract
- finely ground grated pecans
How to make Russian Tea Cakes
- First preheat the oven and line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
- Next sift together 1/2 cup powdered sugar, flour and salt. Pour the sifted flour mixture in a large bowl and add the butter, vanilla and grated pecans.
- Using an electric or stand mixer blend on low until the dough starts to come together. Increase the speed to medium and blend until all ingredients are incorporated.
- Pour the remaining powdered sugar in a shallow pie plate or bowl; set aside.
- Scoop the dough and firmly roll into 1-inch balls. Place on a cool ungreased parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
- Immediately remove from the oven and toss several cookies in the bowl of powdered sugar. Turn the cookies over until completely coated in powdered sugar.
- Once coated transfer to a wax paper lined rack to cool. Work quickly and repeat with all remaining hot baked cookies.
- Finally, after the cookies are cool roll again in powdered sugar.
Cool completely before storing the finished cookies in an airtight container at room temperature or cool location.
I’ve perfected these cookies over the years and added all my little tweaks and tricks to the notes section of the recipe card.
We’ve always used pecans as our nut of choice for these cookies, but feel free to use almonds or walnuts instead. Instead of chopping we grate the nuts for a very fine, powdery consistency. Grating the pecans is the secret to making these a terrific melt-in-your mouth cookie.
Can you freeze Russian Tea Cakes?
Absolutely! These cookies freeze well and keep for up to a week at room temperature. Stored in a cool, dry location, they last even a little longer.
The cookies don’t dramatically change their shape when baked, nor do they need to get overly brown on top.
If they are browned on top, they’re probably over-baked. Check the bottom of a cookie for a light brown color and try to make them ‘bite sized’ to prevent a sugar mess on the front of your shirt.
PRO TIPS for making the best Russian Tea Cakes:
- This recipe calls for grated pecans. 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 use chopped nuts and 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 F. 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 so I can slide the parchment onto the cookie 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!
- Occasionally stir the bowl of confectioners sugar between batches of hot rolled cookies.
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Russian Tea Cakes
Ingredients
- ½ cup powdered sugar (57g)
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (284g)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature (226g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup finely grated pecans measured after grating (see notes)
- 2 cups powdered sugar for rolling the baked cookies (230g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Sift together ½ 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.
- Place the remaining 2 cups of powdered sugar in a low-rimmed pie plate and set aside.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!
- Freeze the cooled cookies for up to 30 days.
- Baked cookies stored in an airtight container in a dry, cool location will keep for 7 to 10 days
Nutrition
If you love these Russian Tea Cakes, here’s a few more recipes to try.
Classic cookies are often the best desserts on the table. We love these Lemon Meltaways for another simple, lightly sweet one-bite cookie.
These fun Vanilla Pretzel Cookies will rival those store-bought in the tin cookies any day!
How about these super simple cookies all made with 1 Dough, 4 Christmas Cookies.
Another great classic cookie with a short ingredient list, are these beautiful Holiday Pinwheel Cookies.
For another version of these snowball cookies try our Cherry Almond Tea Cake Cookies.
Originally published December 24, 2010 – updated December 20, 2017
Susan
This is the same recipe I copied from my mother’s 1950’s Betty Crocker Cookbook. They have been favorites in our family since I was a small child. I can assure you that finely chopping the nuts works great, but it does have to be fine (I use my food processor in short pulses). If they aren’t chopped fine enough the cookies will crumble when you try to roll them in the sugar, no matter how gentle you are.
Hanice
Can I use walnuts or pistachios and grate?
Tricia Buice
Hi Hanice. Yes you can! Enjoy.
jkw
This is exactly how I make and love these cookies. Well, with one exception. Instead of rolling in 10X sugar,
I put the sugar in a zip top bag and gently toss them about. Never lost a cookie with this method. It’s much faster.
Tricia Buice
I’ll have to try shaking some of them next time. Thanks so much!
Karen
I my recipe is exactly the same. Except my recipe also calls for 1 tsp Almond extract. I have made them without Almond extract. Definitely taste better with the Almond exract.
Tricia Buice
Thanks for the feedback Karen. My husband prefers them the way I make them but since I’m a big fan of almond extract, I know I would like it. Thanks again.
Deborah
I have been baking these for 50 years and I don’t grate the nuts,just very finely chop. I also mix by hand,and chill the dough a little while. Everyone loves them and asks for them every Christmas. Handle them very gently when they first come out of the oven,and don’t overbake. 375° is the temp I use.
Mary Jo Bischel
Not sure if I commented on the right person. Do you add vanilla and almond extract? Or just one?
Tricia Buice
The recipe only calls for vanilla Mary Jo. If you want to use both then I would add all the vanilla plus 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Enjoy!