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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:

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!

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4.45 from 18 votes

Paleo Russian Tea Cakes

Grain-free Russian Tea Cakes or Mexican Wedding Cakes are a buttery Christmas cookie
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Chill Time2 hours
Total Time2 hours 20 minutes
Course: Desserts & Treats
Cuisine: Mexican
Servings: 18 cookies
Calories: 243kcal
Author: Julia

Ingredients

For Rolling:

Instructions

  • 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.
  • 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

Serving: 1of 18 | Calories: 243kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 22g | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g
collage for Paleo Russian Tea Cakes (a.k.a. Mexican Wedding Cakes)
Recipe Rating




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Audra

Monday 2nd of January 2023

I just made the dough to be baked later. I’m a bit confused about rolling the balls in the sugars before baking. Wouldn’t that make the powder sugar melt?

Julia

Wednesday 4th of January 2023

Hi Audra! I roll them in the sugar before and after, but you can stick with rolling them after they bake if you'd like :) xo

Miata

Monday 12th of December 2022

Hi Julia,

Can I substitute the walnuts for a different nut like almonds or pistachios?

Julia

Wednesday 14th of December 2022

Hi there! Yes, absolutely! Just be sure to chop them fairly finely so that they stay stuck inside of the dough :) I would pulse them in a food processor to make the chopping easier. Enjoy!

Jane

Saturday 10th of December 2022

Could coconut oil or butter be substituted for butter if going dairy free?

Julia

Monday 12th of December 2022

Hi Jane! Absolutely. Coconut oil is slightly greasier than butter so you may need to adjust the amount of coconut oil down or the amount of almond flour up. You're going for a dough that is nice and sticky and holds together well. Let me know how they turn out! xo

Sheila

Monday 5th of December 2022

Can I substitute arrowroot for the tapioca?

Julia

Wednesday 7th of December 2022

Absolutely! Arrowroot flour works as a 1:1 substitute for tapioca flour. Hope you enjoy! xo

Rebecca

Friday 6th of November 2020

I made these bc your recipe was the closest to traditional Russian tea cakes that I found. Next time, I will increase the amount of tapioca and decrease the almond flour a little. Just to help get a slightly sandier texture and to use less almond flour. Besides that, perfect! I refrigerated my dough over night just bc I made it late and didn’t have time to make them. Froze for maybe 10 min before baking and they came out great! Rolled in homemade confectionary sugar w cinnamon while slightly warm.

Alex

Wednesday 27th of October 2021

@Rebecca, what ratio would you say you would do for the flours? are we talking 1 C Tapioca, to 3C almond flour? more or less?

Julia

Wednesday 11th of November 2020

I'm happy you like them, Rebecca! I appreciate the feedback and thoughts! xoxo

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