Whimsical Winter Baking: Russian Tea Cake Snowmen

Published on by In The Vintage Kitchen

Russian Tea Cakes… those dense little snowy bundles of sweet confectionary sugar, butter, flour, and nuts is a classic Christmas cookie that has been a staple in our holiday baking since I was a little kid. One of the most simple of cookies to make, it has other aliases as well…Mexican Wedding Cakes, Rolling in the Snow, Holy Rollers and the plain Jane, practical name… Pecan Balls.

The history behind these guys is muddy but a popular theory is that they originated in Europe as a tea time snack (hence their name Russian Tea Cakes) and migrated to Mexico with European nuns where they became a popular cookie served at weddings (Mexican Wedding Cakes!).  A friend who grew up in Canada knew them as Rolling in the Snow cookies (how very fun!) and at a church-sponsored flea market in the South, I once saw them advertised as Holy Rollers on the food and beverage table. That could have been someone’s clever name made up just for that day, so I’m not sure if this one has actual traction, but it does pay homage to the nun theory anyway.  And of course, for all the literal lovers out there, the Pecan Ball needs no explanation as to how that name came about since indeed these cookies are ball-shaped and can contain pecans.

Traditionally they look something like this…

and can contain any nuts you like – pecans, walnuts, peanuts, pistachios, macademia, etc. My mom always used walnuts and favored the recipe from the Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book printed in 1950…

so that became my family tradition as an adult too. Some other recipes include additional ingredients of cinnamon or loose tea, lavender or lemon zest but Betty Crocker’s version is the one we like best.

Russian Tea Cakes

1 cup soft butter

1/2 cup sifted confectioner’s sugar (plus additional following baking)

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 cups sifted flour (Betty recommended Gold Medal flour back in the day)

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup finely chopped nuts

Mix butter, sugar and vanilla together in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Sift flour and salt together and mix into butter. Stir in nuts and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove dough from fridge and roll into 1″ inch balls* using your hands. Place 2.5 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until set but not brown (between 10-12 minutes).**  While still warm roll in confectioner’s sugar. Cool and then roll in sugar once again.

* To make snowmen: You will need to form three balls per snowman ranging in size from big (base) medium (middle) small (head). Roll each ball in your hand to shape it into a typical snowball shape and then flatten the big and medium balls on the top and bottom with your hand so that that they will sit on top of each other without rolling off. The smallest ball (the head) should only be flattened on the bottom (so that your snowman will have a round head on top). The snowmen pictured here are three inches in height, so use your judgment when shaping as far as ball sizing. If you want to make bigger snowmen, baking times will need to be extended.

** If you are making snowmen –  Bake all the big bottom base snowballs together on one sheet and then the medium and small balls on another sheet since the smaller balls usually take 1-2 minutes less baking time then the big balls. Your snowball sizes will look something like this…

After you’ve baked and sugared all your cookies, now you are ready for the fun part of decorating. This is what I had on hand in the “props” department…

Orange rinds for the scarf and nose, black peppercorns for the eyes and rosemary branches for the arms. To make the scarf and nose just take a vegetable peeler and peel about 3 inches of rind in one long continues piece. Trim with a sharp paring knife to your desired scarf thickness and curl the rind around your fingers to shape it like a scarf (once the rind dries out it will hold the shape perfectly). Wedge the scarf into the section where the head meets the body.

Press the peppercorns into the head gently. They will stick on their own (this step might take a couple of attempts!).

Cut a thin long triangle out of your excess orange rind (to mimic the shape of a carrot)  and gently press into the head where the nose should be. The orange rind will stick to the cookie on its own but might take a couple of attempts too.

Cut rosemary branches to size and poke into each side of the middle ball.

And now your snowman has come to life! Just like the ones you make in your yard, each one will have his own little personality depending on how you style it. The sky is the limit when it comes to decorating your guy so feel free to get creative if you want to make a hat, a jacket or a corncob pipe. Additional mounds of powdered sugar help set the stage for a little wintertime scene, day or night…

Hope this project adds a little fun to your day! Cheers to a winter wonderland from the sweetest little snowmen in the Vintage Kitchen!

108 thoughts on “Whimsical Winter Baking: Russian Tea Cake Snowmen”

  1. My favorite of all Christmas cookie! Make a double batch – they go fast. And they freeze really well. I used to make them with walnuts but now I use the toasted (not salted) pecan pieces from Trader Joes.

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  5. How gorgeous is your blog presentation? Can I please just move in?! Yet to read all your recipes but am definitely going to enjoy watching and copying and learning history along the way. Bravo; thrilled to have found you!

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  27. Oh my God I can almost smell the scent right now.. My grandmother and me made this when I was a little girl. Good times, brings so many happy memories. 😊 My favorite photography is at the end… So creative and well put together for presentation ❤

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    1. So glad this post brought back such good memories you and your grandmother. How lovely! Thank you so much for your kind words. Wishing you the most delicious holiday season with love from the snowmen and the Vintage Kitchen.

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  30. Isn’t it fun to play with your food! Great shots and there is probably a story behind the sad snow face. I am an avid recipe collector and hold onto a few of my mom’s ancient 50’s recipe pamphlets for the memories they bring from days gone by …as a child. Thanks.

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    1. Hello hello my dear! That is marvelous that you still have your mom’s mid-century recipe pamphlets. Have you done much cooking from them? I think the sad little snowman was just a bit camera shy. That was a big day for him with the sugar snow storm, coming to life and a photo shoot all happening over the course of one day. You’ll be happy to know he’s much smilier now:)

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      1. Maybe I should try one of those funky looking cakes from the 50’s, especially after reading your post on the Case Study of 1950’s food photography. Ahha so maybe the photo was throwing me off, you know the strange colors and all. Mind you I study recipes so the ingredients speak to me too and that is why I held on to those old fashioned recipes. If I get around to baking one I will definitely post it and send you the link of the before and recent photo;)

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    1. Thank you so much for your kind words! We had just finished making a wild rice salad the day before, which called for several cups of freshly squeezed orange juice, so we had some extra oranges on hand. Lemon, lime and pomegranate peel could be a fun (and colorful!) option as well!

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    1. Oh how fun. Isn’t it amazing how there are so many names for these guys?! If you do whip up a batch send us a photo – we’d love it to share it on the blog. In the meantime, thanks for popping in to say hello. It’s lovely to meet you. Happy baking!

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