I was looking for a cookie that would ship well, to pack with the gifts I mailed out to my brother’s family. I wanted to do gingerbread cutouts, but I wasn’t sure they would arrive intact. I was flipping through a book called “Homemade Christmas” by Mary Harvey Gurley, when I saw the recipe for Mexican Wedding Cookies. I decided these would work for a couple of reasons. They are small and a bit firm, so they’re unlikely to arrive in pieces. Also, they look like little snowballs. My brother lives in a much warmer part of the country than I do, so they don’t get too much snow. I thought snowballs would be fun.

I did a quick search on Wikipedia to see why they were called Mexican Wedding Cookies but are so commonly served at Christmas. I didn’t learn much, but they are also known as Russian Tea Cakes. Since the name doesn’t seem fixed, I took the liberty to give them a third name: New England Snowballs. I made enough changes to the original recipe that I felt justified. (“Homemade Christmas” is a great idea book, but the recipes are somewhat lacking.)

If you’ve never had this kind of cookie before, you’re in for a treat! They’re rich and buttery with just enough crunch, sweet enough for coffee and light enough for tea. A word of caution – it does tend to “snow” when you take a bite, so make sure to eat them over a plate or napkin. You can make the dough several days ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
About 1 cup confectioner’s sugar, for rolling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Toast pecans on a baking sheet for 7 minutes, or until fragrant. Let cool, then chop fine. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and confectioner’s sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

Beat in flour, baking powder, salt and pecans.

Cover the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or up to one week.

Before taking the dough out of the refrigerator, preheat oven to 350ºF.

Form the dough into approximately 1-inch balls (I used an #70 cookie scoop) and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the bottom of the cookies just begins to brown.

Immediately roll cookies in confectioner’s sugar and place on rack to cool. (The heat of the cookies will melt the sugar a bit, making the cookies very sticky.)

When cooled, roll in sugar again and store in an airtight container.

Makes about 54 snowballs.