I found quite a few recipes with some slight variations among them. I'm all for simple and straightforward, so I did what I'm wont to: mixing and matching, picking and choosing. I went with the basic proportions found in smittenkitchen's recipe, which was originally from epicurious which was originally from bon appetit! Based on some reading of other recipes I did, I wanted to make these the easy, one-bowl way. Forget creaming the butter, fuhgeddabout clarifying it first. Being a highly inexperienced baker, I can't tell you what the difference is going to be between doing those things or not, but there were recipes that didn't call for those time-consuming, electric-mixer-needing things. So I went with those.
I wanted to do a test run of these first, so I quartered a batch. Because the ratios are so beautifully even, and it doesn't use any fussy ingredients like baking powder/soda, this is an extremely easy recipe to scale.
If your nuts aren't already toasted, toast them over med-low heat in a pan on the stove. Let them cool, then grind them up either in a coffee grinder, blender, or by putting them in a ziploc baggie and crushing a rolling pin over them. You want them pretty fine and dusty, but be careful not to make it into nut butter if you're using an electric grinder. These are perfectly ground:
Next, you'll whisk together the nuts, powdered sugar and salt. Once that's well blended, you'll work the vanilla and cold cubes of butter into the dough with your hands. This is my favorite part! I love squishing butter in between my fingers. It reminds me of playing with playdoh as a kid. While it's not totally essential that the butter stays cold, it'll take less time to chill if you're working with already cold butter, especially since the warmth of your hands will melt it a bit. Once the butter's well incorporated, start adding the flour gradually (about a 1/2 cup or so at a time), working it in with your hands.
Pretty much the only fussy thing about this recipe is that you have to chill the dough before you bake it. This is absolutely essential, unless you want your cookies to turn out like this sad one:
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| [Pati's Mexican Table] |
Once the dough is chilled, scoop 2 tsp sized balls onto a heavy baking sheet lined with parchment. While the last oatmeal cookies I tried spread like crazy, these don't (shouldn't if you chilled them sufficiently!) spread much, so a 1/2 inch of space in between them is fine. Try to handle the dough as little as possible, so it stays cold. I don't have a fancy baking sheet (yet?), so I just added an extra baking sheet underneath the ones the cookies were on. If you have especially thin baking sheets (and you know your oven temperature is accurate), your baked goods are apt to burn on the bottom before the tops are done. Double panning solves this problem! You may need to do this in two batches, so keep the extra dough in the fridge while the first batch is baking.
After 18 minutes (or 21 if you double panned), check them. The bottoms should be golden brown on the bottom and lightly browned on top. I really had to resist keeping them in longer, since I also love love love super browned cookies. Take them out to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then dust the still-warm cookies with powdered sugar using a sieve (or a powdered sugar duster if you're fancy like that). A lot of the recipes I saw called for rolling and shaking the cookies around in a pie tin filled with powdered sugar, but I had zero success with that. The warmth of the cookies melted the sugar, just leaving them with an unappetizing gray, patchy glaze. Dusting them on top gets plenty of sugar onto the cookie and is much cleaner, too.
According to some recipes, they're only good for a couple days in the fridge, but I bet these'll keep for a good couple weeks (uhh.. if they last that long). They're already crunchy and crumbly, so there's not much that drying out can do to them, I bet. IF I have any left, I'll update you in a couple weeks!
Enjoy the absolutely heavenly smell that will fill your kitchen while these bake, and try to resist eating these all yourself.
Mexican Wedding Cookies / Polvorones / Russian Teacakes / Snowballs
Makes about 4 dozen
2 sticks butter, softened or melted (not hot) (225g / 1 cup)
2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
1 cup toasted pecans (or walnuts, skinless almonds, skinless hazelnuts) (110g)
1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting (60g)
2 tsp vanilla extract (10 ml)
pinch of salt (less than 1/8 tsp)
Instructions
If your nuts aren't already toasted, toast them. Spread them on a baking sheet and let cool. If using a blender, food processor, or other electrical grinder, add 1 cup of flour* to the nuts and grind using short, quick pulses. Or put them in a ziploc baggie without the flour and run a rolling pin over them.
In a large bowl or food processor, whisk together the ground nuts, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and salt until well blended.
Add the vanilla and butter and work them into the mixture. Add the flour gradually, working it into the dough as you add.
If you're pressed for time, divide the dough into discs, wrap in plastic wrap and chill about 5-10 minutes in the freezer. If you're not in a hurry, scrape the dough into a ball, cover closely with plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Once the dough is chilled, work quickly* to scoop 2 tsp sized balls with 1/2 inch spacing onto a heavy baking sheet lined with parchment. If doing in batches, keep the extra dough in the fridge while first batch is baking.
Pop them in the oven for about 18-21 minutes, until bottoms are golden brown and tops are just barely browned. Take them out to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then dust the tops of the still-warm cookies with powdered sugar using a sieve or sifter. Remove to a rack and let cool completely.
Notes
*When grinding nuts using an electric grinder, the heat and the friction causes them to release their oils more quickly, which can turn your nut flour into nut butter if you're not careful. Adding a cup of flour to the nuts absorbs the oil as you grind, giving you more room for error or allowing you to grind them finer.
*If the scooping ends up taking too long, stick the entire sheet with the cookie dough scoops into the fridge or freezer for 5-10 minutes before baking.
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