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

FAQs

Why are my snowball cookies falling apart after baking? ›

There was probably too much flour added or they were over-baked. Add another tablespoon of butter or a tablespoon of milk. If they are falling apart a few days later, then they were sitting out too long. Keep them in an airtight container to help them last longer.

Epicurious has two recipes for these cookies, one labeled “Russian” one labeled “Mexican” and they are exactly the same except for two things: the Russian ones have a quarter-cup of additional nuts replacing a quarter-cup of flour, and the Mexican ones suggest you add an eighth of a teaspoon of cinnamon to the powdered ...

The origin for pecan snowball cookies is unknown. Beloved in many parts of the world, these cookies may have traveled to the U.S. by way of immigrants from Eastern Europe or Mexico. Since the 20th century, they've become part of traditional American offerings for weddings and holidays, including Christmas and Easter.

Place the cookies on wire racks to cool completely. The confectioners' sugar will melt a bit and get sticky; that's ok. Once the cookies have completely cooled, roll in confectioners' sugar again. This is when the sugar will really stick.

The cake had layers of white cake with raspberry jam and raspberry frosting as the filling, and was covered with vanilla buttercream. The same cake was also served at JFK's inauguration, along with Ronald Reagan's and George H.W.

The wedding cake in France is called a Croquembouche. It is literally named for the sound it would make when biting into one of the many profiteroles that the cake is constructed with. A profiterole is a small choux pastry-or round ball filled with creamy custard.

Food historians have noted that during the Cold War, Russian tea cakes started disappearing from American cookbooks, and wedding cookies began to appear. It could be a coincidence, but no one knows for sure," Parra explains. Most assume the cookie's name is due to its occasional appearance at some Mexican weddings.

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).

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.

History. Modern Christmas cookies can trace their history to recipes from Medieval Europe biscuits, when many modern ingredients such as cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, almonds and dried fruit were introduced into the west.

Why are they called Russian Tea Cakes? ›

Some people believe that Russian Tea Cakes originated in Eastern Europe, but as far as I could tell, they inherited the name from the 19th-century American fascination with Russian tea culture.

Traditional tea in Russia includes the traditional type known as Russian Caravan as it was originally imported from China via camel caravan. As the trip was very long, usually taking as long as sixteen to eighteen months, the tea acquired its distinctive smoky flavor from the caravan's campfires.

As you can probably guess, this drink originated in Russia dating all the way back to the early 1800s. 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.

Baking requires precision, and if you find your homemade cookies are falling apart, then there's a good chance you have been using too much flour (via Fine Cooking).

Too much flour = crumbly cookies

If you don't want to measure by weight, try sifting your flour first and scooping flour into your measuring cup with a spoon, and don't pack it down into the cup. If all else fails, try reducing the amount of flour in the recipe by 10%.

If your cookies consistently come out flat, you may have selected the wrong baking temperature. If you bake cookies using too much heat, the fats in the dough begin to melt before the other ingredients can cook together and form your cookie's rise.