Mexican Wedding Cookies are a salty-sweet, buttery cookie speckled with finely chopped nuts that come coated in a generous layer of powdered sugar. Yes, please. They take all of 15 minutes to make, require little effort, and an even smaller list of ingredients. Freezer-friendly and completely gorgeous, they are the perfect holiday dessert for sharing and gift-giving!
You might also know Mexican Wedding Cookies as Snowdrop Cookies, Tea Cake Cookies, Butterballs, Russian Tea Cakes, Polvorones…and the list goes on. Whichever name you should choose to call them, the heart of the cookie stays the same — a snow-like blanket of powdered sugar on the outside and total buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookie perfection on the inside.
Looking for more Christmas cookies to add to this year’s lineup? Try our thick and chewy Snickerdoodles, crunchy Almond Biscotti with great big almond flavor, and perfect, little bite-sized Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies — all popular classics everyone loves!
MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIE INGREDIENTS
Leave the baking soda, baking powder, and eggs behind — there are no rising agents or binders (i.g. baking soda or eggs) in these cookies. This is the reason behind their addictively delicious, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
Keeping in line with most standard cookie recipes, you will need to have all-purpose flour, vanilla extract, and salt on hand.
This Mexican Wedding Cookie Recipe calls for pecans, but feel free to sub in almonds or walnuts if preferred. Whichever nut you use, it’ll need to be finely chopped before going into your dough.
You’ll need two types of sugar for this Mexican Wedding Cookie Recipe: Granulated sugar and powdered sugar. Granulated sugar for the dough and powdered sugar for the outer coating, giving them that festive Christmasy, snowball appearance!
Last, but not least, be sure you only use unsalted butter for these cookies. If you were to sub in salted butter, your cookies would be overwhelmingly salty.
HOW TO MAKE MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES
- Prep – Preheat the oven to 325° and have ready a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Whisk Dry Ingredients – To kick off your Mexican Wedding Cookie Recipe, in a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour and sea salt. Set aside until ready to use.
- Mix Butter and Sugar – Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. If you do not have a stand mixer, use a large mixing bowl and a handheld mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until well-combined. Add the vanilla and mix once more.
- Add Dry Ingredients – Turn the mixer down to low, and slowly incorporate the flour mixture, followed by the ground pecans.
- Scoop Dough and Bake – Scoop the dough a tablespoon at a time, form it into a round, and place the dough balls on baking sheet about 1 1/2″ apart. Bake for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to completely cool.
- Toss in Sugar – Place the powdered sugar in a gallon-sized zip-top bag. Add about a dozen cookies to the bag at a time, and gently toss to coat. Serve and enjoy.
CAN YOU FREEZE COOKIES?
All cookies (and cookie dough for that matter) can be frozen. It’s just a matter of how. This practice comes in handy during the holidays as cookies are perfect for budget-friendly, heartfelt gift-giving! Here are a few cookies recipes that are ideal for freezing:
- Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Cowboy Cookies
- No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Drop Cookies
Mexican Wedding Cookies, in particular, are extremely easy to freeze and require little-to-no extra effort on your behalf. You can either freeze them before or after you roll them in the powdered sugar. Freeze the cookies either in an airtight, freezer-safe container or a freezer-safe zip-top bag for up to three months, but make sure the Wedding Cookies have cooled completely before sealing.
Thawing Mexican Wedding Cookies is even easier. Leave them out on the counter at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. You’ll notice that if you froze them after rolling them in sugar, the sugar may no longer be a vibrant white once thawed. If you care to, roll them in powdered sugar once more.
6 MORE HOLIDAY COOKIE RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
- Almond Cookies are soft, chewy, and buttery with a double dose of almond flavor and a melt in your mouth texture!
- Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies feature a soft and chewy, homemade peanut butter cookie dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with chopped peanuts!
- Easy Sugar Cookies with Icing feature a homemade sugar cookie with the best buttercream frosting ever! They’re as tasty as they are beautiful!
- Strawberry Butter Jam Cookies are a melt-in-your-mouth, buttery cookie filled with strawberry jam and a sprinkle of sparkling sugar on top.
- S’more Cookies are easy to make and loved by all! Topped with a gooey marshmallow and melty chocolate, they are perfect for parties, gift-giving, and everything in between!
- Chocolate Coconut Macaroons are gluten-free, chewy cookie paradise. They make for wonderful gifts come the holidays and are a gorgeous centerpiece on any dessert table.
A recipe for Mexican Wedding Cookies (also know as snowball cookies), a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookie rolled in powdered sugar.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature (do NOT use salted butter)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup ground pecans
- 1 1/2 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar
-
Preheat the oven to 325° and have ready a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
-
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour and sea salt. Set aside until ready to use.
-
Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. If you do not have a stand mixer, use a large mixing bowl and a handheld mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until well-combined. Add the vanilla and mix once more.
-
Turn the mixer down to low, and slowly incorporate the flour mixture, followed by the ground pecans.
-
Scoop dough a tablespoon at a time, form it into a round, and place dough balls on baking sheet about 1 1/2" apart. Bake for 15 minutes, and transfer to a wire rack to completely cool.
-
Place the powdered sugar in a gallon-sized zip top bag. Add about a dozen cookies to the bag at a time, and gently toss to coat. Serve and enjoy.
Makes 36-40 cookies.
Do NOT substitute salted butter for this recipe!
Thank you for this awesome Christmas Cookie Recipe. Pinned – I’ve included it in a roundup of 20 Amazing Christmas Cookie Recipes at Family Fun Friday. I’d love it if you could PIN and share this awesome cookie round-up featuring your recipe. Together we can spread some Christmas Cheer! Happy Holidays! https://www.happyandblessedhome.com/20-amazing-must-try-christmas-cookie-recipes/
Sounds great!!! Thanks, Monica 🙂 Thank you!
Make sure you used UNSALTED butter or omit the added salt if you only have salted butter. I overlooked that detail and my cookies were much too salty!
Annika, this is an excellent point! I’ll make a special note of that on the blog post. The recipe was designed with unsalted butter and it is definitely a must!! Thanks so much for your comment 🙂
Toasted or un-toasted nuts
Un-toasted 🙂
Would replacing the ground almonds with pistachios make a big difference??
I imagine subbing in pistachios would potentially change the texture of the cookie…possibly make it a little chewy? However, I’m sure you could leave all the quantities the same, and give it a go! Best of luck!
I make these all the time and had no idea that they were Mexican Wedding cookies. We call them snowballs and you are right about how they melt in your mouth. One of my absolute favourite Christmas cookies. I need to give this recipe a try!
Alisa! Yes! I used to call them that when I was selling them, and then a Mexican friend of mine very kindly corrected me. She said, “You can call them whatever you want, they’re delicious. But these are Mexican Wedding Cookies where I come from.” Ha! Haven’t referred to them as anything other than that since 🙂
This one looks good and yummy. can’t wait to try this recipe this coming Saturday yay!. surely my friends will like this. Thank you for this idea and I love your recipes.
Thanks, Arjhon! Y’all enjoy 🙂
I have never heard of these wedding cookies before, but once the temperature drops I’d definitely want to try to make them!
Well I would eat these little beauties ANY day of the week. No need for a special occasion. They would be the perfect afternoon pick me up with a nice latte. They look so delicate too.
I’ve never heard or tried these before, but they look delicious!! Clearly, I have to get them on the menu asap! Nice touch with the pecans….one of my faves 🙂
Wow, I’ve never tried these, but these cookies look amazing! I love pecans!
Thank you, Shanika! I love pecans too!
This was my Mom’s favorite cookie. She made them every holiday season. They are now a staple in my holiday gift tins. We always include pecans! They look delicious.
Oh I love that! Thanks for sharing, Ellen 🙂
I LOVE these cookies, but have never made them myself for some crazy reason. SO excited to hear that they can be frozen… Though that might be a little bit dangerous for me 🙂
Ha! Indeed it is 😉 The good thing is, they won’t be in there for too long! HA!
What a wonderful idea to make these delightful little bites. They sound delicious with the pecans added. They would be a nice little treat for afternoon tea.
Thank you! Yes, so ideal for a little nibble with your tea (or coffee, if you’re me)! 🙂
I didn’t know that they were buttery. I would’ve tried them sooner. Now I got to make these!
I have literally never heard of these before nor been to Mexico so now I need to make them to see what they taste like, thanks for the inspiration!
Oh, they are SO gooooood!
I’m not great at making cookies but these sound so easy and delicious I really want to give them a try! I may even be able to serve homemade cookies at Christmas this year for the first time EVER!
I love these cookies during the holidays. I’ve never had them with pecans though, I’ll have to try that this holiday season.
These are some of my favorite cookies! My mom always makes them at Christmas time 🙂
These are my favorite cookies, other than chocolate and I’ve never thought how simple the ingredients are.
Thank you, Linda!
Aww yum! I grew up calling these Russian Cannonballs and my mom would ONLY make them during Christmastime, so these are a special treat for me 🙂
I’ve never heard that before, but I LOVE it! Childhood cookies are the BEST!
I love these cookies because they literally melt in your mouth. I didn’t know that you could freeze them though. Now, I’m excited to make a big batch for Christmas and feed them to all my friends!
Thank you, Daniela! They absolutely melt in your mouth!!! So yummy 🙂
I’ve never made Mexican wedding cookies before, but that might change after seeing these. Thanks for sharing!
Oh my… I just made Mexican wedding cookies last weekend so I can almost taste these. The best cookies ever. Very addictive I can never stop eating them. These look so good. Love the pretty white colors – they remind me of winter.
I’ve never had the opportunity to taste a cookie like this (I’m in the Uk!) I am going to bookmark this and surprise my guests this Christmas with something a little different. Thank you!
These are one of my favorite cookies. I made a similar kind with almonds but I love the pecans too. These are perfect with some tea..cannot wait to try with pecans next time!
Hands down my favorite cookie of all time! I literally cannot and most likely will not wait for the holidays to make these!
Do we need a occasion to eat these? I don’t think so! It looks so GOOD! Oh I can’t wait to get baking all those wonderful cookies for Holidays and Christmas.
A Mexican Wedding Cookie by any other name still tastes as good. They have so many names — I knew them as Russian Teacakes. They certainly are a favorite every Christmas and one of the first ones I make. It’s an excellent recipe.
Feel like grabbing a few right now, such a delectable and inviting these cookies are, surely taste much better with a cuppa!
Thank you, Jagruti!
I’ve seen these cookies many times before, but never knew the name! I’m not the hugest fan of walnuts or pecans…I may need to try these with almonds and see how they turn out. But let’s be honest…it’s a cookie, coated in powdered sugar…I’m going to eat them regardless!
I haven’t had Mexican wedding cookies since I was a child. I used to love them so much. Can not wait to give this homemade version a try!
We called these Danish wedding cookies when I was a little girl. LOVE this recipe!! These are one of my all time favorite cookie recipes ever!! So making these soon for my littles!
Has anyone ever tried adding m or mni chocolate chips?