Russian Tea Cakes

Those melt in your mouth cookies can be found under many names. Russian tea cakes, Mexican wedding cookies, Austrian Kipferin. They have two things in common, they are eggless

and buttery. My boys love them because somehow they associate them with timbits (canadiens know what I'm talking about).

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract (pure)

3/4 cup ground hazelnuts or ground almonds.

1/2 cup icing sugar (for rolling the cookies)

Preheat the oven to 325˚F and position the rack in the middle of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon mat.

In a medium mixing bowl sift the flour and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat the sugar, butter and vanilla for about 1 minute until smooth. Add the ground hazelnuts or ground almonds.

Beat on low speed until combined.

Add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until the dough comes together in large clumps.

To make the cookies. Roll a full tablespoon of dough to form a ball of 1 inch round. Place the balls on the prepare baking sheet about 1 inch apart.

Bake the cookies for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the bottom is lightly colored.

Let the cookies to cool in the baking pan for 5 minutes and after that transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

When the cookies are completely cool roll them thru the icing sugar.

Enjoy with a cup of your favorite tea.