Name of Recipe: Russian Tea Cakes
Number of People:12
Ingredients:
1 c. shortening (or butter)
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
½ c. confectioners sugar
2 ¼ c. gluten free flour mix (see below)
¾ c. nuts (hazelnuts or pecans)
Preparation:
If you want to make your own confectioner’s sugar, do that first and set aside. Remember to make enough for the measured amount and to roll the finished cookies in.
1. Chop nuts: 3 seconds on speed 4. Remove and set aside.
2. Mix butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy. speed 4, 40-60 seconds. You might need to scrape down the bowl half way through.
3. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix for approximately 60 seconds on the knead setting.
4. Add nuts during last 30 seconds.
Form into small balls about ½ inch in diameter and place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 325°F for 15 to 20 minutes or at 375°F for 10 to 12 minutes. While still warm, roll in confectioners sugar. Cool and roll in sugar again.
Tips/Hints:
This recipe is from an old church cookbook and was submitted by my grandmother, Mrs. John R. McLaren, in 1951. I modified them to use gluten free flour and I do use butter. Sorry, Grandmother.
Here is the mix I usually make up to substitute for regular flour in many cases:
Basic x2 x4
1 c. white rice flour 2 c. 4 c.
1/2 c. potato starch 1 c. 2 c.
1/2 c. cornstarch or arrowroot 1 c. 2 c.
1/2 c. sweet rice flour 1 c. 2 c.
1 c. sorghum flour 2 c. 4 c.
1/2 c. tapioca starch 1 c. 2 c.
1 ½ tsp. xanthan gum 1 Tbs. 2 Tbs.
1 ½ tsp. guar gum 1 Tbs. 2 Tbs.
members' comments
Riv Mum - These are fantastic!!!! Kids absolutely loved them. They were a bit fiddly having to roll them into balls but worth it.
I didn't have all of the gluten free flours and don't have the knowledge of gluten free things to be able to substitute. So I just used bakers flour with 1 1/2 tbs of xanthan gum.
The only other thing I did different was to add about 30g extra of butter as the mixture was too crumbly and I gave the cashews a quick whizz to chop them before starting.
A great recipe. They would make a great gift at Christmas time as they have a festive feel to them.
A dusting of orange and cardamom sugar would give them a bit of a different flavour and something a bit extra if you wanted.
5/5 will be making these again.
brazen20au - you definitely don't need xanthan gum if you're using gluten flour - it's to try to replicate the gluten bakers flour, has extra gluten I believe.
