Russian Tea Cakes (Nut Balls)

I was getting ready to make Baklava when I realized I had no more sugar.  Could you believe it? No more sugar?  Sugar is a staple in my house and I usually have multiple 5 pound bags of sugar in my pantry.  Well I guess I never took notice when I used the last bag.  
Since I could not make the Baklava and was in a baking mood, I had to find a recipe that did not call for sugar.  Have you ever looked for a baking recipe that did not require sugar?  Well, don't bother because they are few and far between. 
The baking gods decided to be nice to me and I came across this recipe...Russian Tea Cakes.
What the heck are those you ask?  Well they are 1 inch balls of crushed walnuts, butter, confectionery sugar (which I had on hand), flour and vanilla.  
I need to give a shout out to the family kitchen website for providing me with this great little recipe.  I did not change anything in this recipe as I had never made them before.  I do have some ideas of how to change the recipe for another time.


This recipe is doubled from the one I found online.  So it makes about 27-30 cookies.




Here is what you'll need to make these yummy little balls of heaven:

There is that crazy kid again!

• 2 cups butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 4 cups flour, sifted
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups walnuts, finely chopped
• confectioners’ sugar, for rolling

Preheat oven to 400.  Beat the room temperature butter with a hand mixer. 

Now add the confectionery sugar and beat until smooth. 

Now chop the walnuts, you could always use a knife and hand chop them but I used this hand chopper I got from Ikea.  They used to have an infomercial for this gadget a few years ago.  

Crazy Kid!

So I chopped the walnuts with that little gadget and then threw them into the bowl along with the sifted flour, vanilla and walnuts.  

Now mix together, I ended up using my hands to get the dough smooth because it was real crumbly.

Now roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400 for 12 - 15 minutes. 

Come on, what is better than baking with your kids?  

They had so much fun.

Let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes and start to roll them in a bowl of confectioners sugar.  I patted the sugar on them to make sure they really got covered.  

Now they are done! 

 Serve with a hot cup of coffee!!!!!