Sweet and buttery, these Mexican Wedding Cookies are shortbread bites filled with pieces of pecans in every bite. These wedding cookies are so simple and take only six ingredients to make. Perfect for any occasion, but especially the holidays, these little snowball-like cookies will practically melt in your mouth!
Equipment
- Mixer
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened (227g)
- 1½ cups powdered sugar divided (180g)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour (210g)
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter, ½ cup confectioners’ sugar, and salt on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla until just combined.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour, beating until well combined. Beat in the pecans until combined. Scoop the dough by tablespoonfuls and roll into balls between your palms. Place 1-inch apart on the baking sheets.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the tops are set and the bottoms are golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the pans for 5 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, place the remaining 1 cup confectioners’ sugar. Working in batches, roll the warm cookies in the sugar, shaking off excess. Place a wire rack, and cool completely. Reroll cooled cookies in confectioners’ sugar again. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
- Use real vanilla extract instead of artificial extract for the best-tasting polvoróns.
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake that will yield a dry and dense cookie. The best and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one, then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off. If you scoop the flour straight from the bag, you overpack the measuring cup.
- I highly recommend using a cookie scoop. Using a cookie scoop ensures that all the Mexican cookies are the same size to bake evenly. If you plan on baking cookies regularly, it’s worth purchasing!
- If you’re trying to speed up bringing the butter to room temperature, roughly cut the butter into cubes.
- If the powdered sugar is lumpy, sift it after measuring.
- It’s important to roll these wedding cookies in powdered sugar twice. The cookies are still warm during the first roll, and the powdered sugar may melt on the cookies. The second coat makes sure the cookies are fully coated.
- You want your pecan pieces fairly small, so the dough balls are easier to portion and roll.
- For a stronger pecan flavor, toast the pecans on a skillet before finely chopping them.
- These cookies don’t expand very much, so you can fit 18 (3×6) on one sheet pan.
What You Need to Make This Recipe
Butter — when picking butter, be sure to bring unsalted butter and not salted butter to room temperature. Salted butter does not have a consistent amount of salt across different brands, so you should add your own, or you might have an overly salty cookie. Make sure the butter is soft enough so when you press into it, your finger leaves a dent. If it’s cold, it’ll be challenging to beat it into a smooth consistency.
Powdered sugar — you’ll need powdered sugar for both the cookie dough and coating it after baking. If you don’t have powdered sugar, you can see my post here on how to make your own powdered sugar.
Pecans — you can buy them whole or halved and chop them yourself or blitz them in the food processor. You can also buy them already finely chopped.
How to Make Mexican Wedding Cookies
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter, 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, and salt on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla until just combined.
2. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour, beating until well combined. Beat in the pecans until combined.
3. Scoop the dough by the tablespoonfuls and roll them into balls between your palms. Place 1-inch apart on lined baking sheets. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the tops are set, and the bottoms are golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the pans for 5 minutes.
4. In a medium bowl, place the remaining 1 cup confectioners’ sugar. Working in batches, roll the warm cookies in the sugar, shaking off excess. Place on a wire rack, and cool completely. Re-roll cooled cookies in confectioners’ sugar again.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- Use real vanilla extract instead of artificial extract for the best-tasting polvorones.
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake and will yield a dry and dense cookie. The best and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one, then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off. If you scoop the flour straight from the bag, you overpack the measuring cup.
- I highly recommend using a cookie scoop. Using a cookie scoop ensures that all the Mexican cookies are the same size to bake evenly. If you plan on baking cookies regularly, it’s worth purchasing!
- If you’re trying to speed up bringing the butter to room temperature, roughly cut the butter into cubes.
- If the powdered sugar is lumpy, sift it after measuring.
- It’s important to roll these wedding cookies in powdered sugar twice. The cookies are still warm during the first roll, and the powdered sugar may melt onto the cookies. The second coat makes sure the cookies are fully coated.
- You want your pecan pieces fairly small, so the dough balls are easier to portion and roll.
- For a stronger pecan flavor, toast the pecans on a skillet before finely chopping them.
- These cookies don’t expand very much, so you can fit 18 (3×6) on one sheet pan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these the same as Russian tea cookies?
The two cookies are pretty much the same! Depending on where you live, these cookies are known by different names. You might also find them labeled as snowball cookies, polvorones, pecan balls, and southern pecan butterballs.
Do I have to use pecans?
You can make these wedding cookies with other types of nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, pistachios, and hazelnuts. You can also use a mixture of different nuts if you’re running low on pecans.
How do I store leftovers?
Store polvorones cookies in an airtight container in a dry, cool place in your kitchen for up to 2 weeks. Make sure the cookies have fully cooled before storing them, as the moisture will lead to condensation, affecting the fluffy powdered sugar. Also, I recommend placing a sheet of parchment between each layer of the cookies to keep them from sticking together.
Can I freeze these cookies?
This Mexican wedding cookie recipe is freezer-friendly! You can freeze the cookies before or after baking them. If you plan on freezing them beforehand, place the rolled dough balls on a lined sheet pan and flash freeze them. Once frozen, the balls can be transferred into a freezer-safe bag and freeze them for up to 3 months. Bake them as directed from frozen with an extra minute. If you want to freeze them after baking, skip rolling them in the powdered sugar and do so before serving.
From: The Preppy Kitchen
Mama Woon’s Kitchen 