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}.
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
1/2 c. confectioners’ (powdered) sugar plus 1 cup for dusting
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. coarsely chopped pecans
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Beat butter and 1/2 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 1/2 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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These look so delightful. My husband prefers pecans to walnuts, so we’re definitely a Mexican wedding cake household.
These look wonderful and so light and delicate!
These look so easy and delicious! I may have to add these to my Christmas cookie platter.
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.
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.
One of my ALL TIME FAV cookies! YUM!
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! :)
These look delish! I love these cookies, in fact they are one of my favorites.
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!
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 . . .
Be still my heart.
Gorgeous photo – love the use of the book in your pic. So pretty!
Great post! Please add my email to your subscription list. Thanks.
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
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.
These are one of my favorite cookies during Christmas! Every year I somehow manage to inhale a bunch of powdered sugar because I’m laughing and probably eating too many cookies too fast! (Luv those TX pecans!)
I’ve been having a sweet toothe for days and nothing seemed p-e-r-f-e-c-t until I saw this post! Yep, time to make these. They’re one of my favorites and I haven’t had them in years …and the recipe looks easy.
Amber, I wanted to let you know the turkey fryer arrived today (!!) and I am just floored by it! It’s gorgeous!! Thank you so very much for your generosity and know that I am grateful, and that this cooker has found a wonderful home. :) Thank you.
Thanks, everyone, for all your lovely comments.
Sharon, I’m so glad the turkey fryer arrived! It definitely is a beautiful appliance, and impressive.
These cookies are super easy to make. I’m still enjoying them. Normally I give away what I bake after having 2 or 3.. these suckers? They’ve stayed here!
These are always a favorite in our house during Christmas. As always I love what you have to say to go along with the yummies.
These look so good! I used to make these all the time, the lightness and flavor of these cookies are a favorite of mine. Now that my kids have nut allergies and LOVE cookies I never make them…I may need to sneak to a girlfriends house and bake a batch and eat a few!!
These are a classic Christmas cookie in my family too. Except, somewhere along the way, we started calling them plain ol’ Crescent Cookies. Or maybe we always called them Crescent Cookies… Hmm… Now I’m going to have to ask my Mom and Grandma about that. =)
Pecans! And that’s my vote. We never fail to have a stash of these around the house over the holidays. Guess I better get busy and make some!
These are one of my favorite Texas sweets. Seriously. You and I are in each other’s heads because I’ve been wanting to make some since my wedding in October… but I made them tonight instead for a cookie swap I’m hosting tomorrow. They turned out great and tasted perfect Amber!
Oh! These cookies are almost identical to my grandmother’s pecan fingers…a staple Christmas cookie in our house.
There is something about the flakiness of the cookie with the pecan and powdered sugar.
Delcious!
These remind me of a recipe we made when I was growing up, the recipe card came from a neighbor a couple streets over, and was titled “Niessenpfeffern Cookies”… well after Katrina hit, we lost all our recipe cards (but I had copied some of my faves into a book, but forgot these)… after much searching, I find out about “Pfeffernusse”!! Which are very similar but some variations use almonds or walnuts, or some have none! We always made ours into “fingers”. The pfeffernusse recipes I have found online call for white pepper but I don’t recall using that… but I could be wrong! I just remember them being YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
just made these, and they came out DELIGHFUL. made them a bit smalled to pop perfectly in mouth, and baked for 16 minutes. a touch of nutmeg is also nice :)
Love eating these little morsels of delight at Chrsitmas time. I plan on taking a tin to my Mom this Chrsitmas, something my daughters can help me make for G’ Ma.
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