A couple weeks ago I wrote about how I desperately wanted Russian Tea Cake cookies. I made them on a whim and was very happy to eat them. Strolling through Sam’s Club last weekend, I saw large boxes of Betty Crocker cookie mixes in flavors I hadn’t seen before. Among them? Yes, Russian Tea Cakes. I decided to buy the box and give it a try—it cost about $6 for two mixes in the box.
I was impressed by how easy these mixes were to make. When I made my Russian Tea Cakes a few weeks ago, it required getting out the food processor to chop the nuts (I used walnuts and pecans). For this mix, all I had to do was add softened butter to the cookie mix. I tried to combine the mix and butter with a wooden spoon, hoping that I could avoid messy hands (and the requisite butter that ends up under your fingernails, ugh). The wooden spoon was a no-go. I decided that there had to be an easier way. I put the mix and butter in a plastic freezer bag, squeezed out the air and just kneaded the bag until the butter was evenly distributed and I had dough.
With Russian Tea Cakes, forming consistently sized balls that are attractive is also a challenge. After trying to shape a few with my fingers, I realized mine were tablespoon sized rather than teaspoon sized. I’ve tried cookie scoopers in the past, and I’ve never gotten them to work, so I wanted to avoid that. Instead, I cut a corner off the freezer bag and piped out dough which was then much easier to form into a small ball. This was by big aha moment.
I am starting to think about what other kinds of cookies I can “knead” to avoid a mess. This freezer bag method would be a great way to make these cookies with kids or elderly people—fine motor skills aren’t necessary, messes are minimized and making cookies is fun.
The kit even came with powdered sugar.
If you like Russian Tea Cakes, this is a great cookie kit. The convenience of this mix sacrificed nothing—truly rich and buttery, just the way I like them.