Mexican Wedding Cookies!

So when I was little I lived near a Vons Pavillion store and they had an amazing bakery. A-MAZ-ING. Sadly, I left Orange County to go live in the Mojave Desert when I was about 7 (in 1997). And thusly, moved away from the fabulousness of this Grocery Store Bakery. Which is all for the best, I suppose, because I hear the quality has taken a hardcore nosedive.

Anyway, there a two cookies that we still talk about in my family, 16 years later. One is my favorite: the best thumbprint cookie ever. It was soft, yet crumbly. Powdery almost, but not dry. The chocolate filling was rich, thick, and soft like a ganache. But not too rich. It was just perfect, and I have never found a recipe like it. *sadfaced* But at least the other cookie, it would seem, is much easier to replicate. A simple, classic:

Mexican Wedding Cookie!

This one is my mom's favorite. She always talks about how she wished we lived near a Vons Pavillion that still made these fresh on site. But alas, we do not. So I decided to make some for her. They are super easy, incredibly affordable, and absolutely delectable.

Recipe and more photos under the cut! Enjoy! :) 

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Sticks Butter, Room Temperature

• 2 cups Powdered Sugar

• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

• 2 cups Flour

• 1 cup Pecans, coarsely chopped

• 1/8 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy.

2. Add 1/2 cup of the Powdered Sugar and the Vanilla Extract. Beat until well combined. 

3. Beat in the Flour, and then the Pecans.

4. Divide dough in half and form each half into a ball. Wrap each ball in plastic and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 325°F

6.  Whisk the remaining 1 1/2 cups of Powdered Sugar and Cinnamon together in a large, flat bowl.

7. Take one dough ball out of the refrigerator. Take 2 teaspoons of dough at a time, and roll into a ball using hands. Place balls 1/2 inch apart on large baking sheet. Bake cookies until golden brown on bottom and lightly golden on top. About 11 minutes. Repeat with second ball of dough.

8. Cool cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Then roll cookies in the Cinnamon Sugar, coat completely. Place cookies on racks to cool completely. After cookies have completely cooled (about an hour), roll in Cinnamon Sugar a second time, coat completely.

PICTURE TIME! :D 

Very few ingredients:

Simple crumbly dough:

Rolled into two balls for chilling:

Made into smaller balls and cooked till lightly golden brown:

Double rolled in sugar:

Nomnomnom! :)

These cookies were insanely simple to make. And were gobbled up insanely fast. They were so delicious. I loved the crumbly quality they had. And the sugar coating really smooth and melts in your mouth. I did think it melted a bit on the cookie though. They didn't look super covered. And when I went to touch them to see if they had cooled completely some sugar would come off in a chunk. So that's why I decided to give them a second roll the recipe didn't call for. I think it worked out very well. But you also wouldn't want to much powdered sugar (cause if you breathe it in, you'll choke. Lol) So it's probably just a ratio that each baker has to decide on for themselves. I also only did half the cookies in the cinnamon sugar, and went with plain sugar for the other half. It was nice to have two varieties.

I'm super excited about how these turned out. My mom told me I'm not allowed to make them to often, cause she won't be able to help herself. Lol. So yay! Success! :D I made my mom's favorite cookies and she loved it. I'll have to sneak bake some for her birthday in April. Even my dad (who doesn't like to eat sugar) had a couple every day till they were gone. I can't wait to do these again and maybe try a different coating. Perhaps vanilla bean powdered sugar? Or a touch of cocoa and cinnamon? We shall see!

Thanks so much for reading!

- Christine Frankenstein