I have adored these dainty treats for years but never gotten around to baking them myself. When my kids needed sweets for Spanish class fiestas, it was time to give them a try. I had recently tasted a friend’s batch of Mexican Wedding Cookies. When she said she’d made them from a Mark Bittman recipe, I knew I needed to look no further. Some recipes call for cinnamon. In these, the pecan and powdered sugar take the cake, um, I’m mean, make the cookie.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup pecan halves
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for topping
- 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
Directions
- Put pecans, sugar and salt in food processor and blend until nuts are ground fine. Cut the butter into tablespoon-size pieces and add it to nut mixture. Process until smooth. Add vanilla. Add flour and continue processing until dough is mixed into a paste-like dough.
- Scrape dough into a bowl. Cover tightly and refrigerate one hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Form 1-inch balls with dough. Place balls on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake 15 minutes or until the cookies barely begin to brown. Cool for 2 minutes. Use spatula to remove cookies to serving dish. Sprinkle or sift confectioners’ sugar atop the cookies to desired level of sweetness.