Russian Rocks

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 Russian Rocks are a cookie my mom made every Christmas when I was a kid. She and a friend would get together and make them in quantity. Mom had a moveable island in her kitchen. It was always out for Russian Rock day as they created an assembly line for the cookies.

These cookies have very little dough and are mostly nuts and fruit. They are like a tiny fruitcake if you could only include the ingredients that actually taste good. 

They are also very durable. Mom only made them once each year. They stayed good for the whole season. We have included them in Christmas mailings for years. 

Since those days the recipe remains mostly unchanged. We now use Craisins instead of raisins and we sometimes make them with artificial sweetener, but not usually. We tried freshly grinding the spices. That was good, but it left spice chunks. It is next to impossible to properly grind cloves in anything you might reasonably have at home So now we just buy fresh pre-ground spices for baking day. 

Of course the only way to make really good Russian Rocks is to get the freshest pecans. Since we make these for Christmas we try to get the current year’s crop. Living in Texas that’s pretty easy. If you can only get them from the grocery store and they are dark brown (this happens as they age), be sure to toast in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes, shaking the pan every couple of minutes. This will help the flavor. Nothing ruins cookies faster than a rancid pecan!

Because they are mostly fruit and nuts, with just enough dough to hold them together, I consider them the perfect December breakfast along with a great cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate. 



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