Russian Tea Cake Recipe: Snowball Cookies With A Festive Twist
Written by jheelum basu | November 21, 2025
Russian tea cakes, also popularly known as snowball cookies, are a melt-in-the-mouth kind of sweet treat. Incredibly simple to prepare with pantry staples, these cookies are ideal for Christmas celebrations. With their snowball-like appearance, they add a snowy, festive vibe to the Christmas dessert palette.
Also known as Mexican wedding cookies, or butter balls, these bite-sized delicacies bring in a buttery, crumbly comfort in the mouth with every single bite. The classic Russian Tea Cake recipe includes simple ingredients like butter, sugar, flour, chopped nuts, and vanilla essence. The ball-shaped cookies are baked until lightly golden and then coated in powdered sugar to create the signature snowball appearance.
To add to the Christmassy vibe, the snowball cookies can be arranged like a Christmas tree as a decorative centerpiece. Or, to bring in the happy colors of Christmas, the baked balls can be rolled in colored powdered sugar. To make these, red, green, and golden food colors can be mixed with regular sugar and then powdered in a mixer grinder. To add the wintry vibe to the Christmas dessert palette this year, try this simple Russian Tea Cake recipe.
Russian Tea Cake (Snowball Cookies): A Few Facts To Know
The history and the naming of the classic holiday treat in the United States are actually quite ambiguous. First of all, it has cake and cookies in its name, while it actually looks like a ball. Furthermore, the name includes Russia, while there is no proper evidence that links the sweet treat to the country exclusively. The other name, Mexican Wedding Cookies, also adds to the confusion. However, it is often speculated that the name came from its striking similarity to Eastern European cookies.
Russian Tea Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 cup softened unsalted butter
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ Teaspoon salt
- 1.5 cups finely chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
Step-by-step guide:
Step 1:
Start by preheating the oven to 180°C. Keep a baking tray ready by lining it with baking sheets.
Step 2:
Take a mixing bowl. Add the softened butter and sugar and cream them together using an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract as well.
Step 3:
Next, add the flour and salt to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Also, keep adding the finely chopped nuts until the dough holds together.
Step 4:
Once the dough is ready, roll it into small bite-sized balls. Place the balls about an inch apart on the prepared baking tray.
Step 5:
Allow them to bake for 15 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned. The tops should never turn brown.
Step 6:
Once the cookies are out of the oven but still warm, roll them properly in powdered sugar. Allow them to cool completely on a wire rack and roll them once again in powdered sugar for a better coating.
Common Misakes To Avoid
- Avoid using cold ingredients: While making russian tea cake, make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature. This is particularly important for butter as the softened texture leads to proper creaming. It incorporates air and results in a lighter cookie.
- Avoid overmixing: To make a batch of soft Russian Tea Cakes, avoid overmixing the dough. Instead, mix the ingredients just until combined. Overmixing often forms gluten in the flour, leading to a hard, dense cookie.
- Avoid rolling cookies in powdered sugar while too hot: Roll the cookies in powdered sugar while they are warm. This should not be done when the cookies are too hot. Because the butter in the cookies can melt the icing sugar, which will create a fussy, sticky mess instead of a smooth coating.
- Avoid inaccurate measuring: Baking is all about precision. And here, accurate measurement is key to achieving the desired outcome. Be it the flour or butter, imprecise measurements can completely ruin the outcome.
Conclusion
If the Christmas party theme is winter wonderland, consider this simple Russian Tea Cake recipe this year. The white sugar-coated appearance makes these snowball cookies fit really well with the snow-covered white Christmas theme. And the crumbly, buttery taste never fails to enhance the festive feel.