NUTBALLS
2/3 c butter 3 T. sugar
1 c ground walnuts 1 t. vanilla
1 c flour Confectioners' sugar
Cream butter, add next 4 ingredients & work with fingers
until well blended. Pinch off bits of dough and roll into
balls the size of marbles. Bake on lightly buttered cookie
sheet in preheated oven (375o) for 10 minutes. While hot
roll in confectioners sugar. Reroll before serving.
The above cookies are Russian Tea cookies. However in my family they were just called nutballs because we made them in very small bite sizes.
This one may take a little practice. They are best when the walnuts are not too finely chopped. I like them better when you notice the nuts. It’s best to cream the butter with a mixer but it is important to work the rest of the ingredients in by hand. This dough can be hard to work with when warm. I would advise that you cool the dough before you form the cookies. It is also important not to over grease the cookie sheet as these will spread.
It is also important to watch these cookies. The time for baking is approximate depending on the size you make. I like them smaller like a (cat eye marble) They can be made larger like the size of a shooter marble. At that size the bottom flattens more.
Remove them from the pan to cool. Be careful, they have been known to stick or if too large to crumble when you take them off the pan. If you plan on using them immediately roll them in powdered sugar while they are warm. Cool and then reroll just before serving.
These can be frozen with no problem. If I plan to freeze them I do not roll them in sugar. I wait and roll them in sugar after they have thawed and just before I use them.
Julietvalcouer: I made these this afternoon and they are PURRFECT! Just exactly what I wanted to send my sister in CA. Now I am going to make another batch for my uncle. They were so easy and they melt in your mouth. I've always wondered how to make those little shortbread cookies. Now I can. Thanks again!Below is my mother's instructions for nutballs, aka Russian Tea Cakes (I suspect that the real reason they weren't called Russian tea cakes in her family was it would have given my very Ukranian grandmother and great-grandmother fits. Not big fans of the Russians, they.)