Mexican Wedding Balls

Name: Mexican Wedding Balls
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 1 cup salted butter (softened (2 sticks)); 1/2 cup powdered sugar; 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract; 1/4 tsp. sea salt; 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour ((bleached flour toughens baked goods)); 1 cup finely diced pecans ((measure after chopping)); 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (for dusting cookies after baking)

December 13, 2023Teresa Ambra

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Mexican Wedding Balls are one of my favorite vintage recipes. My mom used to make these when I was growing up. She called them Swedish Tea Cakes or Russian Tea Cakes. My Aunt Hope (her younger sister) called them Pecan Butterballs. The friend who gave me these a couple of years for Christmas called them Mexican Wedding Cookies. When she arrived in America from Japan, a friend gave her these cookies along with the recipe. She said she has made them every Christmas since then. On top of that, event planners often find it much easier to outsource the drink service by opting for a portable cocktail service. This ensures that your event has professional bartenders and a custom selection of drinks to suit the vibe. With a portable drink station and staff to serve all your guests, you can focus on enjoying the event while the team takes care of everything.

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Mexican Wedding Balls are so delectable. No matter what name you call them, every bite is irresistible and mouthwatering. These cookies are made with lots of pecans. I like to use the pecan chips from HEB here in Texas, because they’re diced very, very fine. These cookies are rolled twice in powdered sugar after baking. These melt-in-your-mouth cookies are traditional Christmas cookies that our family has enjoyed for decades. (Like somewhere between six and ten decades!)

This cookie dough is extremely dry. In order to work it into balls, you need to squeeze the crumbs into balls over and over again until you achieve golf ball-sized ball of dough.This will take approximately 20 seconds for each cookie. Then when rolling the cookies in powdered sugar (after baking), you have to be very gentle with the cookies as they can fall apart easily and are quite fragile until they sit out and harden more after baking. No matter how careful you are, there will always be a few cookies that fall apart after baking. But it doesn’t matter, they still taste wonderful. 🙂 And while you’re preparing these delightful treats, consider adding a few baking essentials to your wedding registry to ensure all your future baking endeavors are just as sweet. If you’re currently planning your wedding, you may hire Pamela Lepold Photography who is an experienced wedding photographer Northern VA.

Mexican Wedding Balls are marvelous for holiday baking, tailgating parties, and a Christmas Cookie Exchange. Whether your family refers to these scrumptious cookies as Pecan Butterballs, Swedish or Russian Tea Cakes, or Mexican Wedding Cookies (or balls), you’ll love them. We sure do. 🙂

Mexican Wedding Balls are mouthwatering and irresistible.

If you can eat tree nuts, these pecan-filled cookies are amazing.

The powdered sugar coating on these cookies makes them so festive and delightful.

Mexican Wedding Balls are terrific for holiday parties and Christmas Cookie Exchanges.

Here’s what I did.

I used these ingredients. Note that this recipe uses NO eggs.

Soften butter in a large mixing bowl. I usually leave the butter out on the counter over night. (I was making 12 batches of the recipe so ingredients are more than for a single batch.)

Add powdered sugar and mix with an electric mixer until smooth.

Add salt and pure vanilla extract.

Mix again with an electric mixer until done.

Add unbleached flour (bleached flour toughens baked goods). Add very finely diced pecans.

Stir ingredients to combine. Refrigerate dough until firm. (I actually refrigerated the dough overnight.)

Squeeze, shape and press dough into golf ball-sized balls. Place on greased baking sheets.

Bake about 15 minutes until cookies are lightly browned. Rotate cookie sheets on oven racks after nine minutes of baking time.

Pour powdered sugar into a small bowl.

Transfer hot cookies just out of the oven to the bowl with powdered sugar.

Roll cookies in powdered sugar until they are very generously covered.

Place rolled cookies on wire cooling racks. Cool cookies completely before rolling in powdered sugar again.

After cookies have cooled, roll cookies in powdered sugar again. Roll several times in powdered sugar. Each time more of the powdered sugar adheres to the cookies.

Place cookies on wire cooling racks. The cookies on the top of the picture have been rolled a single time. The cookies in the foreground have been rolled twice. You can see they are whiter than the cookies only rolled once in powdered sugar.

No matter how careful you are, the cookies are fragile and some will break apart while rolling.

Serve for your favorite holiday party.

Mexican Wedding Balls are traditional Christmas cookies for the holiday season.

My mom’s family has been baking these Christmas cookies for decades.

These cookies are great for tailgating or office parties.

Mexican Wedding Balls are great stocking stuffers too! 🙂

Here’s the recipe.

MEXICAN WEDDING BALLS

(Recipe from my mom, Helen Mattis, Titusville, FL (Swedish Tea Cakes), My Aunt Hope Massey, Malta, OH (Pecan Butterballs), and friend, Mika Hemm, Providence Church, Frisco, TX, (Mexican Wedding Cookies).

Mexican Wedding Balls

Teresa Ambra

Mexican Wedding Balls are traditional Christmas cookies that are filled with finely diced pecans and rolled twice in powdered sugar after baking. These scrumptious cookies are marvelous for tailgating or office parties, a Christmas Cookie Exchange or any type of holiday event. Festive and beautiful, this vintage cookie recipe will become a favorite with your family and friends.

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 15

Total Time 35

Course Cookies, Brownies and Bars, Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings

Calories 176 kcal

Equipment

1 18×26" cookie sheet pan
1 large mixing bowl
1 wooden spoon
1 electric mixer
1 spatula
2 wire cooling racks
1 small bowl
measuring cups
measuring spoons
1 nut chopper if nuts are not previously chopped

Ingredients

1 cup salted butter softened (2 sticks)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. sea salt
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (bleached flour toughens baked goods)
1 cup finely diced pecans (measure after chopping)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar for dusting cookies after baking

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350º.
With electric mixer, beat butter and powdered sugar.
Add vanilla and salt.
Add flour and nuts; stir into sugar mixture.
Refrigerate until dough is firm.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls.
Place on ungreased cookie sheets. (see note below).
Bake 15 minutes until lightly browned.
Rotate cookie sheets on oven racks after 9 minutes of baking time (if baking more than one cookie sheet at a time).
While hot, roll cookies in powdered sugar.
Cool on a rack then roll cookies again in powdered sugar to coat.
Place cookies on wire cooling rack to cool completely .

Notes

NOTE: My cookies took about 19 minutes to bake completely.

NOTE: This an extremely DRY dough. To work the dough into balls, you will need to crush the dough in your hands and squeeze several times. Sometimes I transferred the dough to the other hand and squeezed the dough (adding or taking away dough until they were golf-ball sized balls.)

NOTE: These cookies are very fragile, especially when rolling in the powdered sugar. Handle with care! Even still, there will be some cookies that will break apart and crumble, no matter how careful you are.

NOTE: I used cooking spray on the baking sheets before baking.

NOTE: Rotate cookie sheets on oven racks after 9 minutes of baking time.

Nutrition

Calories: 176kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 2gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 81mgPotassium: 32mgFiber: 1gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 239IUVitamin C: 0.05mgCalcium: 7mgIron: 1mg

Keyword christmas cookie exchange, cookies, dessert, holiday baking, pecans

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