Mexican Wedding Cakes

These melt-in-your mouth Mexican Wedding Cakes are sort of like a ball-shaped shortbread. They are very popular, not only during the Christmas season, but also at weddings, christenings, and other festive occasions.

This is also a cookie with many names, depending on what country you are in. In Russia, these are known as Russian Tea Cakes. In Greece they are called Powder Cookies. Our neighbors call them Snowball Cookies.

To get the best flavor out of Mexican Wedding Cakes, we recommend using real butter and pure vanilla extract. It isn't absolutely necessary to do this but you will get a better tasting cookie.

Mexican Wedding Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup almond or pecan pieces
2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 cup powdered sugar divided

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter or margarine at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation:

If you are going to bake two sheets of cookies at a time, then arrange the racks in your oven to divide it into thirds. For baking with one sheet at a time, put one of the oven racks in the center of the oven.
PREHEAT oven to 325°F.
In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, process the nuts with 1/4 cup of flour, using on-off pulses until finely ground. Don't let the mixture become pasty.
In a medium size bowl, with a whisk, combine the remaining 1 3/4 cups of flour and ground nuts until throughly mixed.
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer at medium high speed, beat together 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy (2 to 3 minutes).
With the mixer at medium low speed, gradually add the flour mixture, beating until the mixture forms a dough. Scraping down the sides as necessary.
Sprinkle the remaining Powdered Sugar in a small bowl.
Scoop enough dough out of the bowl with a spoon and roll between your hands to make 1 inch balls.
Place the balls on ungreased baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart.
Bake for about 18 minutes until firm but not brown. If you are baking with two sheets at a time, switch baking pans from top to bottom racks halfway through the cooking time. If you are baking with one sheet at a time then rotate the pan halfway through the cooking time. This will ensure that the cookies cook more evenly.
Immediately transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool a bit.
Before they have had a chance to cool too much, roll each ball in the powdered sugar and return them to the racks to cool completely.