Russian Tea Cakes / Mexican Wedding Cakes (cookies)

Total Time: 30 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup toasted pecans or 2/3 cup walnuts or 2/3 cup hazelnuts
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar (powdered or icing sugar)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted (powdered or icing sugar)

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350 degrees f (175 degrees c).
• 2 line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. set aside.
• 3 toast nuts. place nuts on a separate baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes (or until lightly brown and fragrant) in a 350 degree f oven. cool.
• 4 once the nuts have cooled completely place them, along with 2 tablespoons of the flour for the recipe, into your food processor, fitted with a metal blade, and process until they are finely ground (but not a paste). or the nuts can be hand chopped until very fine. set aside.
• 5 in the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).
• 6 beat in the vanilla extract.
• 7 add the remaining flour and salt and beat until combined.
• 8 stir in the nuts.
• 9 cover and refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour or until firm.
• 10 once the dough is firm, form the dough into 1 inch (2.54 cm) balls and place 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheets.
• 11 bake about 12-15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown.
• 12 remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes.
• 13 roll the semi-cool cookies in the sifted powdered sugar and return to rack to cool completely.
• 14 store in airtight container for up to 10 days.