Russian Tea Cakes (Snowball Cookies)
Best Snowball Cookie Recipe – This classic Russian Tea Cake Recipe is crumbly, buttery, and crunchy, and the cookies practically melt in your mouth. They’re loaded with chopped nuts in an eggless cookie dough, then finished with a generous dusting of powdered sugar for an extra sweet touch!
Why We Love Russian Tea Cakes
Russian Tea Cakes are a classic cookie recipe involving butter, flour, nuts, and powdered sugar. This type of cookie contains no eggs and has a sweet, crumbly texture. So they’re light but nicely dense, with a fabulous bit of crunchiness in every bite.
Russian tea cakes are also often called snowball cookies, and sometimes Mexican wedding cookies or Italian wedding cookies. Although we have a wonderful Italian wedding cookie recipe using pistachios here on the site, this Russian tea cake recipe is slightly different in several key ways…
- First, we are using pecans instead of pistachios.
- Second, the nuts in the cookies are not ground. They are left in chopped pieces, so they are more separated into chunks within the dough.
- Third, we accentuate the nut flavor with almond extract.
- And fourth, the cookies are slightly less round than our Italian wedding cookies. These flatter mounds are more delicate than the wedding cookie variety.
In my opinion, this Russian tea cake, a.k.a. snowball cookie recipe, is absolutely perfect in taste and texture. They are coated in powdered sugar for extra sweetness and are buttery, nutty, and crumbly on the inside. They’re perfect to serve with tea, of course, or as an addition to any Christmas or holiday cookie platter!
Ingredients You Need
- All-purpose flour – for a sturdy but light crumb
- Powdered sugar – also known as confectioners’ sugar, for both the dough and to top the cookies
- Chopped nuts – your choice of walnuts or pecans, or a mixture of both
- Extracts – we’re using both vanilla extract and almond extract for a robust, sweet and nutty flavor
- Salt – a bit to balance out the sweetness
- Butter – unsalted, softened
How to Make Snowball Cookies
- Preheat the oven and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. If using pecan halves, chop them into small pieces.
- Add the flour, chopped nuts, 1 cup of powdered sugar (reserve the rest for later), extracts, and salt to the bowl of an electric mixer.
- Beat on low to combine. Then add the softened butter and beat until the mixture is smooth and even.
Get the Complete (Printable) Russian Tea Cookie Recipe + Video Below. Enjoy!
- Use a 1.5-tablespoon cookie scoop to portion out the dough into balls. Gently roll the dough balls in your hands and place them on the baking sheets, 2 inches apart.
Pro Tip: Keep your hands slightly damp after washing and lightly drying. Having some moisture on your hands makes it easier to roll the dough without it sticking.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until gold around the edges. Meanwhile, place the remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar in a shallow bowl.
- Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes until still warm but cool enough to handle. Roll the cookies in the remaining powdered sugar and place them back on the cookie sheets.
Pro Tip: Alternatively, you can use a sifter to dust powdered sugar over the top of the cookies. This gets them evenly coated just on one side.
- Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Recipe Variations
- Gluten free – You could certainly use a good quality 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Mix. Most GF-friendly flours tend to work well with eggless recipes.
- Nuts – We’re using pecans here, but feel free to use other chopped nuts like walnuts, almonds, or pistachios.
- Dairy-free – It’s easy to make this eggless snowball cookie recipe also dairy-free and vegan! Simply swap regular butter with your favorite plant-based alternative.
- Sugar – You absolutely can leave off the extra powdered sugar on top. This will cut down on the amount of sugar (obviously) and calories.
- Quantity – As-is, this recipe makes about 36 cookies. Halve the ingredients for a batch of 16-18 cookies.
Serving Suggestions
As the name suggests, crumbly and buttery Russian tea cakes are delightful to enjoy with hot tea or coffee. The sweetness and crunch will surely put some pep in your step at afternoon teatime!
Serve snowballs with other traditional treats for snacks, desserts, holiday platters, and family gatherings. They are perfect alongside baked goodies like:
- Earl Grey Cookies (Tea Cakes)
- Walnut Cherry Scones
- Scottish Shortbread Cookies
- Chocolate Petit Fours
- Cinnamon Twists
- Mexican Cookies (Biscochitos)
- Easy Banana Pudding Cookies
We have so many fabulous cookie recipes – take a look!
Frequently Asked Questions
Overly crumbly cookies are usually the result of too much flour in the dough. Because there are no eggs to act as a binder in this recipe, it’s super important that the flour-to-butter ratio is spot on. Make sure to stir the flour in the bag to fluff it, then scoop (or spoon the flour into cups), and level the measuring cups.
Store the snowball cookies in an airtight container and keep them at room temperature for up to a week.
Yes, you can! To freeze the dough before baking, I suggest flash freezing the balls on a baking sheet for one hour before placing them all in a ziploc plastic bag. Freeze them for up to 6 months and bake from frozen, adding a few minutes to the baking time.
I suggest freezing baked cookies without powdered sugar, as it’ll just dissolve into the cookie when thawed and reheated. Cool them completely before transferring them to an airtight plastic bag. They’ll keep well in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw the Russian tea cakes at room temperature for up to 30 minutes and enjoy!
Looking for More Classic Cookie Recipes? Be Sure to Try:
- Linzer Sandwich Cookies
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Key Lime Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
- Orange Cookies (Sugar Cookies with Orange)
Russian Tea Cakes (Snowball Cookies)
Video
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups powdered sugar divided
- 1 ½ cups chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 11 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Set out two baking sheets and line them with parchment paper. If using pecan halves, chop them into small pieces.
- Set out a stand mixer. To the bowl, add the flour, chopped nuts, 1 cup of powdered sugar (reserve the rest for later), vanilla and almond extract, and salt. Beat on low to combine. Add the softened butter and beat until the mixture is smooth and even.
- Use a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the dough into balls. Gently roll the dough balls in your hands and place them on the baking sheets, 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until gold around the edges. Meanwhile, place the remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar in a shallow bowl.
- Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, until still warm, but cool enough to handle. Roll the cookies in the remaining powdered sugar and place back on the cookie sheets. (Alternatively, you can use a sifter to dust powdered sugar over the top of the cookies.)
- Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Notes
To freeze baked cookies, I suggest freezing them without powdered sugar as it’ll just dissolve into the cookie when thawed and reheated. Cool them completely before transferring to an airtight plastic bag. They’ll keep well in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw the Russian tea cakes at room temperature for up to 30 minutes and enjoy!
I grew up eating Russian tea cakes, and this recipe brings back all the nostalgia! They’re soft, buttery, and just the right amount of sweet, and I love how simple they are to make!
The best snowball cookies I’ve ever had! The dough came together so easily, and the cookies turned out light, tender, and delicious. The powdered sugar coating makes them extra special – this is my new go-to recipe for the holidays!
These Russian Tea Cakes are absolutely perfect! They have the ideal melt-in-your-mouth texture with just the right balance of buttery and nutty flavor.