Russian Tea Cakes Recipe - Classic Christmas Snowball Cookies! (2024)

FAQs

How long can you store snowball cookies? ›

How Long Do Pecan Snowball Cookies Last? Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days. Freeze for up to three months for longer storage.

But it's best to freeze Russian tea cakes before you roll them in powdered sugar. Arrange them on a baking sheet, cover, and flash freeze for a few hours or up to overnight. Transfer the now-frozen cookies to a zip-top bag or another freezer-safe container.

Some have speculated the recipes either derived from other Eastern European shortbread cookies, may have migrated to Mexico with European nuns, or may have been associated with cookies served beside Russian samovars (tea urns).

One of the original versions of Snowballs is the Russian Tea Cookie. Originating in Russia, as the name suggests, this cookie was intended to be a dessert to accompany teatime, similar to the way the English enjoy tea with pastries.

It was traditionally composed of black tea with lemon and sugar, orange and pineapple juices, cinnamon, clove, honey, and lemon or orange wedges for garnish. It was typically afforded only by the elite at this time and enjoyed during the cold of winter as a way to warm up.

Why did my snowball cookies turn out flat? Snowball cookies should not flatten. Since they do not contain a leavening agent, the main factor to check is that the dough is chilled before baking.

Snowball Cookie Tips

If your cookies go flat, check the oven temperature. An oven temperature that's too low can result in your cookies spreading out more. Butter that's too soft or melted can also lead to flat cookies.

Aim to make them about two weeks in advance if you keep them at room temperature. Making them one week or a few days in advance is even better if you are going for the freshest possible cookies. Remember that you can always make a new batch if you accidentally keep your cookies out for too long and they become stale.

Russian tea cakes, also called Mexican wedding cookies, are delicate hazelnut-based cookies that freeze well without losing their flavor or texture. For best results, freeze cookies the same day they are baked, after they have cooled completely. You can also freeze unbaked cookie dough for ...

After baking, allow cookies to cool completely. Place them in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet to freeze them, then store them in a freezer-safe zip-top storage bag labeled with the name and date. Squeeze out extra air and place flat in the freezer.

Which cookies freeze best? ›

As a general rule of thumb, 'drop cookies,' which include oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, and 'cut-out cookies,' such as gingerbread and sugar cookies, are freezer-friendly.

There is an interesting legend of how the Russian cake got its name. The story goes that a New Orleans baker made it because he ran out of ingredients to bake a proper cake for the visit of the Russian Grand Duke Alexis when he visited the city in 1872 for Mardi Gras.

Russian Cake is prepared by mixing our almond cake, gold cake and devil's food cake with raspberry jelly, rum flavor and a hint of anise oil (licorice flavor). It is then topped with buttercream and nonpareils (aka sprinkles).

Tea was brought to Russia from Northern China, where it was called 'cha-i' or 'cha-e', that is why in Russia the drink got the name 'chay' (tea). Originally, though, in Russian records, tea was often called 'the Chinese herb' or 'the Chinese dry herb'.

Hematogen (Russian: Гематоген) is a nutrition bar which is notable in that one of its main ingredients is black food albumin, a technical term for cow's blood. It was popular in the former Soviet Union. Other ingredients may vary, but they usually contain sugar, condensed milk and vanillin.

Traditionally, these digestive aid biscuits were made with whole grain flour, vegetable oil, baking soda, sugar, and malt extract. While this recipe has certainly stood the test of time, I'm a firm believer that every baked good tastes better with butter, so I substitute it for the vegetable oil.

Since no one can compete with a classic glass of sweet tea, though, in the South, Russian Tea became synonymous with a hot drink flavored with oranges or lemons and spiced with vanilla, rum, cinnamon, and sometimes preserved cherries.

If you've never had Russian Tea, it is a sugary mixture of orange Tang, pre-sweetened Country Time Lemonade, instant tea, cinnamon and cloves.