Mexican Wedding Cookies – Barefeet in the Kitchen

Mexican Wedding Cookies are tiny melt-in-your-mouth cookies that are known by many different names around the world. My grandmother called them Sugar Butter Balls.

The first time I shared this recipe online, I was overwhelmed by the response, it felt like everyone had a different name for these cookies!

Russian Tea Cakes, Polvorones, Snowball Cookies, Egyptian Feast Cookies, Nut Butter Balls, Norwegian Snowballs, Kourambie, Walnut Delights, Pecan Petites, Holiday Nuggets, Swedish Heirloom Cookies, the list goes on and on. If I’ve missed your favorite name for them, please leave a comment here to let me know!

Wedding Cookies

Every time I bite into a wedding cookie, I’m transported to a time when I watched my grandmother roll them between her hands. She was the source of so many delicious foods in my childhood.

She would set the finished cookies on a platter and everything looked so elegant to my young eyes. More than any other holiday treat, these Mexican cookies taste like Christmas to me.

I’d try sneaking them from the tray before it was time but I’m fairly certain that the powdered sugar always left a ring of evidence around my mouth. No matter, Grandmother always made plenty of these cookies to go around.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

The first time I tried making these cookies on my own, I was 18 years old and living in my first apartment. I had my grandmother’s Mexican wedding cookies recipe, but I figured I knew best.

Instead of rolling the warm cookies gently through the powdered sugar, I placed them in a Ziploc bag and poured sugar over them. When I shook the bag to coat them with sugar, at least half the cookies broke apart.

The cookies were still delicious, but they were a mess to eat. In the years since I’ve learned that Grandmother knew best. If you follow her directions for rolling the cookies in the sugar, yours will turn out every bit as perfect as hers always did.

The easiest method I’ve found for coating the cookies in powdered sugar is to put about a cup of powdered sugar in a bowl and roll the warm cookies, a few at a time, through the sugar.

Yes, rolling each ball in powdered sugar might take a little more time but the results are so very worth it. These classic cookies are crisp when you bite into them and then they melt in your mouth.

That first bite delivers sweetness from the powdered sugar on both the inside and outside. This light buttery cookie always brings a smile to my face as I think about my grandmother and all those childhood holidays.

Wedding Cookies Recipe

If you’ve never made these cookies before, I’m happy to report that as long as you follow my grandmother’s directions, they’re fairly easy to make in your own kitchen.

After creaming together soft butter with powdered sugar and vanilla, gradually add flour to make a dough. Then stir in the chopped pecans or walnuts. The nuts add the perfect amount of crunch and a light nutty flavor to each cookie.

Portion the dough into 1-inch scoops and roll each scoop into a ball with your hands. Get them as smooth and round as possible before baking them in the oven until just set. (Be sure not to let them brown!)

I cool my cookies for just a couple of minutes to make them easy to handle. Then, roll each cookie in powdered sugar and let them cool completely before rolling them twice more in the leftover powdered sugar.

These cookies are delicious all on their own and look so pretty on a holiday cookie tray. I also love to arrange these in tins with tissue paper to give as gifts throughout the holiday season. 

While I always associate them with Christmas, Grandmother’s Sugar Butter Balls, Snowballs, or Mexican Wedding Cookies make for a delightful treat all year long.

Enjoy them with a cup of tea or coffee, at a party, or cozied up at home, and make your own fond memories with the ones you love.

Holiday Cookie Recipes

Looking for more great holiday treats? You’ve come to the right place.

Sugared Shortbread Cookies are a classic cookie that everyone loves. Around Christmas time we also love to make Chocolate Dipped Candy Cane Shortbread to nibble by the Christmas tree or give as gifts.

You can never go wrong with classic iced sugar cookies this time of year. Set out on a plate for Santa, or saved for yourself, nothing says “Christmas” quite like sugar cookies. And for what it’s worth, my friend Katrina has the best recipe ever for cut out cookies. I’ve been making these for years now.

If you’ve spent any amount of time here for a while you may have gathered that I can’t get enough of 5-Minute Fudge Recipes when it’s time for holiday baking. Add White Chocolate Caramel Fudge and Peppermint Marshmallow Fudge to your list to try this season.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ritz Cookies are a super simple no-bake cookie recipe that everyone finds irresistible. I love to make a big batch to keep in the freezer and have ready any time company comes over or I need a last-minute treat to take to a party.

And if you’re looking for a sugar-free version of Mexican Wedding Cookies, my friend Brenda has a recipe for sugar-free and paleo snowball cookies.

Kitchen Tip: I use this baking sheet to make this recipe.

originally published 11/21/13 – notes and photos updated 12/6/23