I always thought i didn’t like these cookies. I thought they were bland and no chocolate – what was the point… Then we enjoyed a vendors wonderful ones at the pozole festival and i was slighly shifted. My hubby tried one from the same vendor at a different event and was ready to buy a bag. I just couldn’t abide by the price so I told him I’d see if i could make some for him. I had 0 clue what was in it.
Then as luck would have it, one of my favorite food blogs sent their newsletters and there it was – mexican wedding cookies. Her secret was candied pecans for half the pecans (hunh, pecans were in the cookie… who knew…) I posted that recipe before christmas! I made those way early in december and they just in their cute sealed jars. My hubby was very confused why I had made candied nuts, and why they were not getting eaten!
There were super easy and a delight to make and have come out great. Only 2 trays in the oven – so quick too!
Mexican Wedding Cookies
Equipment
- 2 cookie sheets
Ingredients
- 2 cups pecans I use 1 cup regular pecans and 1 cup candied pecans
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/3 cup super fine sugar see note
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat. Set aside.
- Place 1 cup pecans (plain pecans) in a food processor and process for about 15 seconds or until the texture is similar to coarse cornmeal. Transfer the pecans to a medium bowl. Place the candied pecans, if using, in the food processor and process until coarsely chopped, about 10 seconds. Add the chopped pecans to the bowl with the ground pecans.
- Stir the flour and salt into the pecans. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed with the beater blade until fluff, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Reduce the speed to low and slowly add in the nut mixture. Mix until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula and mix until the dough comes together. Give the dough a final stir by hand to mix in any remaining flour.
- Roll the cookie dough into balls, about 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 1 inch apart.
- Bake for 18 minutes or until cookies are pale golden and the bottoms are beginning to brown. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
- Pour confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl and roll the cookies in the sugar until the are well coated. Before serving, reroll cookies in sugar and gently shake off the excess sugar.
Verdict:
These were super fun to make and excuse to make candied pecans!
They lasted a long time and I was able to share with lots of folks
If you try these, let me know what you think!
