Russian Tea Cakes Recipe

I'm a first generation Russian/Ukrainian - American and my husband is a "right off the boat" Russian. I have used this recipe (slightly modified using pecans instead of almonds, and a little less flour, at 310 degrees) for several years now at our church's annual Old Country Christmas bake sale. We are a Russian Orthodox, and to us Old Country means THE old country, not country-western, and people visit our sale to find those "real homemade ethnic" baked goods. This has always sold out on the first day, even when I make 100 dozen. It doesn't get much better than this!

These are THE BEST Russian Tea cookies I have ever tried, baked and eaten!! For people getting a crumbly dough, just add about 1 tablespoon milk and your problem is solved! I do this and ALWAYS get a perfectly moist dough to work with. Just make sure you keep mixing the dough until no trace of white flour is left and dough comes together and is a little tacky. Using an electric mixer with a dough paddle is ideal. I do roll the balls in regular sugar before baking and roll it in powdered sugar TWICE for a nice, white, sweet coating. No worries, it will be perfectly sweet. This cookie can also stay fresh for a very long time in an airtight container. I made two batches that lasted me well over a week and it tasted as good as the first day. I've also used almond extract in place of vanilla and it tasted just as wonderful. Last tip - the finer you chop/grind the walnuts, the less your cookie will crumble when being eaten! I've used this recipe dozens of times and it's perfect EVERYTIME! Try this, you WON'T regret it.

Delicious! I ground up the walnuts into a powder, and added 1/2 tsp almond extract and a pinch of salt (I used unsalted butter.) I rolled them in colored granulated sugar before baking and powdered sugar afterwards and they were very pretty. Grinding up the walnuts made them very melt in your mouth, but they still held together pretty well. I'd make these again, but just be aware they are a little time consuming. They're fragile, so you have to be careful when rolling them in the sugar.

Oh my goodness! I've been making the Betty Crocker recipe for these for years, and it's good! But the small changes in this recipe are a huge upgrade. The cookie is light as air, it just melts in your mouth. Delicious. I made these with a few of the technique tweaks suggested in other comments: Soft butter, chilled 30 mins before baking, and cut the flour by a little bit and added more powdered sugar to the dough. Absolute perfection. They're also super quick (except for grinding the nuts, I guess - I just used my food processor.) I don't know what the other reviewer who said these are time consuming was doing, but my batch took less than an hour start to finish, with 30 minutes of that chilling the dough! This recipe is a definite winner.

Very yummy! I made these using pistachios instead of walnuts. I used an ice cream scoop to portion out the dough and then cut it into quarters and I had exactly 3 dozen.

I read some of the reviews to see how people did with it. I used 6 generous tablespoons of powdered sugar. I changed the order of assembly to typical cookie recipes. Creamed butter fluffy first, added in powdered sugar, then vanilla, then flour one cup at a time. Used the Kitchen Aid with the paddle until forming a ball almost then added in very finely chopped walnuts (all I had or I would have used pecans). Scooped with a one inch scoop, so all uniform nice and small. All on the pan and then I made them more round by hand. Baked 12 minutes at 350, but checked on them at 8 minutes. I use a baking stone and I swear by it. Perfect results every time. Let them cool a few minutes and measured and used only 1/3 cup of powdered sugar. Tossed them 6 at a time in a gallon baggie. They are perfect. pop in your mouth size - if you had to bite it, it would self destruct.

These are my husband's favorite cookie. For the walnuts, I grind finely in a food processor so that you still get the walnut flavor but the cookie stays together better. I also find it easier to roll in powdered sugar once they're completely cool. They fall apart less that way.

Loved it! So much like my nana’s recipe. I added 1/2 tsp almond extract and they came out great. The dough is crumbly, so I added about 2 tbsp of almond milk. They rolled nicely and baked beautifully in 12 minutes. Keeper for sure !

I followed the recipe verbatim, until the final step of coating with confectioners sugar. I tried rolling a few and it seemed like a messy and time consuming procedure. So I put all of the cookies on a plate, transferred the sugar to a flour sifter, and quickly sprinkled the cookies with a sugar layer that looked like fresh fallen snow. Oh, and since they were made for Christmas, I rolled half of them in red, green and white pereils, prior to baking. They turned out fabulous!

I did have to add a little milk so the dough wasn’t too dry. My first batch crumbled as soon as I touched them. After reading the other comments, I added the milk (about a teaspoon) until the dough was slightly sticky and cooked them for about 18 minutes (baked them on stoneware). They were then perfect!

I made these up purely because I was consternated by a recipe that asked for UNSALTED butter, but then further down the ingredients list it called for SALT. So I halved the batch and put salt in one and no salt but regular butter in the other. The one with the unsalted butter but extra salt was, in the opinion of all who tasted them, a little too salty. The batch with no extra salt but salted butter were really nice...and everyone (5 friends over for coffee) enjoyed them and said they would be happy to have them again. I'll try them with no added salt and unsalted butter next, and leave a second review.

I love this recipe my dough came out just right. I did make a couple of changes however, I used Kahlua vanilla in place of vanilla flavoring, and I chopped up pecans to put in the cookies. They came out beautifully. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe.

The recipe is really easy and all ingredients that I had in my cupboard. But after baking, they just fall apart, turn to dust.

I wasn’t sure at first, but this turned out amazing. Full of flavor, easy to make, and everyone loved it. It’s going into my permanent recipe collection for sure.

First time making these . Very simple and easy to make . Will be a regular here

Easy to make and bake and very delicious recipe; I enjoyed the whole process

This turned out way better than I expected.

I make these every Christmas. Dozens and dozens and it’s never enough. I prefer to roll the batter in wax paper and freeze. They come out perfect. When you put them in your mouth they poof into yummy deliciousness. Don’t forget the powdered sugar at the end. Some people think they aren’t sweet enough because they don’t use enough to dust the cookies. Cover them!

Made it for dinner and it disappeared.

Perfect for family dinners.