Half the Sugar Baker
These Russian tea cakes, also known as snowball cookies or Mexican wedding cookies, are a classic holiday treat! They are made with finely chopped nuts and butter for cookies that seem to just melt in your mouth. These cookies are lightly sweetened so that the deep nutty flavors can shine through, and they are so easy to make!
What Are Russian Tea Cakes?
Russian tea cakes are cookies shaped like balls and covered in a layer of powdered sugar. They are also known as pecan meltaways, snowball cookies, and Mexican wedding cookies. The cookies are made with super simple ingredients like flour, butter, sugar, and nuts. Since they have no eggs or leavening agents, these cookies remind me of shortbread cookies, but in circular form. Russian tea cakes are super tender and buttery, and they seem to just melt in your mouth. The cookies are lightly sweetened, which allows the flavor of the nuts to shine through!
What Makes These Cookies Healthier?
These Russian tea cakes are made whole wheat flour and Greek yogurt for a healthier twist on this classic holiday treat. They are also made with less butter and sugar than traditional Russian tea cakes.
Why I Love These Russian Tea Cakes
These Russian tea cakes are so easy to make and can be made with super simple ingredients! They are perfect for a quick last minute treat. I also love how the rich flavor of the toasted nuts shine through these cookies. Unlike other cookies, these Russian tea cakes are lightly sweetened, and the healthier ingredients keep me satisfied! I also love the melt in your mouth texture of these cookies!
Ingredients in Russian Tea Cakes
- Unsalted butter – Since there are so few ingredients in these cookies, I recommend using a high quality butter.
- Plain Greek yogurt – Greek yogurt is used to replace some of the butter in these cookies. You can use whatever type of Greek yogurt you like! I’ve made these cookies with full fat Greek yogurt and nonfat Greek yogurt with great results both times. If you don’t have Greek yogurt, you could substitute cream cheese, sour cream, or unsalted butter.
- Vanilla extract – You could also try using almond extract!
- Whole wheat flour – To add some extra nutrients and fiber, I like to use whole wheat flour in these cookies. The whole wheat flour also adds a richer and more complex flavor! If you don’t have whole wheat flour, feel free to substitute all purpose flour.
- Powdered sugar – Powdered sugar dissolves much easier than granulated sugar, which leads to a smooth and melt in your mouth texture. If you don’t have powdered sugar, you can blend granulated sugar in a high power blender to make your own powdered sugar.
- Finely chopped nuts – My favorite nuts to use are walnuts and pecans, because they have such a rich flavor. You could also try using hazelnuts or peanuts for a peanut butter sandie style cookie! You can easily chop up the nuts by hand, but if you’re in a rush, feel free to simply pulse them in a food processor.
Tips and Notes for Making Russian Tea Cakes
- To ensure easy mixing, make sure that your butter is softened. Cold butter will be very hard to beat!
- Use high quality ingredients! Since these cookies use just a few simple ingredients, the higher quality they are, the better the cookies will taste!
- Make sure to toast the nuts. To really allow the flavor of the nuts to shine, I recommend toasting the nuts before chopping them up. Speaking of chopping the nuts, make sure to chop them finely. If the nuts are too large, the cookie dough may crumble and fall apart. They should have the texture of rough sand.
- Roll the cookies in the powdered sugar while they are still very warm! In order to get a good coating of powdered sugar, make sure to roll the cookies in the sugar while they are still warm from the oven. If the cookies are cool, the powdered sugar will not stick as well.
- If you prefer a thicker coating of powdered sugar, you can roll the cookies in powdered sugar twice. After the first roll in powdered sugar, allow the cookies to cool to room temp, and then roll again!
- These cookies freeze well! I recommend rolling the dough into balls and freezing those. When you are ready to bake, allow the dough balls to come to room temperature and follow the recipe instructions to bake and finish the cookies.
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Healthier Russian Tea Cakes
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt see notes for substitutions
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole wheat flour or substitute all purpose flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 cup toasted walnuts or pecans finely chopped
For rolling:
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the Greek yogurt and vanilla extract and beat until smooth and combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, salt, and powdered sugar. Add to the butter mixture and use a spatula to stir until just combined. Then add the chopped nuts and stir until well incorporated. The dough will be slightly crumbly.
- Form the dough into 1-inch balls by rolling scoops of dough between your hands. You may have to firmly smush the dough to get it to stay together. Place the dough balls on the lined baking sheets, leaving around 2 inches between each ball.
- Bake the cookies for 12-16 minutes, or until the balls are just starting to turn golden brown on the bottom.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool very briefly. Add 1/3 cup powdered sugar to a small bowl. While the cookies are still warm, roll them in the powdered sugar and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. For a thicker coating of powdered sugar, roll the cookies again once they have cooled. Enjoy!
This years snowballs were a disaster for some reason, i cannot figure out why, maybe you can help? I went by the traditional recipe. Dough looked completely normal. I l9oked in the oven, and they were melted snowballs! They were flat. I took them out, let them cool a bit, and rolled or coated them in the powdered sugar. They tasted fine, but they were flat! What do YOU think happened? I did notice i used all purpose flour, but it was NOT self rising. Thx for commenting!
Hi Dolores! I’m sorry to hear that the snowballs didn’t work out. It’s hard to tell what happened, but I think you might have better luck if the dough is chilled, as cold dough spreads less. I would also double check the amount of sugar in your recipe. Snowball cookies usually contain very little sugar in the actual dough and too much sugar can cause the cookies to spread! Hope this helps!