When do you start baking cookies for Christmas? Do you have traditional favorites or do you try new recipes every year? I am kind of a mix of the 2. I like those traditional cookies that stand the test of time and remind us of childhood days or of people who have passed on, but I also love trying new recipes. As a kid, I had my favorites, but I find as I have gotten older that I love some of the cookies that I used to turn my nose up to as a child. One of these is what my grandma called Mexican Wedding Cake, but it has many other names, too...
Russian Tea Cakes
Snowballs
Italian Wedding Cakes
Pecan Dreams
Smør Bullar
and probably more that I missed!
And truly, if this many different cultures eat this same cookie (with various of different types of nuts used), it has to be delicious!
It's basically small spheres of butter, flour, powdered sugar, vanilla, and nuts, dusted with more powdered sugar for good measure. The Danish name Smør Bullar literally translates to butter balls. I will have 1 or maybe 3 right now, please!
Smør Bullar Recipe
INGREDIENTS UNITS: US
1cup butter, softened
1⁄2 cup powdered sugar
1teaspoon vanilla
2 1⁄4cups sifted flour
1⁄4teaspoon salt
powdered sugar (for rolling baked cookies in)
DIRECTIONS
1. Cream together butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy; stir in vanilla.
2. Whisk together flour and salt; add gradually to butter mixture; stir in chopped nuts.
3. Chill dough if it seems too soft.
4. Form dough into 1 1/4" balls and place onto parchment-lined or ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake at 350° for 13-14 minutes or just until the cookies start to turn light golden-brown; remove from oven and allow to cool slightly; while cookies are still warm (but NOT hot) remove them from baking sheets and roll, a few at a time, in powdered sugar until evenly coated; cool cookies completely on wire racks.
Cookies may (optionally) be rolled in powdered sugar a second time once cooled to room temperature.
NOTE: Forming dough into 1" balls will increase yield to 48 cookies.
These can be made ahead of time and frozen, but beware that they may not last and someone just might sneak into the freezer and help themselves to a tasty treat!