Russian Tea Cakes

I know that two days after Christmas, it’s impossible to be anything but cookie-d out, but I implore you to make room for just two more: one flawless recipe, and one baker’s trick that everyone should have in their repertoires.

The first is Russian Tea Cakes, also known as Mexican Wedding Cakes, also known as polvorones and, no doubt, dozens of other things. I just call them dreamy. Toasted nuts are ground into a fine powder — the Russian-style seems to call more often for hazelnuts, the Mexican ones typically demand pecans, but I’d argue you could use anything from walnuts to almonds (I bet those marcona ones would be dreamy) to Brazil or macadamia nuts — mixed into a fairly un-sweet butter cookie base, baked in little balls and then rolled, still warm in a cloud of powdered sugar, sometimes enhanced with a sprinkle of cinnamon. They melt in your mouth. They keep well for even two weeks, tasting better as they age. I think if I were a nut, and I suspect we know that I am, this is how I’d like to be showcased, even if it would mean a certain demise in many a gaping maw.

I made the cookies this time with hazelnuts, but confess that I liked them better when I made them last year with pecans — perhaps it’s their higher oily content? Next I’d like to try them with my favorite, walnuts. Epicurious has two recipes for these cookies, one labeled “Russian” one labeled “Mexican” and they are exactly the same except for two things: the Russian ones have a quarter-cup of additional nuts replacing a quarter-cup of flour, and the Mexican ones suggest you add an eighth of a teaspoon of cinnamon to the powdered sugar. As I’ve loved both (not realizing they were nearly identical until later), I am torn over which to share so below, I am combining the two. Evidently, today is Walk on the Wild Side Day here at Smitten Kitchen.

Finally, the baker’s trick: A couple weeks ago, I made those wee chocolate tartlets with a pate sucree so good, I couldn’t part with it. To keep myself from eating it raw — though we all know I still did — I rolled it out, cut it with cookie cutters, brushed the tops with cream and sprinkled coarse sugar on them. I didn’t have enough to do this, but they would have made perfect sandwich cookies, filled with some ganache or seedless raspberry jam. The moral of the story: waste not those scraps! I don’t mean to seem superficial, but pretty much anyone who brings me a tin filled with a pile of sparkly homemade cookies is guaranteed to be asked over again. Isn’t it the same for everyone?