Gluten Free Mexican Wedding Cakes are simple balls of cookies. No rolling out. No cutting. I love them and I think you will, too.
Mexican Wedding Cakes are really pecan cookies, rolled in powdered sugar.
Want a good pecan cookie? Make Gluten Free Mexican Wedding Cakes.
It's National Pecan Cookie Day today, September 21. There are lots of names for these Gluten Free Mexican Wedding Cakes (which are really cookies). Don's family called them "Spanish Wedding Cakes." My mother called them "Pecan Balls." But they are also known as "Nut Butter Balls," Italian Wedding Cakes," and "Russian Tea Cakes."
Some folks stick with the basic Mexican Wedding Cakes recipe using vanilla as the flavoring; others substitute a tablespoon of bourbon, brandy, or rum for the vanilla. I'm a purist, and I use vanilla, mostly because I have another amazing Bourbon Ball recipe.
Now that I eat gluten free, I substitute my favorite gluten free baking flour (see my gluten-free flour conversion chart), Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Baking Mix, for the normal wheat flour, and voila! Gluten Free Mexican Wedding Cakes. If you prefer to use regular flour instead of gluten free, simply substitute an equal amount of a good all-purpose flour, like King Arthur Organic Unbleached Flour (which I personally think is one of the best), for the gluten free flour in the recipe. Also, eliminate Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum.
I'm sure you won't be able to tell that the Gluten Free Mexican Wedding Cakes are gluten free. They taste exactly the same to me. But watch out! When you eat them, you are likely to get powdered sugar and crumbs all down the front of yourself. So eat them over a plate or napkin. The cookie is compact, but crumbly. And one fantastic thing about them is that they are only 65 calories per cookie!
They are also egg free and can easily be converted to dairy free and corn free. Use coconut oil or another dairy free butter substitute, and be sure to use sea salt instead of regular iodized salt (which contains corn).
What You Need
For this recipe, you need measuring cups and spoons, a mixing bowl, an electric mixer (helpful), cookie sheets, and silicone baking sheets (they make your baking pans easy to clean). You will also need a cool cookie jar, right?
Mexican Wedding Cakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter (16 tablespoons)
- 4 tablespoons powdered sugar (or 6 tablespoons granulated sugar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Baking Flour (Or Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free One-to-One Flour)
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 2 cups chopped pecans
- 1 cup powdered sugar (for rolling the cookies in after baking)
Instructions
- Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt.
- Add the xanthin gum and the flour, a little at a time, until fully incorporated. The dough will be very crumbly looking.
- Mix in the pecans.
- Pinch off a small piece of dough and squeeze it to compact it, then roll it into a 1" ball.
- The cookies do not expand when baking them, so you can place them as close as ½" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. I get 35 cookies per cookie sheet (7 rows of 5 cookies).
- Bake at 325°F for 8-12 minutes until they are just starting to turn a little brown.
- Roll the hot cookies in a bowl of powdered sugar to cover them. The sugar sticks well on the hot cookies.
- If you prefer a light coating of sugar, wait to roll them until the cookies have cooled slightly.
Nutrition
Recipe Nutrition Information
This recipe is GF, DF (substitute dairy-free butter), SF, EF, CF (use sea salt), V*
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.
More Cookie Recipes To Try
- Sadie's Brown Sugar Sugar Cookies
- Danish Sugar Cookies
- Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Coconut Kiss Cookies
- Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies
- Chocolate Cherry Squares
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These Mexican Wedding Cakes melt in your mouth (except for the nuts, of course). You will never guess these cookies are gluten free and egg free. And only 65 calories each.
*Allergen Key
GF = Gluten free | DF = Dairy free | NF = Nut free | SF = Soy free | EF = Egg free | CF = Corn free | V = Vegetarian | VG = Vegan
Note: If you have serious allergies or sensitivities, to be considered free of these allergens, you need to use products specifically marked "gluten free," etc. There can be cross-contamination in facilities.
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