The Russian Tea Cake has always been one of my favorite holiday cookies. Its light and crisp texture is perfectly complimented with the subtle smoothness of powdered sugar. However, the traditional recipe calls for ground nuts mixed into the batter. I thought, how sad that those with severe nut allergies will never be able to taste this delectable little cookie. I had to develop a Nut Free version so my son John could see for himself why his mommy is obsessed with this powdered gem.
The following recipe is a result of that search. The trick to this particular recipe is to roll the cookies while still warm in powdered sugar, then cool completely and roll again. I promise you won’t miss the nuts. When my son tried these cookies for the first time he declared them became his new Favorite Cookie of all time, even over my famous Chocolate Chip Cookies. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…
Enjoy!
DAIRY, EGG AND NUT FREE RUSSIAN TEACAKES
1 c. dairy free margarine
½ c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 ¼ c. all purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 c. powdered sugar (for rolling)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine margarine, powdered sugar and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Stir in flour and salt until dough comes together into a pliable ball.
Shape dough into one inch balls and place onto prepared baking sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. While the cookies are still warm but cool enough to handle roll in powdered sugar. Cool completely and roll in sugar again.
What dairy free margarine would you suggest for baking? Thank you so much for your recipes! It is so fun to see our son’s eyes light up when I say he can have the cookies I’m baking!
You could go to Whole Foods and get Earth Balance shortening and sticks, but for me personally I use Fleischmans UNSALTED margarine. I bake a lot, and use a lot of of margarine so I like to be practical about availability and cost. It works great in all my recipes. Just be sure to only use the unsalted version, as the regular version has dairy. Happy Baking!
I love these, simple, yet they look so good! I just saw your sugar cookie recipe … those could even be soy-free with spectrum shortening. Bonus for those with even more allergies!
Alisa, you’re right, that would work great too. It is a really simple and fast recipe to prepare. Enjoy!
Wow you are amazing! Those look awsome. I had hoped to introduce these (my family called them snowballs) to my girls this year, but I ran out of steam. There’s always next year, right?
There is also a great recipe like this that has one or two cups of coconut in it, which gives the cookies a nutty crunchy texture. The recipe is on the back of the package of some shredded coconut that I found at Whole Foods…I made it egg, dairy and nut (unless you count coconut) free. Delicious!!
I have tried this recipe and must say it’s delicious. Thanks for sharing it with us.
I am so excited about these Russian Tea Cakes. They are my favorite holiday cookie as well but my son has a dairy, peanut and tree nut allergy so they are now banned from our home. I will be trying these ASAP. Thank you for the wonderful service that you provide to all of the allergy moms and dads out there!
Anya we’re one and the same! These are my favorite holiday cookie too! I know you’ll love these. Let me know how they work for you!
Last year, before we knew about my son’s dairy allergy, I made Mexican Wedding Cakes for Christmas, they are my favorite cookie. Since the recipe didn’t include eggs I finally realized this is the perfect cookie for my son, leaving out the toasted pecans. I also added green or red food coloring to the dough so I could be sure he and everyone else knew the colored ones were safe for him to eat as the other batches had the pecans. I have no idea why I don’t make these any other time of the year except for Christmas! They are really so quick and easy.
Thanks Kimmie! What I love about this recipe is that it is so yummy without any nuts…in fact I can’t imagine them with nuts. So glad you like them!