Russian Tea Cakes are tender and buttery on the inside, studded with crunchy walnuts and rolled in powdered sugar. They dissolve in your mouth and you won’t be able to stop at just one.
This is also one of the easiest cookie recipes. We have perfected it over the years. Read on to learn the KEY to making the best Russian Tea Cakes.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
Russian tea cakes are one of our favorite Christmas cookies and a staple of holiday cookie platters, right up there with classic Sugar Cookies. Just like our Almond Snowball Cookies, these look like adorable little snowballs.
What are Russian Tea Cakes?
Russian Tea Cakes are also known as Mexican Wedding Cakes or Snowball Cookies. The cookie dough contains nuts, usually walnuts or pecans which gives the cookies a nutty flavor and slight crunch.
The butter in the cookie dough makes the cookies tender and powdery and they almost dissolve in your mouth. The cookies are rolled in powdered sugar twice to give them a white coating making them look like snowballs.
Ingredients for Russian Tea Cakes
- All-purpose flour – be sure the flour is measured correctly.
- Unsalted butter – softened at room temperature. Gives the cookies a tender crumb. Forgot to soften your butter? See our tip to soften butter in 5 minutes.
- Walnuts – toasting the walnuts until they are golden will give you the best tasting cookies. You can substitute with pecans or even pistachios. Powdered Sugar – also known as confectioners sugar. We add 1/2 cup to the batter and use more to roll the cookies.
- Vanilla Extract – adds flavor. We love homemade vanilla extract for all of our baking.
- Salt – balances the sweetness. Fine sea salt is our salt of choice.
The KEY to the Best Snowball Cookies
Toast the walnuts on a dry skillet over medium heat, tossing frequently for about 5 minutes or until nuts are lightly golden and fragrant then remove to a cutting board to cool and chop the nuts. Whether you are using walnuts or pecans, toasting the nuts will really bring out their best flavor and will make your cookies even better.
Pro Tip: Nuts can burn very quickly on a skillet. Never walk away from your skillet and be sure to toss them frequently. As soon as you can smell the aroma of the nuts, they are done toasting.
How to make Russian Tea Cakes
- Cream together butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.
- Add flour and salt and mix until combined and no streaks of flour remain. The mixture will be lumpy and not smooth.
- Add walnuts once they are cooled and chopped. Use a firm spatula to mix them in until well distributed in the dough.
- Shape into 1-inch balls (using a small cookie scoop makes portioning easy) and place them on a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet, keeping them at least an inch apart. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are very lightly browned at the base.
- Roll hot cookies in powdered sugar and place on a cookie platter to cool completely to room temperature.
- Roll cooled cookies again in powdered sugar to get an even and generous coating of powdered sugar.
How to tell when Tea Cakes are Done?
These cookies bake up quickly. They are done when the edges of the cookies are lightly golden in color with a golden base.
Make-Ahead
Storing at room temperature – Cookies may be stored up to 1 week in an airtight container.
To freeze Russian tea cakes – store in a freezer-safe lidded container or zip bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and enjoy.
Common Questions
You don’t have to use nuts. You can leave them out completely or fill them with a surprise such as a few butterscotch chips (my son’s favorite). If omitting nuts, I suggest adding another 1/4 cup of flour or the cookies will spread in the oven since the nuts help them keep their form.
They are essentially the same thing and the terms are used interchangeably. At Christmas time, they are referred to as snowball cookies.
You can sub with half whole wheat flour if you prefer. It will add flavor and color to the center of the cookies.
More Christmas Cookies and Bars
Christmas baking is a nostalgic activity and a great time to make beautiful food memories. Explore all of our best Christmas Recipes Here and I’m sure you’ll find many new favorite cookies in this list.
- Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Lemon Bars
- Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Christmas Coconut Balls
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
This Tea Cakes recipe was first published in January 2010. It has been updated with new photos and we shared all of our best tips for richer flavor and texture.
Russian Tea Cakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 lb unsalted butter, or 16 tbsp, at room temperature
- 1 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
- ½ cup confectioners sugar, powdered sugar, plus 2 cups more for rolling cookies
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
Quick Prep:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or silicone liner.
- Toast nuts on a dry skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes, tossing frequently until fragrant and lightly golden.
How to Make Russian Tea Cakes:
- In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, cream together butter, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, and 1 tsp of vanilla, until smooth.
- Add flour and salt and continue mixing until no streaks of flour remain. The mixture will be lumpy. Use a firm spatula to fold in the nuts until evenly incorporated.
- Use a firm spatula to fold in the chopped nuts until evenly incorporated.
- Shape the dough into 1-inch balls (using a small cookie scoop to portion the dough makes the process easy) and place them on a clean baking sheet at least 1-inch apart. Bake at 400˚F for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are golden at the base.
- Fill a bowl with 1 cup powdered sugar and roll the cookie balls in it while they are still very warm then transfer to a platter to cool completely.
- Once cookies are at room temperature, roll them in more powdered sugar to get perfect little snowballs. Cookies may be stored up to 1 week in an airtight container.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Those are super delicious!!!!!!!
Thank you Olya, I’m glad you like them 😄
Hey Natasha, I’ve made these a few different times now and they’re always great but I was just doing my like fourth batch here and I was wondering something. It always takes mine like 20 minutes for them to start to brown even a little. Is something wrong? Is this okay? They come out tasting great regardless.
Hi Jareth, that’s interesting – and you’re baking at the same temp? Mine are just barely starting to brown when I pull them out and 10-12 min is sufficient to cook them through if rolling them as 1″ balls. Are you making them larger?
Yeah I come back and check the temperature every single time I make them because I forgot to write down the temp on the sheet I wrote out for it, lol.
The very first time I made them they were a bit bigger than 1″ and I figured that was why it was taking them so long to get brown. But the next few times, it’s taking roughly the same amount of time even with them being small too. I have no idea what’s going on. Do you reckon it’d be okay to take them out at 12 minutes even if they aren’t near browning on top?
They should be just barely starting to brown. I would recommend testing one at 12 minutes.
Some ovens are different. My oven temp is lower than most, so i usually add 10 F more and it turns out amazing.
I’ve been meaning to make these for ages and I finally got some walnuts. These are amazing. I’ve never had any before and they came out great. I used more regular flour instead of the wheat flour because I couldn’t find a small bag of it anywhere but the little cakes held their ball shape pretty good. I was worried because I saw someone say that not using wheat flour made them spread out but it wasn’t really noticeable for me.
These are just so good. I’m probably gonna end up having to make more, they’re already about gone, lol. Thanks for the recipes!
Hi Jareth! I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe! I’ve made them both ways with all purpose and with a mix of whole wheat and I’ve never had them spread out. I suspect they either measured their flour incorrectly or used too much butter. Thanks for the awesome review!
All I can say is, “WOW!!” These are so amazing, I can’t stop eating them. Better go hide them or else there will be no more left when hubby come home lol Thanks, love the recipe- so easy and quick to make and they turn out BOMB!
Yay!! I’m so happy you love the cookies 🙂
I’m so excited to try these cookies! I was wondering if I can make these by putting the walnuts in a food processor? I was hoping for just bits of nuts instead of chunks but I just didn’t know it I will have to use less so it doesn’t mess up the proportions? Thank you!
Hi Amelia, I haven’t tried that but I think it could work. if you are trying to process them to more of a flour consistency, you might try our Almond snowball cookies instead where we did that.
Hi Natasha,
Last time I made these, they lost their ball shape and became more flat. Wondering what I did wrong and how to avoid it 🙂
Thank you!
Victoria
Did the consistency of the cookies before baking look like what is shown in the photos? It sounds like possibly too little flour?
I think using whole wheat flower as you recomment really helped.
These cookies will naturally flatten on the bottom. If they flatten completely, your dough is too soft. Chilling it for a couple of hours before baking it will firm up the butter. You could also try adding an extra tablespoon or so of flour, but be careful with that. Too much flour will ruin the taste and texture of the cookies
I love this recipe. Can I make this cookies without walnuts or any nuts? Some people allergic to nuts.
Luda, nuts provide very important flavor for these cookies. They won’t taste as good without them.. I also made almond snowball cookies, using almond flour if you prefer that. These cookies just don’t taste great without a nut base ingredient. PS. I tried making these with coconut flakes but they still turned out blend and without flavor.
Thank you. I’m going to make almond snowball cookies. Is it ok time use 1cup granulated sugar 1 tsp cornstarch (instead of powdered sugar) and grind them in a blender?
Hi Luba, I haven’t tried making powdered sugar myself but there are many tutorials out there. Just make sure to measure it after grinding it to make sure there is the same amount of powdered sugar. Keep in mind you’ll need more for rolling them in sugar. I imagine you would need a very good/strong blender or food processor to make powdered sugar.
Thank you. I didn’t want to mess up so I bought powder sugar. Cookies came out very delicious. Thank you for all recipes. They are the best. God bless you and your family.
I’m making these tea cookies and i realized that there is a little mistake in a process steps. In ingredients list you say that 1 1/4c white flour and 1c whole wheat flour is needed, and later in your steps you say only-gradually add 1 1/4 c of flour,and later nothing says about adding the rest of flour.
I understood anyway, but thought you should know .
Thanks for all your great recipes, Natasha!!!!
Dasha thank you so much for pointing that out! I’m so embarrassed I did that but I really really appreciate that you told me! It’s fixed now 🙂
you are very welcome!!!
i thought maybe somebody already told you about it, but i couldn’t read all the comments.
i do enjoy every single recipe that you post!!!!!
you have such a beautiful family, may God bless you richly!!! 🙂 🙂
You’re the first and seriously thank you!! I’m so happy you are enjoying the recipes and God bless you too! 🙂
THEY ARE SOOO GOOD!!!!!!
Thank you Lillya :).
Vy molodcy ochen’ vkusnye u vas recepty!!! Ya vsegda ispol’zuvayu vash sajt!!
Hi Liliya! I’m so happy you are enjoying the recipes 🙂
I tried these for my cousins birthday party. When my first batch came out of the oven, I only waited 2 minutes before rolling them in the powdered sugar. The sugar kind of melted and stuck to them. Is this how it should be or should I have waited longer before rolling them in the sugar?
Thanks anyway, all your recipes are really great and this one too!
That’s normal. You want the first coating to stick nicely. This will cause the second layer to stick better as well. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipes :). Thanks Ira!
Hi,
Tried this recipe today, I baked them at 350F cuase the recipe doesnt say the temperature, anyway they seemed undone after just 12 min, so I ended up baking them for like 20 min, I also turned them but still have a floury taste …like they are not done..is this how they are supposed to be?
thanks!
Hi Ramona, the temperature is written at the top of the recipe, just before step 1: “preheat to 400..” It is also in the print friendly recipe. They aren’t supposed to have any floury taste, but more cookie-like. It was probably the baking temperature that caused them to turn out differently.
I love this recipe. Not only are they good and easy to make but they freeze well.
I freeze the raw dough once I form them into balls. Then when I want a few I bake them. Great for unexpected company.
Thank you for the tip Raya and for the great review :).
Hello, Natasha!
Even though I consider my self as Russian I have never heard of this wonderful cakes! I am so happy I met with you through this website! Thanks! May God bless you and your family!
Welcome to my blog! I’m so happy you’re here too! 🙂 God bless you in all of your cooking adventures 🙂
I made those the other day for a party and I have to make a confession. So, I ate half of them, please note, half of the batch by my self!!! lol I had to make one more batch. they are so so easy to make and so so delicious! Natasha, your recipes are always the best. Sometimes I would read same recipe on another blog and once I make the food its different and not as good, I think it has to do with you explaining it so good for us step by step. I never have questions when i make your recipes while i have tons of questions reading other bloggers recipes. Your blog has won me over lots of other blogs. Thank you for doing this! Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much for your sweet comment. 🙂 I am grinning ear to ear. I’m so happy you like the blog and thank you for your encouraging feedback!
I make similar to these, but we call them snow balls. And to make it faster I put them in the ziplock with powdered sugar ( about 5 at a time) and shake it gently. Everyone loves them, best when fresh!
That’s a great idea! Thanks for the tip 🙂
Can I use cookie scoop to form these tea cakes??
You can use a small cookie scoop. A regular one will probably be a little too much dough.
Love love love these! So many a tea time I plan on having thanks to this recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that 🙂
A nice biscuit recipe Natasha! I used pecans instead of walnuts. Next time I won’t add salt (I used salted butter and it made them salty). I have made quite a few of your recipes now and they have been some real winners in that bunch! Great blog…my favourite blog in fact!
Thank you so much for sharing that! I realized I didn’t specify that it should be unsalted butter. Thank you! Thank you! You’re so sweet. I’m so glad you are enjoying the blog 🙂
I just gotta say I LOVE EVERYTHING ON YOUR BLOG!!! (I have been peaking in here for half a year now. You are my little secret to being a great cook! THANK YOU FOR EXISTING!!!) So I made these Russian tea cakes like 8 times now and I just can’t get enough of them. Except I don’t do the final step with confectioners sugar…i find it really hard and time consuming to roll them perfectly white. I would make these when I have nothing to tea or if I am craving for something sweet…something baked (which is ALWAYS!) I am starting to be scared of my appetite because I cook your recipes almost all the time and I could gobble down such big portions of food. Ne kak ne naemsya! lol
P.S. I don’t look like a person who could eat a lot.
Your comment is awesome! It just made my day 🙂 thanks! Blessings to you!! 🙂
Can you make this without walnuts?
Yes. You can omit nuts and mix in 1 cup flaked coconut and 1 Tbsp grated orange peel. Or you can fill them with pieces of caramel or chocolate, or both 🙂