Russian Tea Cakes

I love Russian Tea Cakes. It's not really a cake, it's a cookie. My first taste of it was when my cousin Ate Binky brought some in my lola's house years ago (I was in my early teens then) and I couldn't forget the sweet buttery taste of this delicious cookie. I researched for easy recipes and I happen to find this one. I wish I could remember where I got it from. I have several recipes, but this one is so far the best and the easiest. It only has five ingredients. All of which are staples in any pantry.

You will need:
1 cup softened butter (do not soften in the microwave)
6 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups of flour
Walnuts
Powdered sugar for dredging

Here's how:
1. Beat butter until creamy. Add powdered sugar, flour and vanilla. Mix until combined. The dough will be beady and will only come together when you shape it.
2. With a small spring-loaded ice cream scoop, scoop the dough, place a walnut inside and roll into balls. Don't make it too big, otherwise the inside will be raw when you bake it.
You can also use a melon baller (like I did) if you don't have the fancy ice cream scoop to shape the balls. This is to make them all even in shape and therefore will have the same baking time. The original recipe calls for chopped walnuts mixed into the dough. Putting a whole walnut inside is much more decadent, don't you think?
3. Line them in a baking sheet with parchment, about an inch apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Do not brown them. They should be firm but still yellowish in color.
4. Cool in a cooling rack.
5. When completely cool, dredge in powdered sugar. If you don't cool it completely, the powdered sugar will just melt and form clumps. Double dredge if you want it extra sweet.
Makes around 36 balls.

When I made this dessert the other day I was so pleased because they came out so perfectly, I felt like Martha Stewart :-)

This cookie recipe can also be shaped into crescents sans the walnuts and can be served as wedding cookies.

Tip: If you run out of powdered sugar, just use regular white sugar and blend the hell out of it in your blender. Voila! Powdered sugar. Don't use the coffee or spice grinder unless you made absolutely sure that there are no odors left. Otherwise, the sugar will absorb the taste of the coffee or spices.

When you bake this, your kitchen will smell so heavenly. There's nothing like the smell of baking cookie dough wafting through your kitchen.