Mexican Wedding Cakes

This recipe comes from Everyday Food–I clipped it a few years ago, and my kids gave them high marks, probably because they are covered in

Martha's Picture, not mine

powdered sugar. Rex took them into his department today, and they got great reviews again. I just picked up the new Test Kitchen Cookie Magazine, which calls these Russian Tea Cakes and the main differences are that it has you toast your nuts first, and it has less than half the amount of pecans and excludes the cinnamon. The Test Kitchen also suggests rolling the cakes in powdered sugar once when the cookies are warm, and then again when they have cooled. Martha’s cookie works great, and I like the cinnamon (perhaps that’s the difference between the Mexican and the Russian version?). At any rate, you may see these as Christmas gifts this year . . .

Mexican Wedding Cakes

Makes 24 cookies

FOR THE DOUGH

1 cup pecan halves
1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
FOR THE GARNISH
1 cup confectioners’ sugar

In a food processor, pulse pecans, flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt until mixture resembles coarse meal; add butter and pulse until a dough forms [I don’t have a large cuisinart, so I pulsed the pecans, and then added the other dry, whisked, then cut in the butter like you would a pie dough, and stirred it together. Make sure the butter is incorporated well; a large clump of butter will cause misshapen cookies]. Shape dough into a disk, and wrap tightly in plastic; refrigerate until firm, 30 to 60 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 level tablespoon (I just used a cookie scoop). Space 1 1/2 inches apart on two large baking sheets. Bake, switching sheets from top to bottom halfway through, until cookies are just golden around edges, 20 to 25 minutes.
Cool 5 minutes on sheets; transfer to a rack to cool completely. Place confectioners’ sugar in a bowl. Roll cookies in sugar twice to coat thoroughly, tapping off excess.