These are a family recipe. As kids we called them “snowballs” because that is what they look like – small ball shaped cookies rolled in powdered sugar. My mom always called them Russian tea cakes. Either way they are delicious. Get your Cub Scouts to help with forming the balls of dough and rolling the warm cookies in powdered sugar.
These go well with a Winter Wonderland theme for your program.
Snowballs 0r Russian Tea Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cups very finely chopped nuts (we like pecans)
- Additional powdered sugar
Directions
- Mix the butter, sugar, and vanilla thoroughly.
- Stir in the flour and salt.
- Mix in the nuts.
- Chill the dough for about 1 hour.
- Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Roll dough in one inch balls.
- Place on ungreased baking sheet.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until set but not brown.
- While still warm, roll in additional powdered sugar.
- Cool.
- Roll in powdered sugar again.
i may just have to make these today. we have our church christmas carol sing in and i should bring cookies for the after party. i’m the queen of chocolate chip, but wanted to make something slightly more seasonal. thanks for the recipe! very timely!
My mom has a very similar recipe except she takes a small circle of dough, puts a Hershey kiss on it, and wraps the dough around it into a ball. One of my favorite treats at Christmas time!