I have been on a multi-decade hunt for a recipe that produces a sort of doughy center to these cookies, like the cookie my grandmother made. Anyone have one to share?
What am I looking for in a doughy-center recipe… is it the addition of an egg? powdered sugar rather than granulated? less butter? relatively less flour?
Mexican Wedding Cookies, also known as Russian Tea Cakes or Snowball Cookies, are delightfully nutty little balls of powdered sugar covered goodness! These classic holiday cookies come out every year at Christmas and everybody loves them!
I have been on a multi-decade hunt for a recipe that produces a sort of doughy center to these cookies, like the cookie my grandmother made. Anyone have one to share?
What am I looking for in a doughy-center recipe… is it the addition of an egg? powdered sugar rather than granulated? less butter? relatively less flour?
As I’ve mentioned before, no one cooked in my family while I was growing up. We had a very small handful of “family recipes” that were rarely cooked. The rest of the time, it was all about meals of convenience. I grew to love the ladies in the Carl’s Jr drive through.
Or the time she brought us a plate of marshmallow brownies. I distinctly remember opening the door and seeing the paper plate filled with gooey, marshmallow-studded brownies and I could actually feel my eyes light up like a cartoon character. As I took a bite, anticipating the sweet, luscious goo from the marshmallow pockets, I was instantly greeted with a terrible punch in the taste buds that contorted my face into the most hideous expression imaginable that mimicked the pain I was feeling all over. That wasn’t marshmallow — it was sour cream. And grandma, bless her terrible-chef heart, neglected to stir the sour cream into the batter properly, leaving pockets of the rancid tang throughout the precious brownies.
HOWEVER. Grandma did do something right, and that was her Snowball Cookies. In our house, we call them Snowballs, but you may know them as Russian Tea Cakes or Mexican Wedding Cookies. Same difference! They’re all irresistibly tender pecan cookies rolled in powdered sugar and they taste like heaven. And if we’re being honest, they’re actually my favorite cookie ever. Like, ever-ever. I could eat an entire batch without so much blinking, they’re that much of a favorite to me! And Christmas isn’t Christmas without them.
Not to mention the countless rolls that have been torched, cookies that turned Cajun, and grilled cheese sandwiches that were topped with *shudder* mayonnaise. Like, I’m still scarred.
While this is not my grandma’s recipe (frankly, she hasn’t made her cookies in years and I think it’s probably from a magazine), it is my favorite Snowball Cookie recipe EVER. It yields the most tender, melt-in-your-mouth, divine cookies, studded with pecans and a hint of vanilla in every bite. It makes a little over two dozen, which is excellent if you’re gifting them off (and not so much if you’re eating them all like me). You can also adapt these to make them more personalized, like by using more cinnamon inside to spice them up, adding a hint of orange zest, or rolling them in cocoa powder instead. The choice is yours!
Russian Tea Cakes
FAQ
What are the different names for Mexican wedding cookies?
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