These are technically Mexican Wedding Cakes or Russian Teacakes, but my grandmother gave up on us calling them that years ago!
INGREDIENTS (for 3 servings):
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration
- 1/4 cup finely crushed peppermint candy canes
PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Cream the butter with 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla. Mix in the flour, nuts and salt. Roll about 1 tablespoon or so of dough into balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15 minutes. Do not allow these cookies to get too brown. It's better to undercook them than to overcook them. While cookies are still hot roll them in confectioners' sugar. Once they have cooled roll them in confectioners' sugar once more. Variation: add some finely crushed candy canes to the confectioners' sugar used for the final dusting.