Russian Tea Cakes are a popular treat. I even saw a knock off (boxed version) at costco this year. Why buy them when they are simple to make and nothing beats fresh, real ingredients. These almost always appear at our church banquets. There are slight variations of the recipe. I like to add more walnuts and sub half the flour with whole wheat. Hope you enjoy them. You will likely make them more than once!
Cost to Make: $3 to $5
Servings: Makes approximately 40 cookies
Ingredients for Russian Tea Cakes:
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (use all-purpose if you don’t have wheat).
2 sticks butter, at room temperature
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
½ cup confectioners (powdered) sugar, plus more for rolling cookies
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
How to make Russian Tea Cakes:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment on low/medium speed
1. In a large bowl, cream the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla, until smooth.
2. Gradually mix in the flour and salt.
3. Use a spoon to mix in walnuts until well distributed.
4. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and place them on an ungreased baking sheet 2 inches apart.
5. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges are very lightly browned.
6. Fill a bowl with powdered sugar and Roll the balls in it while they are still warm.
8. Once cookies are at room temperature, roll them in powdered sugar again to get perfect little snowballs.
Cookies may be stored up to 1 week in an airtight container.
Serve with Tea. Duh.
I’ve made them but it was Robin McGraw’s recipe and it called for margarine, which I think made it sub-par. I think this recipe sounds much better–real butter is always better!
Eto prjaniki ili net? I really mix prjaniki… Never made them.
I mean I really “miss” them.
These arent Pryaniki. They are more like cookies. But my mom makes some really really good pryaniki and frosts them with a mint glaze….mmmm. I haven’t learned to make them, but I definitely want to and will post them as soon as I do. Thanks for the idea!