Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo over the weekend with some friends and I have to say that it was the perfect party. Good friends + yummy Mexican food (my favorite) = the perfect combination!  I wanted to make a dessert to share but every recipe I found online was fried. That's when I found this recipe for Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies. I've tasted similar cookies in the past and thought they were dry and lacking in flavor but I decided to blindly make this recipe (first time ever!) for a potluck. Brave? Maybe more crazy than brave.

The reason I made these cookies was because of the recommendation source. My source was one of my favorites, Pioneer Woman. Seeing as the purpose of my site is to share recipes that I highly recommend and Ree over at Pioneer Woman has never led me astray I decided to bite the bullet and try baking the cookie. (Added bonus: these cookies have a short and simple ingredient list so I didn't have to go to the store.)

The verdict: If you're careful and don't overcook it, the cookie literally crumbles in your mouth. It's similar to a buttery shortbread but much lighter. This is definitely a recipe we'll be making again.

Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup finely chopped/coarsely ground pecans
 
Toast pecans in oven at 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes. Using an electric mixer, beat butter on medium speed in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and vanilla; beat until well blended. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add dry mixture to wet mixture, beating until well blended. Mix in pecans with a wooden spoon.

Divide dough in half; form each half into ball. Wrap separately in plastic; chill until cold, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Working with half of chilled dough, roll dough with palms into 1-inch balls. Arrange balls on large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake cookies until light golden brown on bottom and just pale golden on top, about 16-18 minutes. Check cookies throughout baking to be sure not to over bake. If baked too long, bottoms will burn and cookies will be very dry.

Pour 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar in pie dish. Cool cookies 5 minutes on baking sheet. Gently toss warm cookies in powdered sugar to coat completely. Transfer coated cookies to rack and cool completely. Roll cookies in powdered sugar again once cooled. Repeat procedure with remaining half of dough, or reserve remaining powdered sugar and freeze dough for later use. Cookies can be prepared 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature. For extra powdered sugar on your cookies, save leftover powdered sugar and sift over cookies just before serving.

Who Dished it first? This is Shared Sugar's version of a combination of Bon Appétit and Betty Crocker recipes.