Wedding Cookies (Mexican)

Mexican Wedding Cookies are a Christmas cookie favourite, but there are so many different names for these little buttery pecan cookies. Traditionally, Mexican Wedding Cookies are made with pecans or walnuts. I prefer pecans so I made them with pecans and they were delicious. But then I made a batch of my favourite candied pecans and decided to try them in the cookie recipe. I used half regular pecans and half candied pecans and I am telling you these Mexican Wedding Cookies are hands down the best Mexican Wedding Cookies in the history of all Mexican Wedding Cookies, snowballs, Russian tea cakes, pecan balls, sand tarts, and southern pecan balls whatever you want to call them, they are the best. The candied pecans add a little extra sweetness with a hint of cinnamon and brown sugar and that extra candied pecan crunch is so good. The cookies are buttery, crisp, and they melt in your mouth. They are the perfect holiday cookie.

2 cups pecans (I used 1 cup regular pecans and 1 cup candied pecans)
2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
¾ tsp. sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
⅓ cup super fine sugar
1½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
1½ cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C/140°C fan, Gas Mark 3). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat. Set aside.

Place 1 cup pecans (plain pecans) in a food processor and process for about 15 seconds or until the texture is similar to coarse cornmeal. Transfer the pecans to a medium bowl. Place the candied pecans, if using, in the food processor and process until coarsely chopped, about 10 seconds. Add the chopped pecans to the bowl with the ground pecans.

Stir the flour and salt into the pecans. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed with the beater blade until fluff, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Reduce the speed to low and slowly add in the nut mixture. Mix until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula and mix until the dough comes together. Give the dough a final stir by hand to mix in any remaining flour.

Roll the cookie dough into balls, about 1 Tbsp. of dough per cookie. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 1" apart.

Bake for 18 minutes or until cookies are pale golden and the bottoms are beginning to brown. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Pour confectioners' sugar in a small bowl and roll the cookies in the sugar until they are well coated. Before serving, reroll cookies in sugar and gently shake off the excess sugar.

Makes 42.

Cook's Notes:

• I use half pecans and half candied pecans. You can use all pecans or even walnuts, but I think the pecan/candied pecan ratio is the best.
• There are equal amounts of nuts and flour in this recipe so you can really taste the pecans.
• Grind half of the pecans in a food processor so the nuts can release their natural oil. This will help hold the cookies together and the cookies won't be dry.
• Chop the other half of the nuts so you get the perfect texture and nut crunch.
• Roll the cookies in confectioners' sugar twice to make sure the cookies are well coated.
• To make super fine sugar, place the sugar in the food processor and process for about 30 seconds.
• You can freeze these cookies. Defrost and roll in confectioners' sugar again before serving.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 116kcal, Carbohydrates: 11g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 11mg, Sodium: 42mg, Potassium: 26mg, Sugar: 6g, Vitamin A: 140IU, Vitamin C: 0.1mg, Calcium: 5mg, Iron: 0.4mg