Tender, crumbly, and buttery, these Mexican Wedding cookies are loaded up with bits of pecans and dipped in powdered sugar for a fun snowball appearance!
Reasons why we love these Mexican Wedding Cookies…
- Texture: these buttery, crumbly cookies have a fine texture to them that melts in your mouth.
- Flavor: thanks to the limited number of ingredients in these cookies, they taste of butter and toasted pecans.
- Simplicity: these cookies use simple, pantry ingredients that you will most likely have on hand and come together with ease.
- Beautiful: thanks to a roll in powdered sugar after baking, these cookies look like precious snowballs making them perfect for the winter season.
Ingredients Needed:
Ingredients Notes:
- Flour: All purpose flour is used in this recipe. I would not recommend substituting with self rising flour if that is what you have on hand, this recipe does not call for any baking powder. We don’t want this cookie dough to fluff and rise. The texture of the cookie would be altered.
- Butter: I always use unsalted butter when I bake so that I can control the amount of salt in my recipes. If you are using salted butter, then adjust the amount of salt called for in this recipe. This recipe also calls for room temperature butter, which makes it easy to mix and cream. Which also means we need to chill the cookie dough to harden the butter back up and get the correct texture of cookie.
- Powdered Sugar: the amount called for is used in the cookie dough, be sure to sift to avoid clumps. The cookies are also dipped and rolled in the powdered sugar once baked to give a coating. Which really makes them look like snowballs!
- Pecans: I am a huge fan of pecans, so of course I’m using pecans in my cookie recipe. I have seen recipes that call for walnuts. You can absolutely use walnuts if you prefer. But we want the nuts to be chopped up nice and small. This helps them to blend into the dough and contribute to the crumbliness of the cookies.
How to make (step-by-step):
- Cream the butter and powdered sugar together. Add in the flour, salt, and vanilla extract.
- Mix in the pecans. At this point the dough will seem crumbly, just keep mixing until it comes together.
- Press the dough out on a piece of wax or parchment paper and Chill for at least 30 minutes. This helps to prevent spreading.
- Once the dough has been chilled, cut into equal sections. (image shows a general guideline, to help divide dough. Recipe makes about 30 cookies)
- Roll each section into a 1 inch ball. You will be able to make about 30 cookies with this recipe. Bake 15-17 mins, until slightly golden on outside and along bottom of cookie.
- Allow cookies to cool, then dip into powdered sugar. Set on wire rack to continue cooling and to set, then dip the cookies a second time.
Tips:
- Chop the nuts finely. If you use a processor be careful not to pulse too much to make nut butter. If using a knife, be sure you are chopping the nuts into a nice fine texture.
- Chill the dough, this gets the butter nice and cold and prevents spreading.
- Use silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Using a greased cookie sheet can cause the cookies to spread.
- Roll the cookies twice in the powdered sugar. The sugar will almost melt into the cookie making it sticky with just one roll, the second roll ensures a nice powdered outside.
Mexican Wedding Cookies: FAQS
These cookies are referred to as Biscochitos in Mexico (where they do commonly grace buffet tables at weddings), and the ingredients are very similar to cookies referred to as Russian Tea Cakes. During the 1950s the term ”russian tea cakes” started to be replaced by the American term ”mexican wedding cookies” in printed recipes during a time of tense world politics.
Since this cookie recipe has no eggs, which act as a binder, they are designed to have a soft crumble to them. The texture is so fine that they almost melt in your mouth as you enjoy them.
These cookies go by several names, including: Biscochitos, Snowballs, Russian Tea Cakes, Polvorones, Butterballs, and Pecan Sandies.
More Cookies Recipes:
If you tried this recipe please leave a comment and a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below! Thank you so much!
Recipe first published December 12, 2019. Updated November 28, 2022 with new images. Recipe is unchanged.
Photography by the talented @KJandCompany.co
