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
Ingredients
Instructions
Nagi@RecipeTin Eats
December 17, 2014 at 11:37 amI 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
December 17, 2014 at 12:36 pmI 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
December 17, 2014 at 11:30 pmThey are similar to our Christmas buttery cookies – Kourabiedes. They look lovely!
Michelle F.
December 30, 2014 at 9:47 amOh those look so good! I love all of that powdered sugar on them.
Robin (Masshole Mommy)
December 30, 2014 at 12:27 pmI have had these before, but never knew what they were called. I love those cookies.
Cindy (Vegetarian Mamma)
December 30, 2014 at 1:46 pmThose are simply beautiful and look easy to make!
Kristin
January 1, 2015 at 4:01 pmMmmmm, we always make those during our Christmas cookie bake sesh!
Heidy@The McCallumsShamrockPatch
January 5, 2015 at 10:38 pmI 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
January 6, 2015 at 4:39 pmMexican 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
January 6, 2015 at 6:25 pmWe call these snowballs. This is a great cookie. Thanks for sharing them
Jane
December 18, 2017 at 9:02 pmThese 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
December 23, 2017 at 12:09 pmThanks for stopping by, Jane. Yes, there are many variations of this recipe with similar ingredients.
Dini
November 26, 2018 at 8:22 pmI 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
November 27, 2018 at 1:16 amI always make these at Christmas and my friends always ask for the recipe! They are delish!
Gloria
November 27, 2018 at 4:31 amI 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
November 30, 2018 at 9:24 amI 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
December 1, 2018 at 9:29 amOh 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
December 1, 2018 at 6:22 pmWe make them every year. They’re our favorite cookie to make during the holiday season.
Tina
December 2, 2018 at 10:14 amI 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
December 2, 2018 at 2:15 pmI’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
December 3, 2018 at 6:06 amThese 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
December 3, 2018 at 7:03 amThese 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
December 3, 2018 at 11:35 amAH….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
December 3, 2018 at 12:04 pmWhen 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
December 3, 2018 at 1:43 pmI’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
December 3, 2018 at 9:32 pmI 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
December 6, 2018 at 3:44 amThese 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!