Baked

I think giving baked goods for the holidays is a fabulous idea. Last year we gave banana nut bread and pumpkin quick bread to some friends and they were a hit. You can really get your Martha on by wrapping the loaves in pretty Christmas colored tea towels. If you tie it with a coordinating ribbon they'll know you're an overachiever.

This year instead of bread, we're sending cookies across the miles to our unsuspecting relatives. So if any of you are reading this, act surprised when you open your boxes. Here's one of the cookies you're getting!

This recipe for Russian Tea Cakes has been in the Betty Crocker cookbook for years and is the type of recipe that every family has a spin on. They're cookies, not cakes, and they also go by the name of Mexican Wedding Cookies, Butterballs, Italian Butter Nuts, Viennese Sugar Balls and Snowballs.

All this talk of nuts and balls is making me uncomfortable. On to the recipe already.

Russian Tea Cakes
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts
1/4 teaspoon salt
Powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 400ºF.
2. Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla in large bowl. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set but not brown. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool slightly on wire rack.
5. Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar; cool on wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar again.
6. Individually wrap each cookie in food-safe gauzy fabric and tie with a coordinating silken ribbon Throw a trayful into a cookie tin and ship it off.

Pictures to follow as soon as I actually get around to making them!