Gingerbread Russian Tea Cookies #fbcookieswap

 

It's that time of year again! No, not Christmas silly. Well, yes, it is Christmastime, but that's not what I meant.

I meant it's time for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. Where food bloggers get together and share their cookies and recipes with each other all for a good cause, Cookies for Kids Cancer.

This year I received Oatmeal Orange Cranberry cookies from Erica over at Sun and Good Eats, Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry cookies from Anne at Wit Wisdom and Food, and Molasses Chai cookies from Susannah at Feast and West.

And I sent off my Gingerbread Russian Tea cookies to Ashley at Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen, Jessica at A Southern Mother, and Ellen from Like Mother, Like Daughter.

It's so fun to meet other food bloggers this way and try some of their creations!

Last year, I sent off my Christmas Russian Tea cookies that I made with red and green candied cherries.

I love Russian Tea Cookies with their melt in your mouth yumminess, plus they ship really well, something I had to keep in mind when baking cookies for the swap. So I wanted to make Russian Tea Cookies again with a Christmas twist.

Since I'm loving everything gingerbread right now, I decided to make my Russian Tea cookies with gingerbread. Luckily, my baking fairy was still around when I made these because they turned out just the way I was hoping on the first batch.

I can't wait until next year to see what yummies I'll be getting from other bloggers. But in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy these Gingerbread Russian Tea cookies, and you can too!

If you want to try my Christmas Russian Tea Cookies from last year, just click on the name.

I will be posting soon where you can link up to see all the food bloggers and the cookie recipes we shared this year at the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. And if you're interested in participating next year, you can sign up here.

As always, a big Thank You goes out to Lindsay over at Love & Olive Oil, Julie at The Little Kitchen, Dixie Crystals, OXO, and Land O' Lakes who all help make this event possible to help raise money and awareness for the Cookies for Kids Cancer.

Gingerbread Russian Tea Cookies

Recipe by Julie Murphy

Christmas invades Russian Tea Cookies with this delightful gingerbread flavor.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 18 minutes
Total time: 46 minutes
Yield: about 2 dozen cookies
Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 cups All-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons molasses
• 4 Tablespoons Paradise candied ginger, chopped into small pieces
• 1-2 cups pecans, chopped
• 2 cups powdered sugar in a bowl (for rolling cookies in AFTER baking)

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325F degrees.
2. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, add sifted flour, salt, and spices. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, 1 cup of sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, and molasses.
5. Gradually add dry ingredients into butter mixture, mixing well.
6. Fold in candied ginger and pecans. Mixture will appear crumbly but it rolls together nicely when making ball shapes.
7. Using a cookie scoop or Tablespoon, take 1 scoop of cookie dough and gently roll together into a ball shape. Place on lined cookie sheet.
8. Repeat leaving about 2" between cookie balls. Dough should maintain round ball shape and not spread during baking.
9. Place into preheated oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Cookies will be light in color, if not the same color as when uncooked. Do Not allow cookies to brown.
10. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack, where they can cool completely.
11. After cookies have cooled completely (see Helpful Hints below*), roll in bowl of powdered sugar, covering entire cookie with powdered sugar, and place back on wire rack. Repeat with remaining cookies.
12. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

*Helpful Hints*

- If cookies are not cooled off, powdered sugar will melt to cookie, looking smudgy and not powdery. So be sure to give cookies at least 2 hours to cool off before rolling in powdered sugar.

- If shipping cookies, place in a zip lock bag, then place into a protective container (plastic or tin cookie boxes work best), and pad the empty space in the shipping box with packing peanuts, bubble wrap, or bulk paper to protect the cookies from breaking during shipping.

All content and images are property of Sweet and Spicy Monkey. Please do not reprint this content without my permission. If you wish to include this recipe on your site, please re-write in your own words and use your own photographs and link back to this post for original recipe.

Follow Julie's board Sweet and Spicy Monkey on Pinterest.

Christmas Russian Tea Cakes #fbcookieswap

This year I participated in the Annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap co-organized by Julie at The Little Kitchen and Lindsay at Love & Olive Oil. In order to participate, we submit an application and when you're accepted, you receive three names of other bloggers that are participating and you have a deadline to make one dozen cookies for each person and mail the cookies off to them.

Not only do you get to try some delicious cookies from other bloggers, but it's also for a good cause. When we submit our application, each participant donates a small sum which goes to Cookies for kids' Cancer. And the brand partners, OXO, Dixie Crystals, California Olive Ranch, and Brownie Brittle, will each match the donations, up to $3000. That's a lot so a big Thank You to all brand partners!

This is the first year I participated and it won't be my last as it was so much fun! I'm such a procrastinator and meeting a deadline always makes me turn up the juice. But having to meet a deadline when I have to figure in my work schedule kind of made me less of a procrastinator, which was a good thing because I was ahead of the curve. Well, maybe just by a day or two {smile}.

The bloggers who sent me cookies were Laura at Main Line Feast , Janelle at F-Chem 101 , and Kristi from Inspiration Kitchen.  Laura sent me Spiked Chocolate Pecan Pie bites that were so delicious! They were all buttery, nutty, and chocolatey. Janelle sent me Chocolate Coconut Icebox Cookies and y'all know how much I love coconut! While Kristi sent me Mexican Wedding Cookies, which were just scrumptious.

Everybody who participated will be posting our recipes today on each of our blogs, so head on over and check out the other girls' cookie recipes too. You can also search #fbcookieswap and see all the photos related to current and past cookie swaps. And if you missed this years deadline and are thinking about joining next year, you can receive notifications and sign up now for next years Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap here.

The bloggers who received my Christmas Russian Tea Cakes were Alison at Fridgg, Sara from Sara Ran Away With the Spoon, and Brett at Green Thumb White Apron. And now I'm sharing my recipe with y'all.

The original recipe came from my mom and is a Christmas tradition in our family. My mom has made these cookies every Christmas for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I knew them as Butterball cookies but they're also known as Russian Tea Cakes, Snowballs, Mexican Wedding Cookies, and Italian Wedding Cookies.

To make them more Christmassy, I added a little hint of red and green color with the candied cherries. And since I changed the recipe, I've renamed these Christmas Russian Tea Cakes.

The result, as described by Allison, is magical. But don't just take her word for it, make them yourself and taste a little Christmas magic.

Christmas Russian Tea Cakes

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 Tablespoon minus 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract*

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 and 1/2 cups walnuts, finely chopped

1/4 cup red candied cherries, chopped

1/4 cup green candied cherries, chopped

2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

2 cups powdered sugar in a small bowl for rolling cookies in after baking

Directions

Preheat oven to 325F degrees.

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Chop walnuts and place in a small bowl. Set aside.

Chop candied cherries and place in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add butter, sifted powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla. Mix until creamy.

Blend in walnuts and candied cherries.

Slowly add in sifted flour and mix until all ingredients are blended. Mixture will be crumbly but it rolls together nicely when making balls.

Take about 1 Tablespoon of cookie dough between your hands and roll into a ball. Place 2" apart onto prepared cookie sheet. They should maintain their round shape after baking and should not spread.

Place into preheated oven and bake for 15-18 minutes. Cookies should have similar color as when uncooked and should not be allowed to brown.

Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes on cookie sheet before placing onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Place a sheet of parchment paper or wax paper under wire cookie rack before you start rolling cookies in powdered sugar.

After cookies have cooled, roll each cookie in a small bowl of powdered sugar, covering entire cookie, and place back on wire cookie rack. You can also sift powdered sugar over the tops before storing for an extra layer of dusting.

Can be stored in an air tight container for up to 1 week. Trust me, they won't be around that long!

*Helpful Hints*

- * The vanilla and almond extract will equal 1 Tablespoon together.

- You can use more candied cherries, if you like.

- You can also make these with pecans instead of walnuts. I prefer walnuts because they taste more buttery to me.

- If you don't have parchment paper available, you can also place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Just watch them carefully. I think the parchment paper helps prevent the bottom of the cookies from browning, so that is my preference. My mom has always made these cookies on ungreased cookie sheets.

All content and images are property of Sweet and Spicy Monkey. Please do not reprint this content without my permission. If you wish to include this recipe on your site, please re-write in your own words and use your own photographs and link back to this post for original recipe.

Follow Julie's board Sweet and Spicy Monkey on Pinterest.

Shared with: The Southern Special Week 37, The Wednesday Roundup #55, Inspire Us Thursday Link Party #79, Crafty and Delicious Party, On Display Thursday Week 24, Sweet and Savoury Sundays #93, Busy Monday 145, Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party #38