Mexican wedding cookies recipe

While the name might imply differently, these sweet Mexican wedding cookies are for more than celebrating marriages. 

Mexican wedding cookies have been a celebration staple since as early as the 16th century. When European nuns or Spanish invaders may have bought the treat over from Europe. Traditionally made from delicately chopped nuts like walnuts and pecans. These cookies are actually eaten throughout the year - from Christmastime right through to the summer - and everyone has their own spin on the recipe. What makes them so different from other cookies though is that the dough doesn't contain any egg. The dough instead relies on a heavy helping of butter to bring the ingredients together.

Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 70g caster sugar
• small pinch of salt
• 310g plain flour
• 1tbsp dark rum
• zest of ½ an orange
• 100g walnuts, roughly chopped
• approx. 350g icing sugar, plus extra to sprinkle
• 150g dulce de leche (caramel sauce)

Method

1. Cream together the butter, sugar and salt. Mix in the flour until a dough just starts to form, 1–2 minutes at the most. The less you work the dough, the lighter your cookies will be. Work in the rum, orange zest and walnuts.
2. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and lightly roll them on a clean work surface into neat logs about 3cm in diameter.
3. Using a sharp knife, cut the logs into 5mm discs. Lay these out on non-stick baking sheets and freeze for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170°C/335°F/gas mark 3 and place the icing sugar in a big bowl.
4. Bake the chilled discs for about 20 minutes, by which time they will have set but not taken on any colour.
5. Toss them quickly in the icing sugar, then leave to cool on wire racks. Don’t worry if the icing sugar melts a little.
6. When cooled, spread half the cookies with the caramel, then sandwich with the other halves, pressing gently to ensure an even spread. Sprinkle the finished sandwiches with extra icing sugar so that they are snowy white. Enjoy immediately or store in airtight containers.

Top tips for making Mexican wedding cookies

Avoid over-baking the dough - it's easily done with these cookies. Watch out for too much browning on the top and bottom of the cookies while they're in the oven. They should be a tiny bit golden all round, otherwise they'll become brittle and crunchy which is not the texture we're going for.

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