Russian Tea Cakes (Pecan Sandies)

My mother called these “Pecan Sandies”, but that name is used to refer to several different recipes.

Russian Vegetarian prep1 hr total time1 hr 15 mins servings48 addedDecember 2020

• 1 cup butter
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cups finely chopped pecans
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Powdered sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Mix butter, ½ cup powdered sugar and the vanilla in large bowl. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set but not brown. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool slightly on wire rack.
5. Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar; cool on wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar again.

Tips

• This dough doesn’t spread during baking, so arrange them about 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Like shortbread they don’t brown; they’re done when firm to the touch.
• Similar cookies are called snowballs or a version that’s filled with rich pine nuts can also be called Mexican wedding cakes.
• Tea cakes are rich, crumbly, and a style of bite-size shortbread. Short doughs refer to tender cookies and pastries that are influenced by the ratio of fat and flour.
• Vary the texture and flavor by playing with different nuts. Cashew, hazelnut, pecans or walnuts are good choices, especially if toasted and finely ground before mixing into the dough.