These truly international cookies are known variously as Viennese sugar balls, polvorones, Mexican wedding cakes, and snowdrops. Like the Russians, I call them tea-cakes.
Anyway, Ben did a huge, wonderful favor for me this weekend, so I made his favorite cookies. We usually only make these sugary tea-cakes at Christmas, because there's more soy margarine in them than anyone should really eat, ever, but... like I said, it was a really big favor.
Vegan Maple Tea-Cakes
1/2 c. soy margarine
1/4 c. sugar
1/3 c. maple syrup
1 c. flour
1/4 c. walnuts, broken into pieces
2/3 c. powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 325. Cream the margarine and the sugar. Mix in the maple syrup. Add the flour and mix until combined, then mix in the walnuts. Roll into balls a little more than an inch wide and place on a cookie sheet--no need to oil the pan, that's for sure. Bake for 6-8 minutes and remove from pan. Pour the powdered sugar into a flat-bottomed bowl or casserole dish, and when the cookies are cool, roll them lightly in the powdered sugar.
Whatever you call them, call me over when you bake them!
These are one of my favorite cookies and I also only make them around Christmas. That's because everyone wants some from me and I get sick of making them. My mom always called them butterballs (because of all the butter), though the recipe called them Russian tea cookies. My friends all insist they are called Hawaiian wedding cakes. I have made them with or without chopped walnuts, or with a chocolate chunk in the middle.
ReplyDeleteMy family also likes peanut butter and banana sandwiches (often for breakfast). Our health food store makes fresh ground peanut butter. I have tried to imagine it fried, but no thanks.
Thanks for the Coconut Dal soup recipe.