Butter is the preferred shortening to use in Russian tea cakes.
Russian tea cake is a small cookie, similar to one that is baked in many countries and has many names depending on the culture producing it. It is a favorite around Christmas time and on special occasions.
Ingredients
Russian tea cakes contain flour, butter, sugar, and nuts. They are rolled into round balls, baked, and rolled while hot in confectioner's sugar. Other ingredients can be added, like orange flavoring, vanilla, eggs, cornstarch, baking powder and coconut.
Alternative Names
Since the 1950s, Russian tea cakes have been known as Mexican wedding cakes in the United States, but also as butterballs, snowballs, Swedish tea cakes, almond crescents or moldy mice. In Australia, they are melting moments; in Mexico, biscochitos; Italy and Spain; polvorones.; des kourabi in Greece.
Origin
Russian tea cakes are traced to a cookie introduced to Europe by the Moors when they invaded Spain in the 8th century. They brought with them sugar cane and the technology to make sugar from it.
Spread
Sugar use spread throughout Europe. The cookie recipe spread too, and was commonly known as jumble in Medieval Europe. From Spain, the recipe went to South America and Mexico. Other Europeans introduced it to North America. With the introduction of tea into Russia in the mid-1600s, a tradition arose of eating sweet cakes, such as this cookie, with samovar tea.
Tags: Russian cakes, Origin Russian
