Name: Russian Tea Cakes
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 22 min
Ingredients: 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour; 1/2 cup unsalted butter (soft); 1 teaspoon vanilla; 5 tablespoon icing sugar (will add this to the dough); 1 cup icing sugar to roll the cookies; ¼ teaspoon salt; 5 tablespoon chopped roasted/toasted walnuts or pecans

Recipe Video

Russian Tea Cakes are delicate, buttery, and melt in your mouth cookies. These cookies have tender crumbs with crunchy toasted walnuts to give an amazing texture. These cookies are coated in icing sugar twice, and you can enjoy it with tea or milk! Watch the video for the tutorial.

You will learn how easy and quick you can prepare such delicate gems in your kitchen using simple and minimum ingredients, and you won’t believe it’s all you need to make irresistible Russian tea cakes.

If you never had Russian Tea Cakes, you will be in for a pleasant surprise. These cookies taste much like Italian wedding cookies except it has no eggs. Mexican Wedding Cookies is another name for Russian tea cakes! Don’t be surprised, in my baking journey, I found out that many countries have similar dishes but with different names.

A russian tea cake showing the nuts inside.

Other Names for Russian Tea Cakes

In case you fell in love with these cookies (which is a high possibility) you can, of course, make it at home, but if you want to buy it from the store, then you can find it under these names too:

Sand Tarts.

Butterballs.

Polvorones.

Snowballs.

6 simple ingredients to make Russian tea cakes

Flour
Unsalted butter
Icing sugar
Vanilla
Salt
Toasted walnuts or pecans

How to Make Russian Tea Cakes

Beat the sugar and butter and then add the rest of the ingredients and mix.
Form 22 equal size balls.
Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes.
Dip the cookies in icing sugar. Dip again in icing sugar.

Those are the steps to make a melt in your mouth Russian tea cakes. As promised, simple, quick, and delicious.

(More details in the recipe card below.)

Tips for Perfect Russian Tea Cakes

When measuring the flour, fluff the flour while it’s in the container and then spoon it in the measuring cup. Use the back of a butter knife to level the flour.
If you are using salted butter, then omit the salt from the recipe.
Toast the nuts and chop it before adding it to the cookie dough. Toasted nuts give better taste and texture to the cookies.
The butter should be a little soft but don’t use half-melted or room temperature butter. Always use cool butter otherwise, the cookies will spread while baking.
If you don’t have parchment paper or a silicone mat, you can grease the baking pan and then dust it well with flour.
Coat the cookies with icing while warm, the first coating will stick to the cookies but will be wet because the sugar will release moisture due to the warmth from the cookies. Second coat the cookies with icing sugar when the cookies are cool. The second coating will stick to the first and won’t turn wet.
These cookies do not spread while baking unless the butter in the dough melts. If you are working in a hot kitchen then after forming the balls, place the cookies in the fridge for 20 minutes before baking.
The melt in the mouth texture comes from the icing sugar in the dough, if you don’t have icing sugar, grind the sugar available in your house by a grinder or mortar and pestle.

Freshly baked Russian tea cakes on baking sheet.

Can I Freeze the Russian Tea Cakes?

Yes, after the cookies cool completely place them in a Ziploc bag or an airtight container, and then place the cookies in the freezer. Do this before icing the cookies.

To serve frozen cookies, allow them to thaw in the fridge and then do the double coating with icing sugar.

How Long Can I Store the Russian Tea Cakes?

The cookies will stay fresh if stored in an airtight container and left at room temperature.

Up to one and a half month if frozen while in an airtight container. Do not coat the cookies with icing sugar if you are planning to freeze it.

Side image of Russian tea cakes served on a red and white plate.

What nuts can I use instead of walnuts?

You can use, almond, pecan, peanuts and you can also add chocolate chips instead of nuts, or a pinch of your favorite spice too!

More Cookies to Try:

Almond Biscotti.

Almond Butter Sticks.

Melt in Your Mouth Cookies.

Perfect Butterscotch Chips Cookies.

Melt in your mouth, buttery and rolled in icing sugar, these cookies are irresistible and made from simple ingredients. Watch the video to find out how easy it is to make these gems!

Russian Tea Cakes

Delicate, buttery, and melt in your mouth cookies. These cookies have tender crumbs with crunchy toasted walnuts to give an amazing texture.

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Cookies

Cuisine: Russian

Keyword: Russian Tea Cakes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 22 minutes

Servings: people

Calories: 117kcal

Author: Muna Kenny

Ingredients

1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup unsalted butter soft
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 tablespoon icing sugar will add this to the dough
1 cup icing sugar to roll the cookies
¼ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoon chopped roasted/toasted walnuts or pecans

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone mat, in case you don’t have both to line the tray with, then grease and dust the baking tray with flour, keep aside.
In a bowl, add the butter, icing sugar, vanilla, and salt. Whisk or beat with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy in texture.
Mix in the flour, the mixture will look like wet sand, but that’s alright.
Add the nuts and mix using a spatula.
Form equal sized balls (around one heaping tablespooand place on the baking tray.
Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes in the middle shelf.
Leave the cookies in the baking tray for 5 minutes. If you move the cookies while hot, it will crumble.
In a bowl, add the icing sugar to roll the cookies. Roll the warm cookies one at a time in the icing sugar.
Place the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely then roll again in the icing sugar for a second coating. The first coating will turn a little wet, and that’s fine.
To store the cookies, place them in an airtight container.

Video

Notes

- Sift the icing sugar if it is clumpy, this will help when measuring the icing sugar.

- To soften the butter while keeping it cool, cut the butter in cubes and cover for 5 minutes.

- If you wish to freeze the cookies, do so before coating them with icing sugar.

- Store at room temperature in an airtight container for one week. Storing in the freezer will keep them fresh for up to one and a half month. (More details in the post.)

Nutrition