Paleo Russian Tea Cakes
- Gluten-Free
- Dairy-Free
- Paleo
- Low Carb
- Keto
- Vegetarian or Vegan
- Pescatarian
Russian tea cakes, Mexican wedding cookies, butterballs, snowballs… these cookies go by many names! Who knows where the name comes from because apparently they are neither Russian nor Mexican. 😂 But I do know one thing: they are DELICIOUS.
These cookies can be made all year-round but are especially popular for Christmas! They are perfect for a cookie exchange or to give away as gifts! I really like giving them as gifts in cookie tins because they don’t really dry out like other cookies can. They actually last quite a while after baking. Around a week or so! I love that! Now, will they actually last a week without being eaten? Most likely not. 😏
To make these cookies you will need to first make my Paleo Powdered Sugar. It’s made from maple sugar and is perfect for this recipe because it is almost perfectly white in color, unlike the brown powdered sugar you get if you make it from coconut sugar. You really want that nice white color so they look like snowballs. Nice and festive!
You can make these low carb by substituting a pre-made keto powdered sugar like Swerve or make one yourself from something like Lakanto monk fruit sweetener. These cookies do have some arrowroot powder in them, so you will have to decide if they are right for you if you are trying to follow a strict ketogenic diet.
I like to toast the walnuts before using them in this recipe because it really enhances the flavor. Just heat them in a skillet over medium-low for a few minutes, stirring often so they don’t burn. You’ll know they’re done when they smell nice and fragrant. Allow them to cool and then chop them really finely.
I hope you enjoy the recipe!
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Paleo Russian Tea Cakes
- Gluten-Free
- Dairy-Free
- Paleo
- Low Carb
- Keto
- Vegetarian or Vegan
- Pescatarian
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups + 2 Tbsp *packed* 250g blanched almond flour
- 1/4 cup 32g arrowroot powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup 227g grass-fed butter, ghee, or palm shortening, softened
- 6 Tbsp powdered maple sugar plus more for rolling (easy recipe in notes above, see notes for low carb/keto option)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup toasted walnuts finely chopped, cooled to room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (177ºC). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together almond flour, arrowroot powder, and sea salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together room temperature butter, powdered sugar (sifted), and vanilla using a spatula. You'll need to kind of press it against the sides as you mix. If you feel like you can just mix it right up without pressing it into the sides to mix, then your butter is too soft and the cookies will spread when baked.
- Pour cooled walnuts and flour mixture in to the large bowl and stir everything together until well combined and the dough starts to stick together.
- Use a cookie scoop or spoon to scoop out dough. Roll in your hands to make 1 inch (2.5cm) balls (pressing/packing a bit). You really want these to be uniform size so that they bake at the same rate.
- Place on lined cookie sheet and place in freezer for 15 minutes. DON'T FORGET THIS STEP!
- Bake for 14-16 minutes or until set and light brown on the bottoms but not browned on top. Mine are done right at 15 minutes.
- Allow to cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes or until just cool enough to handle.
- Roll in powdered sugar, then place back on the wire rack.
- When they are completely cooled, roll in sugar again. If you are looking to reduce the amount of sugar a bit, just sprinkle with powdered sugar instead at the end instead of rolling.
- Store at room temperature in an air-tight container for up to 1 week.
Did you love the recipe? I would love it if you left me a 5-star review below! 
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @itskitskitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #kitskitchen
How did yours turn out?? If you liked it, please feel free to leave a review and let me know in the comments section below!
xx Kit
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Little disappointed…. these turned into one flat sheet of cookie. I did freeze them before baking. We decided to sprinkle powdered sugar on top and eat them with a spoon because we hated to waste them
If I omit the addition of nuts, will I have to change the measurements of any of the other ingredients? Also, can I substitute xanthan gum for the arrowroot powder? Thank you
Hi, Amy! If you omit the nuts I don’t think the recipe would turn out. So yes, I think you would have to add more of the other dry ingredients. Since these are made with almond flour, you could chop up almonds instead of the walnuts and I think that should work! No, xanthan gum cannot be substituted for arrowroot powder as they act very differently in recipes. You could try substituting tapioca starch, but I’m not sure if the cookies would hold together.
I had the same disappointing results as above: Big, flat blobs of uncooked cake like product. Tasteless. It could be that I forgot the 2 extra tablespoons of almond flour. But would that make that much difference?
I’m so sorry that happened! When the almond flour is packed, as it should be in this recipe, then 2 Tbsp is quite a bit and could throw off the recipe. I wonder if that’s what happened to the other people as well…? Did you remember to freeze them before baking?
I can’t understand how these cookies just melted into one pan of flat dough… Super disappointed! They smelled great while baking/melting…!
Hi, Bronwyn. Oh I’m so sorry that that happened! How disappointing! Seems like this has happened to others too. Did you make any substitutions? Did you pack the almond flour into the cup measure? Or better yet, measure by weight? That’s the most precise way to do it. Did you use butter or ghee? And the maple sugar was powdered before adding it to the recipe? Or perhaps it has something to do with the humidity in your house? Just trying to do some troubleshooting to see what went wrong.
Did you freeze for 15 minutes before baking?
These turned out great! Just like I remembered from childhood. I used palm shortening and they were still as delicious. Even my picky mom raved about them. Only changes I made was subbing pecans for the walnuts and adding a couple pinches of salt after tasting the dough.
Hi, Cherise! So happy you enjoyed the recipe and that they turned out so well for you! I hope your family is able to enjoy them for years to come 🙂
So I was real excited to make these cookies and they just spread out into one huge cookie. Still kinda gooey but some how I’ll figure out a way to still use them. When I mixed them together they weren’t dry at all so I even added more almond flour. Oh well!!! cookie dough tasted good raw.
Hi, Barbara! Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear that! Did you make any substitutions in the recipe? Did you use powdered maple sugar? Just want to troubleshoot so we can figure out what happened 🙂 I’m glad you liked the taste though!
Did you freeze for 15 minutes before baking?
Does anyone know how many Weight Watchers points these cookies are? Making them for my boss, her birthday is this week.
Hi, Diana! I’m sorry, but I’m not familiar with how the points for WW are calculated. Wish I could be of more help!
Diana,
If you use the recipe calculator or recipe builder in the WW app it should tell you how many points per cookie/serving.
Thanks, Patty!
These have always been my favorite cookie around the holidays and I was so bummed I wasn’t able to enjoy them when I had to cut out gluten, dairy, and sugar. I was so excited when I found this recipe! I made these for Christmas and they turned out great! Even my family who doesn’t eat paleo loved them! I ended up using coconut sugar instead of maple sugar since I was unable to find maple sugar, they weren’t as pretty since they were tan, but it still worked out great!
Hi, Nicole! Awww yay! So glad you enjoyed the recipe and were able to have Russian Tea Cakes again because of it! That’s so nice to hear! I hope y’all had a very Merry Christmas 🤗
Hello,
I am new to your site and was so excited to make your cookie recipe. I’m unsure what happened, but the result was a tray of flat, connected cookies. They completely spread into each other and I’m disappointed to have wasted so many ingredients in baking them.
Just providing feedback, it’s only cookies after all! 😉
Merry Christmas!
Hi, Kelly! Oh no!! I’m so sorry the recipe didn’t work out for you! That’s terrible and I know how frustrating it can be when you waste so many expensive ingredients 😞. I hope you were able to salvage the cookies to make a cookie pie crust or something else. I really appreciate the feedback and I’d like to get a little more info so that I can troubleshoot the issue and this won’t happen to anyone else! Did you pack the almond flour into the measuring cups, as directed? Did you use regular butter? Did you roll the cookies and then press/pack them a little bit? What brand of almond flour did you use? Thanks for helping me do a little troubleshooting. And so sorry again that these did not turn out for you!
Same thing happened to me…I cut them into squares to salvage my ingredients
So sad to hear that! Did you make any substitutions? Did you pack the almond flour into the cup measure? Or better yet, measure by weight? That’s the most precise way to do it. Did you use butter or ghee? And the maple sugar was powdered before adding it to the recipe? Or perhaps it has something to do with the humidity in your house? Just trying to do some troubleshooting to see what went wrong.
Did you freeze for 15 minutes before baking?
Did you freeze for 15 minutes before baking?