Mexican Wedding Cookies

A Traditional Nut-Flavored, Shortbread Christmas Cookie

The Mexican Wedding Cookie is a holiday favorite of mine.  This nut-flavored, shortbread cookie is covered in powdered sugar.  It is a tasty, three-bite, melt-in-your-mouth cookie that is a special treat, perfect for your Christmas cookie platters.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

With only six ingredients these cookies are easy to assemble and bake.  Their tender texture and buttery flavor pack a lot of satisfaction for relatively little effort.  These would be a nice holiday cookie to share with neighbors and friends.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Printer Friendly Recipe

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies  

Mexican Wedding Cookie Ingredients

• 2/3 cup, toasted, finely chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts)
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted, for rolling the cookies

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.  To toast the nuts, spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake just until they are lightly brown and fragrant for about 8 minutes. Cool completely.

Once the nuts have cooled completely, grind them in your food processor with 2 tablespoons of the flour from the recipe until they are finely ground.  Be careful not to turn them into a paste.

Beat the butter and sugar together in the bowl of your electric mixer until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the remaining flour and salt and beat until combined. Stir in the nuts. Cover and refrigerate the dough for about one hour or until firm. 

Form the chilled dough into 1 inch balls and place them on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 12 - 15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown. The cookies will expand in size a bit while cooking.  Remove the cookies from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes.

The Baked Cookies

Sift one cup of confectioners' sugar into a bowl.  While the cookies are still hot, toss them in the sugar and return them to the wire rack to cool completely.  Store in a tightly sealed container for up to three weeks.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

You might also enjoy these Cranberry-Pistachio Biscottis or these thumbprint cookies on your holiday cookie platter.

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Enjoy!