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These are my Mom’s Famous Russian Tea Cakes! They’re the perfect classic Christmas cookie and we’ve been making them for my entire life. You can make these easy cookies in no time. The most popular name for these are Snowball Cookies but they’re the same recipe and everyone loves them. My mom gets several requests to make them all year long.
What is a Russian Tea Cake?
A classic Christmas Cookie, tea cakes are buttery cookie balls filled with nuts, also called Snowball Cookies. They only have a few ingredients and are rolled in powdered sugar after baking. They’re delicate and practically dissolve in your mouth.
I don’t make a ton of recipes more than once, but I make my mom’s Russian Tea Cake Recipe several times a year. My mom has been making these longer than I’ve been alive. I call them her Famous Russian Tea Cakes because she’s always the one that makes them – and they’re always expected (and requested!) at parties. She makes them for Christmas, for Easter, for every holiday…and just because it’s a Tuesday.
5 Ingredients in Snowball Cookies
There are just a few ingredients in these easy cookies:
- Butter: You can use salted OR unsalted butter (see recipe notes). Make sure it’s softened. Make sure to use REAL butter, the higher quality the better. (I love Challenge Butter best!)
- Powdered Sugar: This makes them nice and delicate.
- Vanilla: Always buy PURE vanilla!
- Salt: Needed if using unsalted butter – omit if using salted butter.
- Flour: Be sure to measure it correctly.
These cookies hold their shape when they bake, because the have no leavening and no egg.
How to make Russian Tea Cakes
- Cream butter and powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a large bowl if using a hand mixer.
- Add vanilla extract, salt, and flour and mix until combined. This will take a long time if you’re using a hand mixer – just keep mixing.
- Add chopped pecans or walnuts (or even almonds or pistachios!)
- Scoop 1 tablespoon sized cookie dough balls onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mats. Bake until bottoms are light golden.
- Roll cooled cookies in powdered sugar for a snowball look.
FAQs
The best thing about making these cookies (besides eating them) is that they freeze well! My mom and I always freeze these for holidays or just any day you want a cookie. You may just have to re-roll them in powdered sugar once they’re thawed. Other than that you don’t have to do anything special to freeze them.
Traditionally Snowballs are filled with nuts, either pecans, walnuts or almonds. My mom always made them with pecans, so that’s what I use in this recipe.
Yes they freeze great for up to 3 months.
Just keep mixing – this dough is stiff and if you’re using a hand mixer it will take longer to come together than if you’re using a stand mixer. If it’s still crumbly you just need to keep mixing.
They should not flatten at all. Did you make any substitutions? If they flatten you may have not measured the flour correctly or your butter may have been too warm or melted.
Mom’s Russian Tea Cakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup (57 g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ¼ cups (279 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup finely chopped nuts pecans, walnuts, or almonds
- Powdered sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add flour and salt and mix until the dough comes together. Stir in the nuts. If dough is too soft, chill it until you can work it easily with your hands.
- Scoop 1 tablespoon balls of dough and place on prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake cookies for 7-8 minutes until bottoms are just slightly brown. Remove from oven and cool for just a minute, until you can handle them. Fill a small bowl with powdered sugar and roll each cookie in the sugar until coated.
- Place on a rack to cool. (Once cookies are cooled, you may want to re-roll them in more powdered sugar.)
- You can freeze these cookies or make them up to 4 days ahead of serving.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- Omit the nuts and substitute mini chocolate chips
- Omit the nuts and substitute toffee bits
- Omit the nuts and make them plain
- Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
- Check out my snowball category for all ideas!
Recipe Nutrition
Other favorite Christmas Cookies:
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Shortbread Cookies (4 ways)
- Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles
- Cake Mix Crinkle Cookies
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
Easy Russian Tea Cakes are a classic Christmas cookie we’ve been making my whole life. My mom’s recipe is famous in our family! They’re buttery cookies filled with pecans and they’re SO good!
Last Updated on December 7, 2023
We have the same thing here in the Christmas-New Year holiday period, called Kourampiedes/Kourabiedes. It’s must be almost exactly the same. Your Russian version looks amazing though!
Fantastic job Dorothy!
Panos and Mirella
This are my mom’s favorite too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My recipe it’s a little bit different, but anyway, they are russian tea cakes as well. They are so tasty! She call them “mis galletitas de nuez” (my little nut cookies) 😉
By the way, we make them for christmas (and we learned the recipe one christmas time) too. 🙂
Hi! Â I’ve been making these cookies for years! Â A family favorite around the holidays. After reading your article I was motivated to try something different. I substituted pistachios and chopped cranberries for the pecans. My family loved the tea cakes 2.0! Â Thanks for the inspiration!
That’s awesome! I have so many new versions I want to try too!
Thanks!! This confirmed the measurements my mom had sent me and I didn’t have time to call home (another country). These are some of our biggest Christmas cookie traditions too! Thanks for posting! (Love your site!!)
Thanks Amy!
I just used your Russian Tea Cookie recipe. They taste delicious but they flattened out in the oven. They didnt stay round and they are so delicate, I can barely pick them up without it crumbling in my fingers. Any suggestions?Â
Possibly they flattened because the mixture was too warm. Did the dough seem sticky when you were rolling the balls? Mine is pretty firm when I make the little balls of dough, so if the butter was too soft, and the balls are too soft, the cookies will spread more. Normally it doesn’t matter but if your butter happened to be very soft (or you’re somewhere warm) it might do that. (Also – was it real butter?) As for the crumbly, I’m not sure, but how do you measure your flour and powdered sugar? If it’s scooped with the measuring scoop it can pack and the results might be affected. Rule of thumb is to use a spoon to scoop into the measuring cup.
Thanks! Yeah I’m in Hawaii and the dough was cold but not super cold. It was a bit sticky. I measure my flour and sugar by scooping and running a butter knife over it. I’ll try and make this recipe again using your tips!
The humidity might definitely play a part! Try chilling the dough first!
Great recipe! Exactly the same as the traditional Greek Christmas cookie “Kourampies” . Never thought it was from Russian origin! How interesting!Â
It’s so interesting how every culture seems to have these cookies and call them something different! They’re also called Mexican Wedding Cookies!
I have time to make these cookies today. This is 12/18/15.
Will they be good on Christmas day, in a week? And on Boxing Day, 12/26/15?
Thanks!
Pamela
I don’t think any cookies last that long and still taste fresh. If you want to make them today, I would freeze them after rolling, in a large ziploc bag with paper towels between the layers, then defrost as many as you need and re-roll as needed in powdered sugar.
My mother also made these every Christmas. She always put them in Christmas cookie tins. One year when they moved to Arizona, we were packing kitchen stuff. In the top shelf, way in the back of the cabinet, Â was a forgotten tin full of Russian tea cakes. This was in June. They were still fresh/good as if they were made that week. A wonderful surprise for all of us kids. Mom always hid some of the Christmas cookies so us kids didn’t eat them all before company came. There were 9 of us kids but only 6 still living at home at that time. So to answer your question, if they are in a tightly sealed container, they will last! Enjoy!!
That’s great to know!! Thank you!
Ps.. By the way we always started after thanksgiving to make all our Christmas cookies and none of our cookies were stale or bad by Christmas.Â
I’m making russian teacakes today and hope they turn out. They are sooo yummy!
Enjoy! They always turn out for me, so I know they will for you too!
My mom made these in the 50’s as Russian nut balls. Still call them that, but now ake them Gluten Free. Same yum, but even MORE tender!
Awesome! They have so many names!! Thanks Denise!
Just made the Russian Tea cakes. AWESOME!!! The best recipe for them that I have tried. Thank you (and your Mom) for sharing. Love your website.
Thanks Betty! (That’s my mom’s name too!!) 🙂
I was so excited to be eating Russian cookies, and then they are just American? Bummer. Anyways, I love these types of buttery and powdery cookies, so I’m definitely going to make these. For tea. Because I’ve been needing an excuse to have a tea party with friends. And once I’ve fed them cookies, they probably won’t complain that tea parties are meant for little girls.
I have no idea if they’re American or not! They have lots of names…so I think they’re from everywhere!
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