Russian Tea Cake Recipes

More precisely a pastry, a Russian tea cake is a sweet delicacy having its root in Russia. It is made from simple cookie recipe ingredients like flour, groundnut, sugar and butter. In the 18th century, it was widely included as a sweet cookie in tea sharing ceremony. Despite the name, these cakes are popularly served during weddings and Christmas in the United States.

The difference between regular tea cakes and the Russian variety is the extra sweetness in the latter, which is achieved by coating cookies with powdered sugar immediately after baking and again when the cookies have cooled down. Easy to bake and less time-consuming, they make a special dessert for people having a strong sweet tooth. Instead of buying them from a confectioner's shop, you can try baking them at home. Following are some recipes of the same:

Ingredients

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour (sifted)
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter or margarine (softened)
• ¾ cup finely chopped almond
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Extra powdered sugar (for decoration)

Directions for Preparation

Preheat oven to 400° F. In a large mixing bowl, combine together the ingredients - ½ cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla. To this, stir in flour, chopped almond and salt. Whisk the mixture well till you get a smooth dough. Make small balls (about 1-inch size) out of the cake dough and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Make sure you do not overcrowd them, or else, the cookies will stick to each other during baking.  Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Transfer baked cookies into a wire rack. When cookies are still hot, roll them in powdered sugar. Allow to cool down for a few minutes and roll tea cakes in powdered sugar again before serving.

Ingredients

• 2½ cups flour
• ½ cup sifted powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter
• ¾ cup finely chopped pecans
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Confectioner's sugar

Directions for Preparation

First of all, preheat oven to 400° F. Take a large mixing bowl and add powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract. Beat mixture for 3-4 minutes and stir in flour, chopped pecans and salt. Continue whisking the mixture until it becomes smooth.

Roll dough and make 1-inch balls. Arrange them over an ungreased cookie sheet, maintaining a gap of ½ inch between two cookies. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the tea cakes are set. When done, allow them to cool down slightly and then roll the tea cakes in some confectioner's sugar.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups rice flour
• ½ cup sweet rice flour
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions for Preparation

In a small saucepan, beat butter with sugar and vanilla extract. Take another bowl and combine flour, chopped pecans, xanthan gum and salt. Fold in this dry mixture into the butter concoction. When blended, make small balls from the dough.

Lay an ungreased baking sheet and place the cookie balls over it. Bake at 350° F for 10-12 minutes.  Remove tea cakes and wait till they cool down slightly (for 2-3 minutes). Roll them in powdered sugar. Again roll tea cakes in powdered sugar after they cool down completely.

Now that you know how to make Russian cakes, you do not have to wait for special events for enjoying them. You can alter the ingredients, by making use of chopped walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, etc. In fact, you can use any type of nuts for baking Russian tea cakes.