Butterballs (the cookies, not the turkeys)

I was inspired to try a couple of new cookies for my holiday baking this year. This post over at Home-Ec 101 was one source of inspiration. They had several yummy-sounding cookies featured during their Cookie-a-Day series, but this one really caught my attention. Primarily because it sounded very easy.

But as I am wont to do, I searched for other versions of the recipe and developed my own sort of Frankenrecipe:

Russian Tea Cakes aka Butterball Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely ground toasted hazelnuts

First, the nuts. You can use any nut you like (though I recommend sticking with the true tree nuts such as pecans or walnuts and not the legume "pea" nut). To toast them, I just dumped a 6 ounce bag of hazelnut pieces onto the pan of my toaster oven and baked them on 350 degrees for a few minutes. Note that they toast quickly in a small toaster oven so keep an eye on them. Next, put them in a small electric "nut chopper" or food processor to chop them to bits and powder, essentially. This will flavor the flour.

Next, cream the butter and sugar until blended completely. It should be light and fluffy. Blend in the vanilla. Combine the nut bits and powder with the flour and salt and blend into the first mixture until it becomes a uniform dough.

If your kitchen is really warm, you'll want to refrigerate the dough for a little while to get it stiffened up a bit. Form the dough into small balls--about one inch in diameter and set on an ungreased cookie sheet about two inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees. Be careful not to overbake--these cookies will not brown and are a bit on the fragile side when they come out of the oven. As soon as they're out, carefully roll them in powdered sugar and set aside to cool. That last step is semi-optional. You can let them cool a few minutes before you roll them. The powdered sugar may not stick as well, but it also won't get gloppy when combined with the butter. Or you can just dust them with sugar instead of rolling them, too.

Your choice because at that point, it's all for show. If you've sampled the dough, you already know this is a dang fine cookie. This recipe makes about...four or five or six dozen (very delicious) small cookies. That's an estimate because I didn't count them. And many were eaten in the sugaring process. You can also make a few and keep the dough in the fridge for batches a few days later (because you might get a little tired of the rolling). Just seal up the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap so the dough doesn't get dried out.