Russian Snowball Food

SNOWBALLS II

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cream the butter with 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla. Mix in the flour, pecans, and salt. Roll about 1 tablespoon or so of dough into balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake in preheated oven until bottoms are golden, about 15 minutes. Do not allow these cookies to get too brown: it's better to undercook them than to overcook them. While cookies are still hot, roll them in confectioners' sugar. Once they have cooled, roll them in confectioners' sugar once more.

WEDDING COOKIES (SNOWBALLS, RUSSIAN TEA CAKES)

Steps:

• Blend softened butter with powdered sugar. Add vanilla.
• Mix in salt, baking powder, flour and chopped pecans.
• Form dough into 1 inch balls or flattened cookies and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake in a 325 degree oven for 12 minutes, until firm but not brown. While hot roll in powdered sugar. Let cool and roll again in powdered sugar.

TROPICAL HAWAIIAN SNOWBALLS (HAWAIIAN-STYLE RUSSIAN TEA COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 5 cookie sheets with parchment paper, or spray with cooking spray.
• In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and vanilla and coconut extracts.
• Sift together the flour and the salt.
• Slowly add to the butter mixture.
• Add nuts. Mix until blended well.
• Roll into small, bite sized balls. (about 3/4 of an ounce or 2 tablespoons). I like to use a small #40 portion disher (small, 3/4 ounce sized, ice cream scoop) and place 1-inch apart on prepared cookie sheet.
• Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until slightly golden.
• While still warm, (not hot, not cold) roll through powdered sugar.
• Keeps about a week (but they won't be around that long) in an air-tight container.

TOFFEE SNOWBALLS (RUSSIAN TEACAKES OR MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES)

Steps:

• Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat oven to 325ºF.
• Cream butter until light & fluffy. Add sugar, vanilla and water. Mix well. Stir flour and salt into mixture. Add pecans, toffee bits and mini chocolate chips and mix thoroughly.
• Roll into tablespoon-sized balls. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Roll in powdered sugar while warm. Once cooled, roll in powdered sugar again.

RUSSIAN TEA CAKES I

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a medium bowl, cream butter and vanilla until smooth. Combine the 6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar and flour; stir into the butter mixture until just blended. Mix in the chopped walnuts. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, and place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. When cool, roll in remaining confectioners' sugar. I also like to roll mine in the sugar a second time.