Shortbread rings with peanuts – this is what Soviet childhood tasted like

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Delicate shortcrust pastry that melts in your mouth and crunchy peanuts aromatically roasted – irresistibly delicious combination that makes up these sweet rings. It is not without reason that they were so popular in the Soviet era and could be bought in many bakeries. Here I’ll show you how easy it is to bake the shortbread rings with peanuts at home. For this you need only a few common ingredients that you may already have at home. You can find a detailed recipe for the peanut shortbread cookie rings with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions here at the very bottom.

Favorite pastries of Soviet children

In Soviet times, children could hardly imagine a break at school without the shortbread rings with peanuts – quickly go to the school canteen, get one or better two rings and immediately snack on them. But adults also loved the nut pastry. In addition to kartoshka, shortbread baskets with egg white cream, curd rings and eclairs, shortbread cookie rings with peanuts were also part of the standard pastries in Soviet confectioneries, bakeries and canteens.

What makes the shortbread rings with peanuts so special?

Sometimes the simplest things are the best. The same goes for these sweet rings. They are actually simple shortbread cookies with nuts. But what makes them unique is the most delicious shortbread dough ever that they are made of. It tastes crispy tender and melts in your mouth immediately after each bite. By the way, you can bake other cookies from this dough as well, because it is simply delicious. The second special feature of Russian shortbread cookie rings are peanuts. They are aromatically roasted and combine perfectly with the shortbread dough in terms of taste. Thus, the pastry tastes crumbly and nutty at the same time and is also very aromatic. The outer trademark of the sweet rings is their wavy edge, which – in addition to the peanut pieces with which the cookie rings are nicely sprinkled on top – makes them an eye-catcher on the dining table.

Shaping shortbread cookie rings with peanuts

To cut out the circles you need a round, wavy cookie cutter. I used a cookie cutter of about Ø 10 cm and got 14 rings with it. But you can use a smaller cookie cutter. Then you get more rings, which are smaller than they were with me. To cut the round holes in the middle of the circles, I used a nozzle from a piping bag. But you can also use something else that fits for this. For example, a very small cookie cutter would go.

Serve and store shortbread rings with peanuts

These sweet rings pass as delicious shortbread cookies to snack on between meals. Plus, you can serve them for dessert after dinner with coffee or tea. You can also quickly conjure up the shortbread rings with peanuts on the dining table for the guests who come to visit unexpectedly. In the same way, the pastry is ideal for a celebration, because it looks pretty to bite into.

Store the peanut shortbread cookie rings in an airtight container, such as a lunch box, at room temperature. They will keep for quite a long time and taste just as delicious in the next few days as they did the first day after baking. You can enjoy them for up to two weeks.

These shortbread cookie rings with peanuts are

• tender,
• crumbly,
• nutty,
• not too sweet,
• aromatic,
• incredibly tasty,
• easy and quick to bake from common ingredients,
• perfect with coffee, tea or for a party,
• delicious alternative to ordinary cookies,
• long shelf life,
• just as delicious in the next few days,
• classic from the Soviet Union.

Baking shortbread rings with peanuts: the recipe

You can find the exact quantities and step-by-step instructions for baking the Russian shortbread rings with peanuts at home here below in the box recipe.

The peanut shortbread cookie rings not only taste delicious and look pretty, they are also easy and quick to bake. All you need for the recipe are a few common ingredients. These are

• butter,
• egg,
• powdered sugar,
• flour,
• baking powder
• and vanilla.

Butter and egg must be at room temperature.

You will also need an egg to coat the rings and, of course, the most important ingredient – roasted peanuts to sprinkle on the pastry. The nuts need to be coarsely chopped beforehand.

Baking peanut shortbread cookie rings: this is how it works

1. Beat butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until creamy white, add egg and mix until homogeneous.
2. Add flour with baking powder, knead everything into a soft dough briskly and briefly and chill the dough for 30 minutes.
3. Roll out the dough, cut out circles and make round holes in the center of the circles.
4. Brush the rings with egg, sprinkle with peanuts and bake at 180 °C for about 20 minutes. Your shortbread cookie rings with peanuts are ready!

Baking shortbread cookie rings with peanuts: tips and tricks

• According to the classic recipe, the shortbread rings are prepared with peanuts. However, instead of peanuts you can use other nuts according to your taste.
• Powdered sugar is used for the dough instead of sugar. This ensures that the shortcrust dough tastes very tender.
• You can adjust the amount of powdered sugar for the dough according to your taste, depending on how sweet you like the pastry.
• The butter and egg for the pastry must be at room temperature. So get them out of the fridge about 30 minutes beforehand.
• For vanilla go for example vanilla sugar, vanilla powder, vanilla extract or vanilla bean scraped out.
• To give the dough the right consistency, add flour a little at a time. The amount of flour specified in the recipe may vary. The dough should be soft and not greasy, too sticky or too firm. Don’t overdo it with the flour, or the rings won’t taste crumbly enough later.
• When adding flour, mix the dough first with a spoon and knead it briefly with your hands only at the end. The butter in the dough should not melt from the heat of your hands.
• Knead the shortcrust dough only briefly, briskly and in no case too long.
• Do not roll out the dough too thinly.
• To cut the circles out of the dough, you will need a round, wavy cookie cutter. To cut the round holes in the circles, you will need a nozzle from a piping bag or a very small cookie cutter.
• You can make rings smaller in diameter than they are on mine.
• Don’t bake the cookie rings too long or they will taste dry. After baking, they should be a light yellow color. They should not turn golden brown.
• Store the shortbread rings with peanuts in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for about 2 weeks.

Video for the peanut shortbread cookie rings recipe

By the way, on my Youtube channel you can find a short video for the Russian shortbread rings with peanuts. There you can watch exactly how to bake them at home. If you don’t want to miss any more videos from me, feel free to subscribe to my channel.

Did you bake the peanut shortbread rings according to this recipe? I’m looking forward to your results, your star rating and your comment on the recipe below about how you liked and succeeded with the nut pastry.

Fancy more popular sweet pastries from the Soviet era? Also try:

• Sochniki – recipe for popular curd cakes from the Soviet era