Babette James

When I was a kid, my mom baked all sorts of wonderful goodies for Christmas: pecan pie (and mince pie for grandpa), fruity stollen for Christmas morning breakfast, a graham cracker-based fruitcake (liberally laced with brandy and very yummy), and of course, our family’s favorite cookies: hermits, snickerdoodles, chocolate chip, and my dad’s favorite at Christmas, Russian Teacakes.

My brother and I would help roll all those balls, and then after they were baked, double roll the hot little cookies in powdered sugar to turn them into perfect little snowballs. Our fingertips would get all coated with the sugar and it was torture avoiding licking our fingers. It was further torture to have to behave and make sure we left most of those cookies in the tin for Dad to eat.

Mom’s Russian Teacakes

1 cup butter

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup chopped nuts (I like to use pecans. Walnuts are good.)

Additional confectioners sugar for rolling

Cream together the butter sugar and vanilla. Mix in the flour, salt and nuts until thoroughly combined. Chill the dough.

Preheat the oven to 400°.

Roll dough into about one-inch diameter balls and set on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

While cookies are cooling, but still warm, roll in confectioners sugar, then when cool, roll once more.

Enjoy!

My friend have also posted some of their favorite cookie recipes.

Jeannene Walker’s Chocolate Mice | Annie Nicholas’ Famous Shortbread | Keri Ford Cake Batter Cookies | Jeanette Murray’s Seven Layers Cookies |CM Torrens’ Stained Glass Christmas Cookies | Voirey Linger’s Christmas Thumbprints