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

FAQs

Why do my snowball cookies go 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.

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.

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).

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.

Why are my Russian tea cakes crumbly? Russian tea cakes are super tender and meant to be crumbly. They practically melt in your mouth. Keep the size of the cookies small so you can pop a whole cookie into your mouth without biting it into smaller pieces (and getting crumbs and confectioners' sugar all over the place).

You can store snowballs in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. If you stack the cookies, place a piece of parchment paper between each layer to prevent sticking.

Try using baking powder instead of baking soda. Baking soda encourages spreading while baking powder puffs the cookies up. If your recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of baking soda, you would use 3 to 4 teaspoons of baking powder.

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.

Many insist that the snowball was created in New Orleans in the 1930s, while others insist that Baltimore, Maryland, was their place of origin. Snowballs have grown to become a wildly popular tradition in Louisiana regardless of where they were first created.

These cookies gained popularity in the early 20th century when refrigerators were becoming commonplace in households. The term "icebox" refers to the antiquated ice-cooled refrigerators of that era, where the dough for these cookies found a convenient home while waiting to be baked.

What is Louisiana Russian cake? ›

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).

Standing tall with at least eight tiers (and sometimes more than 20) of alternating layers of pastry and custard, the Napoleon cake has become a national Russian dish, inspired by the French mille-feuille.

Traditionally, black tea is the most common tea in Russia, but green tea is becoming more popular.

Made with beet sugar, condensed milk and sugar syrup, it's also infused with a surprising secret ingredient: cow's blood. The popular nosh was created as a kid-friendly iron supplement.

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.

Most of them seemed to revolve around the concept of making the cake layers from a roll-out, honey flavored, soft cookie dough, and filled with a lightly sweetened sour cream frosting. Some variations called for pourable cake batters to make the layers, and a few had a dulce de leche based frosting.

Medovik (Russian: медови́к (medovik), from мёд/мед — 'honey') is a layer cake popular in countries of the former Soviet Union. The identifying ingredients are honey and smetana (sour cream) or condensed milk. It is a dessert which is known for its lengthy preparation time.