These Mexican Wedding Cookies are one of my favorites for many reasons. One they just look absolutely super cute and perfect for the holiday season. They are tiny and just the right size to pop into your mouth. This recipe yields quite a bit of cookies and that means it is perfect when making for a large crowd. Making edible gifts for Holidays has been a tradition in our family ever since my boys were born. My blog is filled with cookie recipes as it is something I bake very often for us as well as for gifting. I enjoy baking different cookies and packing them. Buying cute little cookie tins has become almost an obsession for me.
What Kind of Nuts to use
I first tried this Mexican Wedding Cookies recipe a few years ago, back in NY. This recipe is from my dear friend Marybeth and she had made this recipe with pecans and called the pecan butterball cookies. I go back and forth and make these cookies with any available nuts. This year I made it with pecans. My neighbor has a Pecan farm and we buy fresh pecans from him this time of the year. So, use any nuts of your choice but make sure that they are fresh. The cookies use quite a bit of nut and get their flavor from it. We don’t want stale-smelling or tasting cookies.
What other cookies are baking in my kitchen?
The family favorite recipe that I made this year again was the Old fashioned Ginger cookies. My holiday baking cannot be complete without these ginger cookies as my little one loves them. I also made some Orange scented Cranberry walnut cookies. The house just smelled amazing after baking these cookies and screaming holidays. If you are looking for some other cookie to bake with pecans, then this Pecan Shortbread Cookies is an absolute must. I also have a gluten-free Chocolate cookie recipe with pecans if you are looking for a gluten-free option. These snowball cookies are so simple to make with just the basic ingredients. We need the flour, sugar, butter, and some nuts along with vanilla flavoring. You can use a stand mixer like I use or a hand mixer will work just fine. This time of the year my Kitchen aid stand mixer works the most (only second to me though). I have it out constantly making batches and batches of cookie batter. This year we baked over 600 cookies and I might still have a batch or two to bake. Preparation time – 15 minsCooking time – 25 mins per batchDifficulty level – easy
Ingredients Needed
Butter (Unsalted) – 1 cup (room temp) All Purpose flour – 2 cups Granulated Sugar - ⅔ cup (can use ½ cup if you prefer less sweeter cookies) Vanilla – 2 tsp Hazelnuts or pecans or walnuts – 1 ½ cups (finely chopped) Salt – ½ tsp Powdered sugar – for coating
Step-by-step process
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a couple of baking trays with parchment and keep aside.
In the bowl of a mixer, add the sugar and the butter.
Cream them until light and fluffy (about 5 mins). Now add the salt and the vanilla and mix them well.
To the butter mixture, add the flour little by little and mix well until completely incorporated and forms dough.
Now add the chopped nuts and mix it well.
Make about half-inch balls and place them on the prepared cookie sheet.
Bake them for about 25 min or until slightly browned.
As soon as they come out of the oven, roll them in powdered sugar and set aside in a cooling rack. Be extremely careful since the cookies would be really hot and very fragile. It is very important to roll them as soon as they come out of the oven to get the sugar to coat well.
Once the cookies have cooled down entirely, roll them again, for the second time in the powdered sugar.
Expert Tips
It is very important to use good quality, fresh nuts as the recipe uses quite a bit of them. The cookies take up a lot of flavor from the nuts and you want them to taste the best. Remove the butterball cookies from the oven as soon as they are light golden brown. Roll them in powdered sugar right after they come out of the oven. Using a spoon helps as the sugar melts quite a bit when handling with fingers. It is essential that we roll them again in powdered sugar once the cookies cool down entirely.
Frequently asked questions
More festive cookies
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