Best Spicy Mexican Wedding Cookies Recipes

SPICED MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Combine first 3 ingredients.
• Beat butter, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing well after each addition. Add nuts; mix well.
• Shape dough into 48 (1-inch) balls. Place, 1-1/2 inches apart, on baking sheets.
• Bake 14 to 15 min. or until bottoms are lightly browned. Cool 5 min. on baking sheets.
• Place remaining sugar in small bowl. Add warm cookies, 1 at a time, to sugar; turn to evenly coat both sides of each cookie. Place on wire racks; cool completely.
• Melt chocolate as directed on package; drizzle over cookies. Let stand until firm.

TRADITIONAL MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream together butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy; stir in vanilla.
• Whisk together flour and salt; add gradually to butter mixture; stir in chopped nuts.
• Chill dough if it seems too soft.
• Form dough into 1 1/4" balls and place onto parchment-lined or ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake at 400° for 10-12 minutes or just until the cookies start to turn light golden-brown; remove from oven and allow to cool slightly; while cookies are still warm (but NOT hot) remove them from baking sheets and roll, a few at a time, in powdered sugar until evenly coated; cool cookies completely on wire racks.
• Cookies may (optionally) be rolled in powdered sugar a second time once cooled to room temperature.
• NOTE: Forming dough into 1" balls will increase yield to 48 cookies.

MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla and water. Add the flour and almonds, mix until blended. Cover and chill for 3 hours.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Shape dough into balls or crescents. Place on an unprepared cookie sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from pan to cool on wire racks. When cookies are cool, roll in confectioners' sugar. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

SPICY MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Place the butter and 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
• Meanwhile, place the walnuts in the carafe of a food processor. Pulse until almost finely ground, checking after every 5 seconds, about 30 seconds total.
• Whisk together the ground walnuts, flour, cornstarch, cayenne and salt in a large bowl. Pour half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients until a thick dough comes together.
• Scoop the dough by heaping tablespoons and roll into a smooth ball in between your palms. Place onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch of space between each cookie.
• Bake until golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Place the remaining 1 cup confectioners' sugar in a large bowl. Working in batches, add the cooled cookies to the sugar and toss until evenly coated in sugar. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies lightly with paprika if desired before serving.

SPICY MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Beat 1 1/2 cups sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and salt together in a bowl until fluffy. Beat in eggs; add cream of tartar and baking soda. Beat in cocoa powder, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and cayenne powder. Beat in flour. Stir chocolate chips into the dough.
• Mix remaining 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon together in a bowl.
• Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls. Roll balls in the sugar-cinnamon mixture and place on the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until centers are set and edges crack slightly, about 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes.

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.

SPICY MEXICAN COOKIES (CHOCOLATE)

Steps:

• In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and pepper.
• In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until light and fluffy.
• Slowly add the dry ingredients until they are fully blended into the dough and no traces of the flour mix remain.
• Divide the dough in two and roll each half into a log that's 9 inches long. Wrap each log tightly in plastic wrap and place in the freezer overnight or a minimum eight hours (if you're not interested in baking the whole batch at once, the dough will keep up to six weeks in the freezer).
• Having been frozen, the dough will require a small amount of effort to cut through. With a sharp knife, cut 1/3" cookies from the dough. Bake at 375° F for 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm. Allow cookies to cool 30 seconds to a minute then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

SPICED MEXICAN CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. In small bowl, mix flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and red pepper; set aside.
• In 2-quart saucepan, heat butter and chocolate chips over low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted. Remove from heat; stir in granulated sugar. Pour into large bowl. Beat in eggs with spoon one at a time until blended. Beat in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until well blended. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Shape dough into 36 (1 1/4 -inch) balls. Lightly butter hands if dough is sticky when shaping into balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets; flatten slightly. Sprinkle about 1/4 teaspoon of Demerara sugar over top of each cookie.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are set. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, at least 20 minutes. Store covered in airtight container.