Paleo Russian Tea Cakes

Paleo Russian Tea Cakes (also known as Mexican Wedding Cookies) made grain-free and refined sugar-free! These scrumptious Christmas cookies only require a few basic ingredients.

Have you ever had Russian Tea Cakes? How about Mexican Wedding Cakes? Or Italian wedding cookies, Kourabiedes, or Greek wedding cookies, butterballs, or pecan Susans?

Regardless of the name or origin, the concept of all of the above are the same: delightfully buttery cookies rolled in powdered sugar, often with chopped walnuts or pecans in the center.

My family makes them every single year for Christmas. We bake batches of a wide variety of cookies and bars, and everyone goes home with an assortment of all of them. This year, I made it my mission to make all of our traditional treats grain-free, which brings us to these buttery balls o’ bliss.

Using grass-fed butter, almond flour, tapioca flour, pure maple syrup, and walnuts, these Paleo Russian Tea Cakes turn out remarkably similar to the classic. In fact, I bet most people won’t be able to tell the difference!

How about we bake up a batch?!

How to Make Paleo Russian Tea Cakes:

Add all ingredients for the tea cakes to a stand mixer, and beat on medium speed until well-combined. Refrigerate cookie dough for 2 hours. Form balls out of the cookie dough, about 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place tray of dough balls in the freezer and freeze for 15 minutes.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place rolling sweetener of choice in a bowl and roll each ball of dough in the sweetener. Place the balls back onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, just until cookies begin turning slightly golden-brown.

Sweetener Options for Rolling:

Traditional Russian Tea Cakes are rolled in confectioner’s (or powdered) sugar, but you have several non cane sugar options. To keep the recipe paleo, you can use pure maple sugar, or for a lower sugar version, use powdered erythritol, powdered monk fruit sweetener, or powdered Swerve. 

You could also be a real rebel and make a glaze for the balls rather than going the powdered route.

More Grain-Free Cookie Recipes:

• Paleo Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
• Chocolate Dipped Molasses Cookies
• Chocolate Dipped Cardamom Orange Paleo Shortbread Cookies
• Cardamom Almond Paleo Thumbprint Cookies

Enjoy these buttery nuggets of joy!

My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!

If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag me at  @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!

Continue to Content

Paleo Russian Tea Cakes

Yield: 18 cookies

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Chill Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

Grain-free Russian Tea Cakes or Mexican Wedding Cakes are a buttery Christmas cookie

Print

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) grass-fed butter, softened
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups superfine almond flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 2/3 cup raw walnuts, finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

For Rolling:

• 1/3 cup sugar-free confectioners sugar, or maple sugar

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients for the tea cakes to a stand mixer, and beat on medium speed until well-combined. Refrigerate cookie dough for 2 hours.
2. Form balls out of the cookie dough, about 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place tray of dough balls in the freezer and freeze for 15 minutes.
3. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Add the sweetener of choice (for rolling) in a bowl and roll each ball of dough in the sweetener. Place the balls back onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, just until cookies begin turning slightly golden-brown.

Nutrition Information

Yield 18 Serving Size 1 of 18
Amount Per Serving Calories 243Total Fat 22gUnsaturated Fat 0gCarbohydrates 8gNet Carbohydrates 6gFiber 2gSugar 4gProtein 4g