Mexican Wedding cookies or Russian Teacakes

Hello everybody!  I've got a recipe that EVERYONE already knows. No use in that, is there?

 

But still. I love these cookies. And I've found that although everyone knows them, they're not always called by the same name. So... Mexican wedding cookies, or snowballs, or pfeffernussen, or Russian teacakes, they're all delicious. And simple. And I get to bring Edna out of her corner to play.

First, we grate the walnuts. Look at these boys. They love the power tools. Hate the noise. Obviously my little chopper sounds a bit louder than "Eggna", which is what they both call her.

And this is my friend, Jackie. her mom is my co-teacher at our church. (Thank goodness for Patty. On those days she's gone, the kids almost eat me alive.)

 

Anyway, Jackie came for a playdate one day. Here she is meeting Edna. Jackie is a born artist and writer. A few years ago, I got to read a story she wrote about a day in the third grade. It had so much detail I could have SWORN I was eating a chili dog in the cafeteria. I used some of her cafeteria details in my book 'Season of Joy'. And I named my heroine Calista's ultra-capable personal assistant after Jackie. If you read it carefully, you can SEE JACKIE.

 

And then she read my book and told me she liked it.  *swoon* We have a mutal admiration society going...

 

Anyway, back to cooking!

  

The recipe is simplicity itself. 1 cup walnuts, chopped. 1tsp vanilla. 1 cup butter. 6 TBS powdered sugar. 2 cups flour. All together. Like so.

The dough looks strangely crumbly, but squeeze it into small balls, about one inch or a bit larger. My kids always complain about how small they are, so I've learned to make them about 1.5 inches. Nice cookie size.

350F on an ungreased cookie sheet for 12 minutes. I was making these one night when one of my husband's relatives popped over. She said you shouldn't roll them in the powdered sugar until they're cool. But I learned to roll them once when they're hot, and once when they're cool. It makes a nice layer of powdered sugar.

Oooo, pretty. I got these dishes at a junk shop when it was 'free glasswares' day. Can you believe it? Of course, they were dirty and dusty, but look how clean and lovely they are now? Edna welcomed them to the kitchen with a grand whirring of the beaters. The more the merrier!

And a sweet Fireking mug from the same batch of 'junk' We just don't ever use that word, here. It's a fine line between junk and treasure. Sometimes all you need is a little soap and water... and Russian Teacakes.

So, pull up a chair and share some stories. You can make them up, we don't care. In fact, we prefer that kind. Especially the ones about 3rd grade cafeteria chili dogs.
Until next time!