Vegan Russian Tea Cake Recipe

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Vegan Russian Tea Cakes are one of the quickest cookies you can make. I timed myself and literally made these from ingredients in jars to eating cookies in less than 9 minutes, minus the 12 minute cooking time.

If you haven’t had them, they’re like a  buttery walnut shortbread rolled in confectioner’s sugar.  Like most tea cakes or tea cookies, these are not overly sweet. 

Sometimes these are called Snowball Cookies, Butterball Cookies, or Mexican Wedding Cookies, or Bizcochito.

They originated in Russia hundreds of years ago and migrated to Europe, Mexico, then the USA by 1950. 

My mother made Russian Tea Cakes every Christmas when I was a child. I loved the buttery flavor and the way the powdered sugar layer was smooth on tea cake but quickly dissolved. Actually, I still love that about these cookies!

We recommend using Earth Balance as your vegan butter for these, and all of our recipes. No, we're not an Earth Balance sponsor. We like their vegan butter because it has a water-to-fat ratio that is reliably similar to butter.  Other brands we've tried have too much water and that changes how the recipe performs, especially with pastries. 

Just for fun, when I last made these Russian Tea Cakes I timed each part of the process with the timer on my phone. I purposefully did not try to go fast. These cookies are just so fast to make! Here are the actual screenshots:

1. 2.  3.

1. It took 3:49 to make the Russian Tea Cake dough.

2. It took 2:38 to roll out the cookies and place them on the baking sheet.

The cooking time was 12 minutes. 

3. It took 2:21to roll the cookies in the confectioner's sugar.

You can see how the powdered sugar "soaked" into the cookies and there is not a lot of sugar left showing. I roll mine twice and sprinkle a bit on the top to make them look like a fresh snow flurry just blew through our kitchen :-)

Roll in powdered sugar a second time for a thicker sugar coating. 

As a bonus, these tasty treats are a good source of Omega 3 essential fatty acids! They also give you a boost in the fat-soluble vitamins A, E, and K. 

They're a super with walnuts, but you can also use pecans. 

If you like Vegan Russian Tea Cakes you might enjoy these recipes too:

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Jump to Vegan Russian Tea Cake Grocery List

Jump to Vegan Russian Tea Cake Nutritional Analysis

Vegan Russian Tea Cake Recipe

Prep

• 10 minutes prep, 12 minutes cooking
• Serves 30
• Suggested equipment: mixing bowl, baking sheet

Ingredients

• 1 cup Earth Balance Vegan Butter
• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts (or pecans if you prefer)
• 2 cups all-purpose white flour
• 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup confectioner's sugar for rolling the tea cakes in. 
• *optional spices you like (cardamom, cinnamon, anise, ginger...)

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 350F (175C).

1. Combine your dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Mix your vegan butter and vanilla until creamy and smooth.
3. Using your hands or a spatula, blend the butter mixture and dry ingredients together.
4. Roll the dough into 1” (2 cm) diameter cookies.
5. Place 1” apart on your baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes.
6. Place reserved 2/3 cup of confectioner’s sugar in a bowl for rolling the cookies in
7. Remove from heat and when they’re just cool enough to handle, roll them in sugar. The sugar will adhere much better when the cookies are warm. Set aside and give them a second coat by rolling them in the sugar again if you want a more solid coating.

Your Vegan Russian Tea Cakes will stay fresh for about a week when stored in a sealed container.

Chef's Notes 

We use walnuts in this recipe but you can easily substitute pecans. 

While we like the simple shortbread flavor, you can also add your favorite spices, or mini chocolate chips, or chia seeds. Make it once, following our recipe, then experiment with your own variations. 

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Written by Your Vegan Family 

Stacy and Markus live a thriving vegan lifestyle and write articles and offer courses to inspire you about plant-based cooking and health, moderate a private online Thriving Vegan Family Community where you can interact directly with them, other families, and plant-based enthusiasts about a vegan lifestyle, nutrition, and raising vegan kids. They earned degrees in molecular biology and acupuncture, consulted over decades for healthcare companies and individuals, created businesses in Asian medicine, eco-tourism, cultural immersion, and taught yoga in myriad venues. They also offer individual health and wellness coaching to individuals who are motivated to improve the quality of their lives. 

We’ve learned a lot from eating a plant-based diet for 25 years and are eager to share more with you. Learn more on our About Us page.

Vegan Russian Tea Cake Recipe Grocery List: 

To support our eco-social values, we choose organic, local, and small businesses whenever we can. We invite you to shop with your personal values when and where you can too. We change the world one purchase at a time!

• all-purpose white flour
• walnuts (or pecans)
• confectioner's sugar
• Earth Balance vegan butter
• vanilla

Vegan Russian Tea Cake Recipe Nutritional Analysis

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutritional calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. When exact ingredients are not available in this database, the closest substitution is made. 

Percentages are based on a 2,000 calorie daily diet for an adult. 

 * Some of the links in this article may be affiliate links. If you use them and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment. You will not be charged extra for this. Thank you for your support!