Mexican Wedding Cookies

ByBluebonnet Baker
27 Comments

Despite their name, Mexican Wedding Cookies are popular in San Antonio for more than just weddings. In fact, I've long thought of these delicious little morsels of win as a Christmas cookie, not a wedding one.

Now, there are lots of different versions of this little cookie. In fact, I think Russian Tea Cakes are pretty much identical, bar one thing: the nuts. Russian Tea Cakes call for Walnuts. Mexican Wedding Cookies call for Pecans.

There's a very important reason behind that: Pecans are a huge crop in Texas and Mexico! To me, Pecans just taste like home.

One thing that these two cookies share, however, is their focus on vanilla. Vanilla naturally highlights any nut flavor, and they make no exception in Mexican Wedding Cookies. They're one of my favorites because they are so simple: vanilla, pecan, and sugar mingle and marry and make your tastebuds sing.

There are only 6 ingredients in Mexican Wedding Cookies, and they come together super quick. I made these after work last night, and was done in time to watch the news in bed. What more could you ask from a weeknight treat or a holiday favorite? Make them for Thanksgiving. Make them for Hanukkah. Make them for New Year's Eve. Just make them.

This recipe is the first in a series for a holiday recipe exchange organized by Jamie from My Baking Addiction and Katie from GoodLife {Eats}.

Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Beanilla. Head over to the recipe exchange to vote for my Mexican Wedding Cookies

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Adapted from "Mexican Wedding Cookies" in The Tex-Mex Cookbook by Robb Walsh
Makes approximately 3 dozen

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup confectioners' (powdered) sugar plus 1 cup for dusting
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
2 ½ cup all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Beat butter and ½ c. sugar together in a mixer on high until light and fluffy. While still mixing, add in the vanilla, salt, and chopped pecans, and continue until well combined.

Mix in flour by hand, stirring only until combined. Do not overmix or the cookies will be tough.

From dough into crescent shapes (I did this by using a cookie scoop. I'd make a scoop, and then cut the scoop in ½ to create half moons), and bake 12-16 minutes until the edges are golden brown.

Allow to cool. Put the rest of the sugar in a large bowl. When the cookies are cool to the touch, place 2-3 at a time into the bowl, and shake to coat with sugar. Once all the cookies are coated once, sift the remaining sugar over the cookies to give a second coating.

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27 Comments

  1. You know how much I love these!! They look spectacular. Now I just have to perfect the gluten-free vegan version. Will keep you posted.

  2. Amber-
    Love this recipe! A definite good call on the pecans! Thanks so much for sharing submitting your delicious cookie in our Holiday Recipe Exchange. Best of luck in the contest!
    -Jamie

  6. One of my favorite cookies . . . but now that I think about it, I say that about EVERY cookie . . . anyway - love the sweetness, the crunch and the nuts BUT I almost choked to death one time because I inhaled just as I was biting into one!! I know, dumb . . .

  7. I've been making an almost identical cookie for most of my life; it was my Grandmother's recipe and we always called them Pecan Butter Balls. I love how one basic recipe has been revised and handed down and becomes a tradition with Mexican, Russian and in our case Scandinavian heritage. It is quite simply, the one cookie I HAVE to have for Christmas!

  9. Oh my lands, I love these! My grandma always dyed them green for the holidays...not sure why. One year we dyed them red and they looked like meatballs, so we went back to green.
    Thanks for sharing this Tex Mex classic! 🙂

  11. And now I learn, after all these years, that my mother was making Russian Tea Cakes (walnuts) and not Mexican Wedding Cakes. These were a fixture in our house growing up. Thanks for the recipe and the memories you stirred up in my mind.

  12. Great looking cookies... I dont think I have ever had these!! They are going on my MUST BAKE IMMEDIATELY list. 🙂 Now I just need to start that list.

  15. These look so delightful. My husband prefers pecans to walnuts, so we're definitely a Mexican wedding cake household.

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