Indulge in Chef John’s Irresistible Russian Tea C

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Arrange a rack in the center position of the oven. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone mat.

2. Place butter, walnuts, 1/3 cup packed powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl. Top with 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour. Mix with clean hands until dough starts to clump up. Keep mixing by hand until all flour and clumps of butter are evenly mixed into dough.

3. Scoop out dough and roll by hand into uniformly round balls, just slightly larger than 1 inch. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until lightly golden, 15 to 25 minutes depending on the size of cookies.

5. Let cool for exactly 5 minutes, then roll warm cookies in 1 cup confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl. Let cookies cool completely, then toss them again in confectioners’ sugar.

   

Chef’s Note:

The only tricky thing here is the baking time since there are so many variables: the size of the dough balls, whether you use a silicone mat or parchment, how light or dark the sheet pan is, etc. These factors can all affect the final time significantly.

This cookie tends to get undercooked. Some recipes call for as little as 12 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). I like these fairly golden, so I get that nice brown-butter flavor. It took me about 20 minutes or so, which is why I gave such a wide range. Start checking at 15 minutes, and proceed from there.