Rich buttery melt in you mouth Mexican Wedding Cookies! These should be on every holiday dessert tray!
Classic Mexican Cookies
You may know these cookies as Snowballs, Russian Tea Cakes, Sand Tarts, but the Latin culture always refers these to Mexican cookies or Mexican wedding cookies.
Why are Mexican cookies called that?
These baked goods were originally served as wedding favors (history of wedding cakes in Mexico) for guests attending the celebration.
Each cookie is wrapped in tulle with a ribbon and given to guests that attend the wedding. What a simple and tasty way to remember the festive event!
How do you make Mexican wedding cookies?
Mexican cookies are a simple butter cookies with nuts and rolled in confectioner’s sugar.
The ingredients in this recipe are super simple:
- flour
- butter
- sugar
- vanilla
- nuts (walnut or pecans)
After gathering the ingredients, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy and fluffy. Add vanilla and flour, then stir in the nuts.
With a small cookie scoop, place round cookies on prepared baking sheet and bake. When you can handle the cookies with your fingers, roll each cookie in powdered sugar.
Christmas cookie recipes
You can never bake enough of these cookies. They’re always first to be eaten, so I suggest baking a variety of cookies during the Christmas season!
You might enjoy these:
- Chocolate Chip Peppermint Cookies
- Butter Brickle Cookies
- Ricotta Cheese Holiday Cookies
- Christmas Tree Meringue Cookies
- Holiday Reindeer Cookies
Mexican Wedding Cookies
Melt in your mouth Mexican Wedding cookies with chopped walnuts and rolled in powdered sugar!
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, unsalted and softened
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup nuts (walnuts or pecans), chopped
- 1 1/2 cups additional powder sugar for coating cookies, sifted
Directions
- Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until creamy. Add vanilla and flour. Stir in nuts. With a small cookie scoop, place round cookies on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool for about five minutes. When you can handle with your fingers, roll each cookie in powdered sugar.
Nagi@RecipeTin Eats
I would LOVE to receive these as a wedding favour instead of sugared almonds!! Isn’t it interesting the way similar recipes evolve in different cultures? I know these as sugar cookies which are probably different to sugar cookies in the US 🙂
Choc Chip Uru
I love these delicious cookies, I have only tried them a handful of times but I intend to remedy that 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Culinary Flavors
They are similar to our Christmas buttery cookies – Kourabiedes. They look lovely!
Michelle F.
Oh those look so good! I love all of that powdered sugar on them.
Robin (Masshole Mommy)
I have had these before, but never knew what they were called. I love those cookies.
Cindy (Vegetarian Mamma)
Those are simply beautiful and look easy to make!
Kristin
Mmmmm, we always make those during our Christmas cookie bake sesh!
Heidy@The McCallumsShamrockPatch
I don’t care if you call them Snowballs, Russian Tea Cakes, Sand Tarts, or Mexican Wedding Cookies – I love them by any name! Thanks for reminding me of a wonderful holiday treat I had forgotten about! DELICIOUS!
Joanne/WineLady Cooks
Mexican Wedding Cookies are my favorite. They are so goooooood and easy to make. I love that you added the walnuts, I’ll have to remember to add them to mine next time.
Nicky
We call these snowballs. This is a great cookie. Thanks for sharing them
Jane
These are not Mexican wedding cookies. Real Mexican wedding cookies should have anise in them, and LARD. These are just Russian tea cakes from the Betty Crocker cookbook back in 1966.
Sandra Shaffer
Thanks for stopping by, Jane. Yes, there are many variations of this recipe with similar ingredients.
Dini
I made these cookies once a while back using a friend’s recipe and LOVED them! But then lost the recipe over time. I’m SO glad I found this! 🙂 There’s just something really unique about these soft, buttery cookies and I can’t wait to make these again for the holidays!
Abeer
I always make these at Christmas and my friends always ask for the recipe! They are delish!
Gloria
I have never tried these cookies, but I have seen them on the web many times. I know they would just melt in your mouth. I think they are the perfect addition to the holiday treat tray. They would not last long for sure.
Daniela
I LOVE Mexican weeding cookies, but I never knew they were so easy to make. I bet they would make great edible gifts for friends and family. Thank you for the great recipe!
Leah
Oh my, I haven’t had these in years. I am drooling, they sound so tasty and so perfect for the holidays! I always remember them on my Grandma’s cookie trays. Thanks for the fond memories, and I need to make these ASAP!
Sandra Shaffer
We make them every year. They’re our favorite cookie to make during the holiday season.
Tina
I love these cookies but never knew what they were. I didn’t know they were so easy. Thanks for all the info, that was very helpfulful. Saving this to do with my daughter when she comes back in town.
Carmy
I’ve never had these Mexican wedding cookies before! However, I’m always game to try new cookies and anything tossed in powdered sugar is a pretty easy yes for me! I’ll have to give this a try.
Molly Kumar
These look absolutely delicious. I love how easy it is to make them as the ingredients are our pantry any given day. I’m saving your recipe to try this Christmas as these would make an excellent holiday gift.
Dana
These are some of my favorite holiday cookies! Growing up, we called them Snowball cookies. But I’ve also seen them referred to as Russian Tea Cookies and, of course, Mexican Wedding Cookies. However they’re supposed to be called, they’re ah-mazing. They’re on my list of holiday cookies to make this year. They’re so nostalgic 🙂
Debra
AH….thank you! My neighbor makes these every year (she has a different name for them) and we LOVE them. She has never been willing to part with the recipe, but now I can stop asking for it. These are so light and pillowy. Can’t wait to have a batch of them all to ourselves this year.
Marisa Franca
When I started really getting into cooking. and baking, our neighbor gave me a Betty Crocker cookbook for my birthday. I still have that cookbook. Those cookies are called Russian Teacakes. When I got married my mother-in-law called them Mexican Wedding Cakes. Well since then I’ve seen them called lots of different names. Whatever they are called, they are always a favorite. Melt in your mouth goodness with a crunch of nuts. So yummy!!
Traci
I’m reading through your blogpost and Mexican wedding cookie recipe, and I’m remembering all the Christmas cookies I made with my mom when I was growing up. In fact, that is what inspired my earliest kitchen/food endeavors. I can literally taste your cookies right now. I’m such a fan of the buttery, yet almost crisp texture of these cookies. I need to get on some holiday baking asap! Thanks for sharing this recipe 🙂
Sean@Diversivore
I haven’t been to a Mexican wedding (yet – one can always hope of course) but I’m 110% on board with whipping up a batch of these pretty much any old time. I love a good, simple cookie, and these have a very shortbread-ish sort of appeal that I love. The fact that they use nuts in such a large quantity sounds really awesome too – lots of character and tons of flavour. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an imaginary wedding to prepare for.
Amanda
These have always been one of my favorite cookies! I love how using powdered sugar in the dough for recipes like this makes the cookies just melt in your mouth when you eat them. It’s also always been so interesting to me to see how similar cookie recipes exist across cultures. I didn’t know that these were served as wedding favors in the Latin culture. That’s a favor I’d love to receive as a guest!