Easy Buttery Pecan Snowball Cookies (Mexican Wedding Cookies)

Step 1

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350℉. Prep and gather all ingredients.

Step 2

Chop the nuts by pulsing them in a food processor if you have not purchased them pre-chopped. The nuts need to be chopped finely and should be in very small pieces for nutty bits throughout the cookies.

Step 3

Lightly grease a cookie sheet or sheet pan with butter. Alternatively, line it with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Step 4

Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream them together using a paddle attachment until they are well-combined. (You can also use a hand blender.)

Step 5

Add the vanilla extract, then mix in the flour and salt and blend well. Next, stir in the chopped nuts on low until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Step 6

Transfer the batter to a bowl and chill it in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap, for at least two hours and up to 12 hours.

Step 7

When ready to bake, remove the batter from the refrigerator. Scoop and shape the cookie dough into small round balls (about 1” diameter each), pressing the dough together in your hands. The dough is quite crumbly so you will need to press the dough into balls to hold a round shape instead of just rolling them between your palms as in forming a meatball. Place the formed balls onto the greased or parchment-lined sheet pan or cookie sheet about ½” apart. As there is no baking soda or powder in the batter, the cookies will not expand or rise while baking, so they can be placed close to each other on the pan.

Step 8

Spread out 1 to 2 cups powdered sugar on a sheet pan so that is it ready to be used to coat the hot cookies.

Step 9

Transfer the pan of raw cookies to the middle rack in a 350℉ preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until they are lightly browned.

Step 10

Roll cookies in powdered sugar: As soon as the cookies are removed from the oven, carefully pour them into the powdered sugar in the sheet pan and shake the pan back and forth so that they become coated in the sugar. Use a spoon or a spatula to help this process along. The cookies are very hot, so be careful if you try to use your hands for this! Be sure that the cookies get coated completely in the powdered sugar. Add more sugar as needed. Transfer the sugar-coated cookies back to the baking sheet.

Step 11

Allow cookies to cool completely, then roll them again in powdered sugar before serving or storing. Remove excess powdered sugar, then store cookies in a cookie tin. They will stay fresh for about one week at room temperature, if they are around that long!