russian tea cakes
I've always seen these cookies before and I've tried them but I never knew the name of them until now. Since I always see these pop up in goody bags around the holidays, I decided to add it to my own goody bags. These tea cakes were very easy to make, it was just like making a cookie, except after baking them they are rolled in powdered sugar. I doubled this recipe and gave them out to my friends and I still had a lot left at home. I was surprised how good these were and I couldn't help myself from snacking on them after they came out of the oven. They were crunchy, buttery, and had the perfect amount of powdered sugar coating. I would definitely make these for friends or to enjoy with some coffee or tea
What you need:
Makes about 4 dozen
1 cup (8 ounces or 225 grams) butter, room temperature
2 cups (240 grams) powdered sugar
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
2 cups (250 grams) all purpose flour
1 cup (about 110 grams) pecans, hazelnuts, or other nuts, toasted and finely ground (if using hazelnuts, wrap in a dishtowel while still warm and roll about until most of the brown skins come off)
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and vanilla; beat until well blended. Beat in flour, then nuts (I used walnuts). Divide dough in half; form each half into ball. Wrap separately in plastic; chill until cold, about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk remaining 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and cinnamon, if using, in pie dish to blend. Set cinnamon sugar aside.
Working with half of chilled dough, roll dough by 2 teaspoonfuls between palms into balls. Arrange balls on heavy large baking sheet, spacing 1/2 inch apart. Bake cookies until golden brown on bottom and just pale golden on top, about 18 minutes. Cool cookies 5 minutes on baking sheet. Gently toss warm cookies in cinnamon sugar to coat completely. Transfer coated cookies to rack and cool completely. Repeat procedure with remaining half of dough. (Cookies can be prepared 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature; reserve remaining cinnamon sugar.)
Sift remaining cinnamon sugar over cookies and serve.
Tips:
You can re-roll the cookies again if you have extra. I found that some of my powdered sugar melted a little because the cookies were still warm.
I would put the cookies on a tray lined with parchment after rolling in powdered sugar. If you put them on a rack (like I did) the bottom gets lines imprinted on it.
recipe from: smitten kitchen
https://smittenkitchen.com/2006/12/puff-and-shimmer/
