Food Network Recipes Mexican Wedding Cookies Top 4 (2024)

FAQs

Why are my Mexican wedding cookies crumbling? ›

If the butter is too cold, it won't be soft enough to bind the sugar, flour and nuts, making it crumbly and difficult to work with. Too warm and the dough might be greasy and difficult to roll into balls. Soften the butter to just cooler than room temperature and the dough should be perfect.

Why did my snowball cookies turn out flat? The recipe you used probably had too much butter, not enough dry ingredients to hold them together, or the cookie dough was too soft when you baked them.

Italian wedding cookies typically contain almonds or hazelnuts and are flavored with almond extract, vanilla extracts and spices like cinnamon or anise. Mexican wedding cookies, on the other hand, use a combination of ground nuts such as pecans and walnuts, as well as butter, sugar and sometimes chocolate chips.

History of Mexican Wedding Cookies

As Spanish colonizers brought these recipes to Mexico, they seamlessly integrated into the local culinary landscape. The cookie's association with weddings stems from its sweet symbolism of happiness, unity, and the joyful occasions surrounding matrimony.

Using too much flour will make your cookies too cakey, so try reducing the flour amount by two tablespoons. Avoid using cake flour instead; try a mix of all-purpose flour and bread flour for a more dense and chewy texture. Using too much baking powder. According to the science geeks at Serious Eats—we love you!

If you overmix the dough, the cookies will be dry and crumbly. The best way to fix this is to add more liquid to the dough. This can be done by adding milk, water, or even melted butter. You may also need to add more flour to the dough if it is too wet.

Baking powder provides lift and helps create a fluffy texture, while baking soda helps to densify the cookie and create a chewier texture.

If your cookies consistently come out flat, you may have selected the wrong baking temperature. If you bake cookies using too much heat, the fats in the dough begin to melt before the other ingredients can cook together and form your cookie's rise.

Too much flour causes the dough to become dry and crumbly, which prevents it from flattening out during baking. As a result, your cookies will stay in their original shape instead of spreading out into nice circles.

Mexican Wedding Cookies Origin

As trade routes began to broaden, these sweet confections made their way from the Middle East to all parts of Europe. Historians believe that the recipe migrated to Mexico by way of European nuns or Spanish conquistadors in the Americas in the 16th century.

What is the best type of cookie in the world? ›

Maria cookies–“Galletas Maria”–are well known all over the Spanish speaking world. In Spain, they are found in every home. They are so iconic that you only have to ask for a “galleta” and you will get one of these cookies.

Whether you call them Mexican wedding cookies, snowball cookies, Russian tea cakes, or polvorones, one thing is certain: they are a total classic! And for good reason! Their crumbly, shortbread-like texture and their buttery, toasty, nutty flavor are completely irresistible.

During the reception, guests might “kidnap” the bride, and the groom must “pay” to get her back, often with a fun, mock funeral march tune. It's all in good fun, adding a unique twist to celebrations.

They're always small, hand-formed, coated in powdered sugar, and containing ground nuts of some kind—often pecans, sometimes walnuts or almonds. They're my buttery, crumbly Proustian madeleine, and the only cookie I make without question year after year for Christmas.

Too much flour = crumbly cookies

If you don't want to measure by weight, try sifting your flour first and scooping flour into your measuring cup with a spoon, and don't pack it down into the cup. If all else fails, try reducing the amount of flour in the recipe by 10%.

To avoid this, try using as little flour as possible while preparing to roll your dough. Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

There are several reasons why the cookies may have become dry and crumbly but the two most likely are that either the cookies were baked for too long or too much flour was added to the dough.

To soften baked cookies that are too dry, you can add a slice of bread to the airtight container where you're storing the cookies. The moisture from the bread will give the cookies a softer texture. Or you can just pop the cookies in the microwave for 4-5 seconds until their texture softens a bit.