Gluten Free Mexican Wedding Cookies recipe

Originally posted November 19, 2012

I’m in trouble…big trouble. Because the holiday season, as far as I’m concerned, has kicked off. That means lots of baking for me. I love to experiment and see what I can convert to gluten-free. Some times I am successful and some times not. But when I am, I need to get these treats out of the house! My neighbors really like me.

I’ve said this before, if I see a picture of a certain food, I get a little obsessed; in a good way. I must have seen some of these delectable treats somewhere and decided I needed a good gluten-free version. I had to have gluten-free Mexican wedding cookies! These are also called Russian tea cakes or snowball cookies.

I tried making them before but they fell apart so I was feeling a bit deflated. I had some time today to play thus, I started looking through recipes. I tried a few different recipes and the one below is my favorite (a combination of a few different ones).

Happy holidays! I hope you enjoy them. Remember, you can buy The Warm Kitchen kindle version of the cookbook from my website. I pride myself in writing good recipes which explain how to do things. I hope it helps.

Gluten-Free Mexican Wedding Cookies

Yield about 30 small cookies

• 2 cups Amy’s Gluten Free Flour Blend or a rice-tapioca-potato starch based blend
• 1 heaping teaspoon xanthan gum (add 1/2 teaspoon if your blend has gum already)
• 1/4 teaspoon fine kosher or sea salt

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, or butter substitute, like Earth Balance soy-free sticks or shortening
• 1/2 heaping cup confectioner’s sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts (about 120 gm)

• about 2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar for dusting cookies to be used after cookies are baked

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1. Prepare 2 cookie sheets by placing parchment paper or silicone baking mats on top.
2. In a small bowl, mix the flour, xanthan gum if using, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a medium to large bowl, cream butter or butter substitute/shortening briefly. Add confectioner’s sugar and mix until creamy then add the vanilla. Mix briefly. 
4. Add flour mixture gradually and mix on low until combined. Add nuts and with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, mix until combined. 
5. Cover dough and place in fridge for 1 to 2 hours (important step). After you take the dough out of the fridge, preheat oven to 350°F.
6. Wait about 10 to 15 minutes then roll dough into bite-sized balls.  Place on the cookie sheets about 1” apart (they don’t spread so they can be close). Press down slightly so the cookie is shaped like a dome.
7. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in the center of the oven, rotating the pan 180 degrees once after 5 minutes. Bake until fragrant and the bottoms are light brown. Remove the tray from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes or so. Do not take them off of the tray yet.
8. While cookies are baking, place the 2/3 cup of confectioner’s sugar in a medium deep bowl or pie dish.
9. After cookies have cooled briefly, roll in the powdered sugar. Place on a wire rack and cool another 5 to 10 minutes. Roll each cookie a second time in the powdered sugar. TIP: I baked the cookies one tray at a time. While 1 batch of cookies are baking, I roll another batch in the sugar. It takes longer but it is easier to remember which had been rolled once or twice.
10. Cool completely and then keep in a covered container.