Snowballs (Russian Tea Cakes)

Snowballs were my favorite Christmas cookie that my mother made. She called them Russian Tea Cakes. Some call them Mexican wedding cakes. I call them delicious. These delicate little morsels are made with just 6 ingredients and are great make ahead cookies that freeze really well! All 7 kids of Ida’s have used her recipe that she wrote in cursive on a piece of paper. She shared so many recipes with us!

 

snowballs on tree plate with ornament

Snowballs (Russian Teacakes)

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Course: baking
Cuisine: baking
Keyword: baking
Servings: 36 cookies
Author: Bruce and Dina Miller

Ingredients

Ingredients for Snowballs:

  • 1 ½ cup room temperature butter
  • ¾ cup sifted powder sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 2/3 cups sifted flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt scant
  • 1 1/3 cup finely chopped nuts we use pecans, but walnuts are also good
  • 1 cup powder sugar to roll the cookies in and store them in

Instructions

Instructions for Snowballs:

  • Sift flour, ¾ cup powder sugar, and salt into a bowl, set aside.
  • In a bowl, using a mixer, combine butter, sugar and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients and the chopped nuts, and mix until blended. Chill dough.
  • Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Convection or 400 F. standard. Using a small scoop, or spoon, form round walnut size balls, and place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. These are not going to spread like standard cookies, so 1 inch is okay.  Bake for 10-12 minutes until firm to the touch. Like shortbreads, you do not want to brown these cookies.  Remove pan of cookies from oven, and allow to rest for about 3 minutes.
  • You will be “double” rolling these in the powder sugar. The first time when they are still warm, but not too hot. Once you do this, sit them on a rack to cool a bit. The powder sugar actually will feel almost like it is melting into the cookie. The first roll will not get that “snowy” look.
  • Once you have completed rolling all the cookies one time, repeat process. Allow cookies to completely cool, and store in an airtight container, with a little extra powder sugar to keep them snowy!
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Notes

Use extra powder sugar in the container you store these in to help keep them coated.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Give these other cookies a try soon!

Dina and Bruce at the Golden Gate Bridge

Hi, we are Bruce and Dina Miller. We love to cook every night. We enjoy making a few healthy dishes, and also comfort food. We love crafting cocktails too! Come take a look, we would love to share our recipes with you.

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