Perfect Mexican Wedding Cookies

By Melissa Pitts

Mexican wedding cookies are neither exclusively Mexican, nor are they served at weddings (or at least any Mexican weddings I’ve ever been to).

My bubble was burst long ago when talking to some friends about one of my favorite cookies and they looked at me with very confused faces. None of them (either Mexican or from other parts of Latin America) had ever eaten or heard of them. Bummer.

The history of this buttery, nutty cookies coated in powdered sugar is a bit of mystery, but I really don’t care. They are delicious, perfect for the holidays and any cookie exchanges taking place around this time. This recipe makes about 15, 1- cookies but go ahead and double it because they go fast!

Yields 15 cookies

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus ½ cup for rolling the cookies
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup blanched almonds (you can also use pecans or walnuts)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter on high speed until pale yellow. Add 1/2 cup of the confectioners’ sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low, add the vanilla and beat until blended.
3. In a food processor pulse the flour, almonds, salt and cinnamon. Pulse until the almonds are finely chopped.
4. Add the pulsed ingredients to the butter mixture. Stir until all the ingredients are just combined–do not over mix or you will have tough cookies!
5. Cover and refrigerate until the dough is well chilled but not hard- about 15-20 minutes.
6. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls- I use a tablespoon to measure them out. Place about 1 inch apart on a greased baking sheet.
7. While the cookies are chilling, add the other ½ cup confectioners sugar to a bowl to roll the cookies around in.
8. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies are golden on the bottom. Let cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet- until you can handle them with your hands. Remove the cookies from the cookie sheet, and roll them around in the confectioners’ sugar. Let them completely cool on a wire rack.