Russian Tea Cookies

When my children were toddlers and I didn't have a lot of time to bake, I made these cookies only because they were so simple to mix and bake.

They also didn't take a lot of ingredients that made them easy on my pocketbook.

I never knew that they were called Russian Tea Cakes or Mexican Wedding Cookies. I just enjoyed the flavor and the fact that the recipe made multiple dozens of these mouth watering treats.

• 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 pecans
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Powdered sugar

• Heat oven to 400ºF.
• Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla in large bowl. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together.
• Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. I use parchment paper on my cookie sheets.
• Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set but not brown. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool slightly on wire rack.
• Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar; cool on wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar again.

If you want to dress these up for the Christmas holiday, you can roll them in green and red colored sugars. I have done them this way but prefer them with the powdered sugar coating.

Once these cookies cool, they store well in clear plastic containers in a cool place so the sugar doesn't start to melt. I use Tupperware only because I'm from the era when everyone had Tupperware parties and collected all the different shapes and styles of storage containers. These are airtight and keep the cookies fresh.