Chocolate Mexican Wedding Cookies are filled with butter, pecans, cinnamon, and mini chocolate chips. Once baked they are rolled in powdered sugar to resemble little snowballs.
Traditionally Mexican wedding cookies are made without chocolate, and similar recipes have different names depending on the country. I have a tendency to add chocolate to desserts, like my Mexican Chocolate Pecan Pie.
Similar cookies are also called chocolate snowball cookies, since they resemble snowballs after being dusted with powdered sugar. The texture of the cookies are slightly crumbly and buttery like a shortbread cookie
Ingredients for the Cookies
The ingredients for these Chocolate Mexican Wedding cookies are simple and since there's no egg in the batter, a taste test is completely acceptable 🙂
Unsalted Butter- Allow both sticks of butter to soften and come to room temperature.
Sugar- I used powdered sugar in the dough, but granulated white sugar can be used as well.
Pecans- Give the pecans a light toasting before pulsing them. You want to end up with a coarse powder like this.
Alternatively, you can substitute any type of nuts you like. Follow the same steps of toasting the nuts and crushing them.
Chocolate Chips- I used mini chocolate chips for even more chocolate flavor. You can omit them or substitute mint chocolate chips.
How to Make the Dough
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and whisk to combine.
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment cream the softened butter and sugar. Add in the vanilla and cream until light and fluffy.
Then slowly add the dry mixture into the butter and beat on low speed. Add the chocolate chips and mix to combine.
Scoop out the dough onto plastic wrap and form a large disc. Wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour. This dough can also be frozen at this point.
If you leave the dough in the fridge too long, just use a large kitchen knife to cut it into 1 inch portions. Then roll each piece into a smooth ball.
Baking the Cookies
These cookies will not spread much, and therefore do not need a lot of space in between. I also slightly flatten the top to make them more domed shaped instead of round.
Bake them on a parchment or silicon lined baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees F, for 15-16 minutes. Be sure not to over bake them.
While the cookies are baking sift 1 cup of powdered sugar into a bowl. I found that the sifting the sugar made it easier to coat the cookies evenly.
Once the cookies are done baking, leave them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Then roll them in powdered sugar while they are slightly warm.
Serving and Storing the Cookies
Allow cookies to cool on a baking rack or plate, and serve with an extra dusting of powdered sugar.
Once cooled, cookies can be stored in an air tight container up to 4 days. They can also be frozen once baked. For best results freeze baked cookies without powdered sugar. Allow to come to room temperature then roll in powdered sugar.
Watch the YouTube Video
Chocolate Mexican Wedding Cookie Recipe
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Oven
Ingredients
- 2 Sticks Unsalted Butter room temperature
- ½ cup Powdered or Granulated Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour Spooned and Leveled into measuring cup
- 1 cup Pecans toasted and pulsed into grounds
- ⅓ cup Unsweetened Cocoa
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup Mini Chocolate Chips
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar Sifted into a bowl
Instructions
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add both sticks of butter and ½ cup of sugar (powdered or white sugar). Mix on medium speed for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add vanilla and mix for an additional 2 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk all purpose flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and salt together until combined.
- Add flour mixture in small batches to butter mixture over low speed until combined. Add in Mini Chocolate Chips and stir to combine.
- Scoop out dough onto plastic wrap and form a large disc. Wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour. The dough can also be frozen at this point or rolled into balls and freeze.
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon baking mat. Use a spoon or cookie scoop to make about a tablespoon size ball. Roll it into between you hands to form a smooth ball.
- Place dough on baking sheet and flatten top slightly. The cookies will not spread much and can be placed about an inch apart from each other.
- Bake for 15-16 minutes, do not overbake. Remove from oven and leave cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes.
- Have bowl of sifted powdered sugar ready, and once cookies have cooled for 5 minutes, coat in powdered sugar. Use a fork to remove them from the bowl. Place on a tray or plate to cool. You can sift additional powder sugar on top if you like too.
- Once cooled, cookies can be stored in an air tight container up to 4 days.
Leave a Reply