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Mexican Wedding Cookies

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Mexican Wedding Cookies - get the recipe at barefeetinthekitchen.com



Mexican Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, Sugar Butter Balls, Polvorones, Snowball Cookies, Egyptian Feast Cookies, Nut Butter Balls, Norwegian Snowballs, Kourambie, Walnut Delights, Pecan Petites, Holiday Nuggets, Swedish Heirloom Cookies, these melt-in-your-mouth cookies are known by many different names around the world. My grandmother called them Sugar Butter Balls.

Every time I bite into a Mexican Wedding Cookie, I’m transported to a time when I watched my grandmother roll them between her hands. She would set the finished cookies on a platter and everything looked so elegant to my young eyes. More than any other holiday treat, these cookies taste like Christmas to me.

Mexican Wedding Cookies - get the recipe at barefeetinthekitchen.com

 

The first time I tried making these cookies on my own, I was 18 years old and living in my first apartment. I had my grandmother’s recipe for them, but I figured I knew best. Instead of rolling the warm cookies gently through the powdered sugar, I placed them in a Ziploc bag and poured sugar over them. When I shook the bag to coat them with sugar, at least half the cookies broke apart. The cookies were still delicious, but they were a mess to eat. In the years since I’ve learned that Grandmother knew best. If you follow her directions for rolling the cookies in the sugar, yours will turn out every bit as perfectly as hers always did.
Mexican Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, Sugar Butter Balls, Polvorones, Snowball Cookies, Egyptian Feast Cookies, Nut Butter Balls, Norwegian Snowballs, Kourambie, Walnut Delights, Pecan Petites, Holiday Nuggets, Swedish Heirloom Cookies, these melt-in-your-mouth cookies are known by many different names around the world. Get the recipe at barefeetinthekitchen.com

Kitchen Tip: I use this baking sheet pan to make this recipe.

Yield: 36 cookies

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Buttery nut-filled cookies, coated with a layer of powdered sugar, these classic cookies are everyone's favorite holiday treat!

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Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Slowly add the flour and salt and mix just until combined. Stir in the nuts. Scoop into 1? balls and round them smooth between your hands. Bake 10-12 minutes, until cookies are set but not browned.

Let cool on the tray for a minute or two and then roll the warm cookies in powdered sugar and set on a cooling rack. Once cool, roll them once or twice more in powdered sugar. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Notes

The easiest method I've found for coating the cookies in powdered sugar is to put about a cup of powdered sugar in a bowl and roll the warm cookies, a few at a time, through the sugar.

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https://barefeetinthekitchen.com/mexican-wedding-cookies-recipe/

{originally published 11/21/13 – notes and photos updated 12/5/15}

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  7. OMGosh those look good I love them. Keebler cookie makes them just at the Christmas season and I always bought 2 boxes of them for me to eat LOL
    I didn't realize they were so easy to make and now I need to cut way back on what I eat for health reasons
    Reply

    • There is no comparison to the home made version. Try them once in your life. The actually melt in your mouth!
      Reply

  8. Is there a trick to these cookies -- the last few years I tried various recipes, but they end up very dry and so crumbly when you bite into them. What am I doing wrong? Is it the oven temp?
    Reply

    • I dont like walnuts or pecans at all and i dont wanna put any kind of nuts. Can i do them without or is there something else i can put in them maybe mini choc chips? Any suggestions
      Reply

    • I've been making wedding cookies for over 30 years. Remove the cookies from the oven when they are VERY LIGHTLY browned and immediately roll them in powdered sugar. Once cooled, roll them in more. Be sure to store them in an airtight container, and I usually wait 5 days or so before eating them. To me, the flavor develops over time and they become less brittle. Also, if they are layered in the container, sprinkle a small bit of powdered sugar between the layers.
      Reply

  19. I come from Greece and we call these cookies << Kourabiethes>> I make them every year at holiday time and couple more times throughout the year, my friend love them, but my mother's recipe called for egg yolks, baking powder and some brandy. Next time I will try them with this recipe and see.
    Reply

  21. I made these Mexican cookies last night. They were wonderful and will be repeated many times. Thanks for all of the wonderful recipes... keep them coming!
    Reply

  22. Your recipe is nearly identical to mine. I first made them when I was in high school or shortly after graduation; it's been a while! During that time I've learned a few tricks, the most important being bake them only until they are very lightly browned! I also let them sit (in an airtight container) for at least 5 days before eating; that way they develop more flavor and become less brittle. This cookie is requested by more people than any other I make at Christmas.
    Reply

  27. I couldn't agree more these tasty gems scream CHRISTMAS!!! I have been tempted to make them on different occasions but then it would take away the cookies being so special.
    Reply

  32. Can these be made with margarine instead of butter? Not my preference, but my sister in law was visiting and bought a TON of margarine and now I'm desperate to use/get rid of it! Lol
    Reply

  40. Looks great and I was excited to make them but Those cookies melted few min after baking. They else following apart... I was wondering if this recipe is missing something :(
    Reply

    • They are on the delicate side. Let them cool a bit before you gently roll them in powdered sugar. Be sure to use real butter.
      Reply

    • Unfortunately, I haven't had great success with any of the gluten-free flour combinations I have tried. Some of them were good, but nothing has been exactly right yet. (That's why I haven't shared a GF version yet.)
      Reply

  46. I love these cookies. I had a small bakery in our town for about 20 yrs and this was one of the cookies I could never make enough of. People bought them by the doz. we had to make at least 2 times a week and ran our each week. We mad 150 cookies at a time. I need a fruit cake cook recipe. You drop them just like these. I have lost my recipe for those. ( that should be a fruit cake cookie recipe).
    Reply

  48. Mine never come out round always flat :( i have chilled the dough over night thinking thats what the problem was but no go, my favorite cookie tho !
    Reply

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