Recipes

Cakes, Cookies and Other Desserts

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Russian Tea Cakes

These powdered-sugar cookies end up on many a holiday cookie platter and are one of my personal favorites. Here's a light rendition I love just as much.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup no- or low-trans-fat margarine with 8 grams of fat per tablespoon (such as Land O' Lakes® Fresh Buttery Taste Spread or Take Control®)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons Splenda®
• 1 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, beat margarine and vanilla until smooth.
2. In a 4-cup measure, whisk 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar, Splenda®, and both flours together, then beat into the butter mixture until just blended.
3. On low speed, beat in the chopped walnuts.
4. Use a cookie scoop (1/8 cup) to place the dough on an ungreased nonstick cookie sheet or jellyroll pan, 2 inches apart. Using your fingers, press down on the dough balls to flatten to 1/2-inch thickness.
5. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until starting to lightly brown. Let cool, then roll in the remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar.

Yield:
20 large (bakery-size) cookies

Nutritional Information:
Per cookie: 144 calories, 3 g protein, 12.5 g carbohydrate, 9 g fat (1.3 g saturated fat, 2.2 g monounsaturated fat, 4.5 g polyunsaturated fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 1.1 g fiber, 60 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 56%.

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