Best Pumpkin Pecan Polvorones Mexican Wedding Cookies Recipes

POLVORONES (MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES)

Steps:

• Put 1/2 cup of the walnuts and the salt in a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Roughly chop the remaining 1 cup walnuts.
• Position two oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.
• Beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the granulated sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the flour, then the ground and chopped walnuts. Divide the dough in half, forming each half into a ball. Wrap separately in plastic and chill until cold, about 30 minutes.
• Put the confectioners' sugar in a large bowl.
• Working with half of the chilled dough at a time and keeping the rest in the fridge, roll the dough by 2 teaspoonfuls between your palms into balls. Arrange the balls on a large baking sheet, spacing them 1/2 inch apart.
• Bake the cookies until golden brown on the bottom and just pale golden on top, about 18 minutes. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Toss the warm cookies in the powdered sugar. Transfer the sugar-coated cookies to a rack to cool completely. The cookies can be prepared up to 2 days ahead. Once cooled, store them in an airtight container. You need to make sure they are cooled before storing them, otherwise they will get soggy. Sift additional powdered sugar and cinnamon over the cookies if desired before serving.

PUMPKIN PECAN POLVORONES (MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Lightly toast the pecans in a skillet over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, under they are nice and fragrant. Remove from heat. You can either use a food processor to finely chop the pecans (about 10 pulses should do it, don't blend so well that you end up with pecan butter) or finely chop the pecans with a chef's knife on a cutting board (you might want to let the pecans cool a little before chopping). In a large bowl, beat the coconut oil or butter, pumpkin purée, cane sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and salt with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Since I used melted coconut oil, it didn't get light and fluffy but it did blend well (I wonder if it would get light and fluffy with solidified coconut oil at room temperature?). Gradually add the chopped pecans and flour, beating on low speed after each addition until well blended. Using your hands, shape the dough into 1-inch balls. Place the cookies on the baking sheet, leaving about 1 1/2-inch space around each cookie (the cookies will not expand in size). Bake for 14 to 15 minutes, until the bottoms of cookies are lightly browned. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Pour the powdered sugar into a small bowl and roll the warm cookies liberally to coat in powdered sugar. Taste, and if the cookies aren't quite sweet enough to delight, give them another roll in powdered sugar. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack.

POLVORONES (MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES)

Steps:

• Process pecans until ground but not "pasty."
• Beat butter and 1/2 C. powdered sugar on medium until fluffy, scraping down once.
• Gradually add 1 C. flour, vanilla and salt. Beat on low until well blended, scraping down once.
• Fold in remaining flour and ground nuts with spoon until just blended. Careful not to over-stir.
• Form dough into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Roll tablespoons of dough into 1 inch balls. Place 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
• Bake 12-15 minutes or until pale golden brown. Let cookies stand on sheet 2 minutes.
• Place 1 C. powdered sugar in serving dish. Transfer hot cookies to dish (easiest to do one at a time) and roll to coat evenly. Let cookies cool in sugar.
• Sift more sugar over platter of cookies just before serving.

DELICIOUS PUMPKIN-PECAN COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2 cookie sheets.
• Combine pumpkin puree, brown sugar, sugar, butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Fold in pecans. Slowly add flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and baking soda, mixing until combined.
• Drop teaspoonfuls of cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until edges are firm and starting to brown, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
• Combine powdered sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla extract in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until combined and smooth. Drizzle glaze over the cooled cookies.