Easy Mexican Wedding Cookies
on May 11, 2019, Updated May 08, 2024
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These bite-sized Easy Mexican Wedding Cookies are perfect little sweet and buttery nuggets with a pecan crunch and powdered sugar topping.
I have always loved the flavors of Mexican food—in fact, we accidentally ordered what we thought were shrimp tacos on a trip to Mexico but ended up with super authentic cow intestine tacos instead! I can promise you these Easy Mexican Wedding Cookies aren’t quite as adventurous, but they’re tasty Mexican goodies nonetheless.
Plan your next Taco Tuesday with beef tostadas and easy Mexican black beans, and finish off with these amazing Mexican Wedding Cookies. This recipe has just a few ingredients and minimal instructions, so it’s tough to mess up these balls of goodness. I dream about these buttery nuggets with their pecan crunch and powdered sugar topping!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- These bite-sized Easy Mexican Wedding Cookies are festive pops of a sweet and nutty dessert that isn’t overly rich. They’re one of my favorite cookie recipes for parties. Everyone loves them!
- These easy cookies require only a few basic ingredients that you probably have in your pantry right now.
- This is a fun recipe for kids—they’ll love rolling the cookies in the powdered sugar!
Recipe Ingredients
- Pecans or walnuts – I prefer pecans, but use your favorite or whatever you have on hand.
- Flour – all-purpose flour
- Butter – if using salted butter, cut back on the salt called for in the recipe
- Sugar – regular granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Mexican Wedding Cookies
- Chop nuts in a food processor, then combine with flour and salt.
- Beat together butter and sugar, and then add vanilla. Add flour and the nut mixture.
- Roll dough into balls and bake until the tops are golden.
- Let the cookies cool, and roll each cookie in powdered sugar.
Recipe FAQs
These cookies are very popular at bakeries in Mexico and are often called polvorones, which comes from polvo, a word for powder or dust. They’re a soft and very crumbly Spanish shortbread that gained popularity and started popping up in many cookbooks in the U.S. in the ’50s.
Yes, they can! Store Mexican wedding cookies in an airtight container at room temp or in the fridge for up to 2 days, or in the freezer for up to 6 weeks. You will need to toss them in powdered sugar again after they come out of the freezer and thaw so they look their best.
Yes, even though nuts are a main component of Mexican wedding cookies, they can be made without nuts. This will create a somewhat softer and less grainy cookie.
Expert Tips
- My favorite nut to use in these cookies are pecans, but you can also use walnuts, almonds, or any other nuts you have on hand.
- If these cookies are stored for a few days, or in the freezer for a while, you will probably want to roll them in powdered sugar again before serving.
- These cookies are a decadent treat served with tea or coffee, the perfect ending to a meal!
More Easy Cookie Recipes to Consider
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Easy Mexican Wedding Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups pecans or walnuts
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, (1 cup)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or with baking mats.
- In a food processor, process 1 cup of nuts until the texture is similar to coarse cornmeal, about 15 seconds of processing. Place the finely chopped nuts in a medium bowl.
- Add the second cup of nuts to the food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped, about 5 seconds. Add these to the finely chopped nuts in the bowl.
- Add the flour and salt to the bowl, and stir to combine.
- In a medium bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer), beat together the butter and the granulated sugar on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the vanilla, and stir to combine.
- Slowly add the flour-nut mixture, and stir until it is combined and forms a soft dough, about 30 seconds. Make sure no dry pockets remain in the dough.
- Roll 1 tablespoon of dough into a round ball, and place them 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Bake until the tops are pale golden and the bottoms are just starting to brown, about 18 minutes.
- Let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, and then place them on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Place the powdered sugar in a shallow dish, and roll each cookie in it to coat the outside evenly. Gently shake off any excess sugar and serve.
- Store extra cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.
Notes
- If you aren’t serving the cookies immediately, you’ll want to re-roll them in powdered sugar just before serving to ensure they are evenly covered. (Sometimes, the sugar absorbs or shakes off the cookies.)
- I prefer pecans for this recipe, but I almost always prefer pecans over walnuts. Use whatever nuts you love or have on hand.
- This is a super easy and fun recipe to make with kids. Let them roll the dough into balls and dredge in the powdered sugar!
- If using salted butter, cut back on the amount of salt called for in the recipe. Just taste a bit of the dough to see if it needs a pinch more salt or if the salted butter has made it salty enough for your taste.
