Gluten Free Mexican Wedding Cookies Recipe

Closeup of a plate piled with powdered-sugar-coated cookies, one showing a bite taken out showing flecks of chopped nuts, all arranged on stacked round metal plates and chargers.

5 from 126 votes

These gluten free Mexican wedding cookies are velvety smooth nutty buttery cookies that really do melt in your mouth. Since they also look like snowballs, they're sometimes called snowball cookies!

Prep Time10

Cook Time12

Chilling time10

Course: Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: gluten free Mexican wedding cookies, gluten free snowball cookies

Servings: cookies

Author: Nicole Hunn

Equipment

Miniature food processor fitted with steel blade (See Recipe Notes)

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all purpose gluten free flour blend (See Recipe Notes)
¾ teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your flour blend already contains it
⅝ cup cornstarch (See Recipe Notes about flour blend)
1 cup confectioners’ sugar divided, plus more as needed
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
13 tablespoons finely chopped raw pecans or raw walntuts or almonds (See Recipe Notes)
16 tablespoons unsalted butter at cool room temperature (about 68°F)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Lukewarm water by the teaspoonful as necessary
⅓ cup granulated sugar for rolling

Customary - Metric

Instructions

Line a large rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside.
In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar (77 g) and salt, and whisk to combine well. Add the finely chopped nuts and whisk again to combine.
Chop the butter into chunks (each about 1 tablespoon) and scatter on top of the dry ingredients. Add the vanilla, too, and mix until well-combined. I find that pressing down on the butter with the back of a spoon helps to distribute it throughout the dough.
The cookie dough will look somewhat sandy, and will clump in places. Add water by the scant teaspoonful, mixing after each addition, until the dough holds together easily when squeezed in your hand. Stop short of adding water before the dough feels wet or sticky.
Scoop the dough by the heaping tablespoon (an overfull #70 ice cream scoop is ideal here, but two spoons work well, too). Roll each piece of dough into a round gently between the palms of your hands. Don’t pack the dough; just shape it.
Place granulated sugar in a small mixing bowl. Place each ball of cookie dough in the bowl, and shake it back and forth to coat the dough in sugar.
Place the shaped dough on a flat surface and place in the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes or mostly firm. The granulated sugar should also be less visible, as the dough will have begun to absorb it.
While the dough is chilling, preheat your oven to 375°F.
Place the remaining 1/3 cup (38 g) confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl. Remove the chilled balls of dough from the freezer, and toss in the sugar a few at a time to coat completely.
Place each of the coated pieces of dough on the prepared baking sheet about 1 1/2-inches apart.
Bake in the center of the oven until the cookies are set in the center and firm to the touch (about 12 minutes). They’ll will be fragile, but shouldn’t be wet.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow to cool completely.
After the cookies have cooled completely, toss again in confectioners' sugar (adding more as needed) to coat and provide that snowball appearance. If you don't plan to serve the cookies right away, delay this final coating of sugar until soon before serving.

Video

Notes

Flour blend options

This recipe works best with Better Batter’s original blend or Nicole’s Best multipurpose flour (with added xanthan gum). Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 should work, too, with an extra 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum.

I often replace the cornstarch with more all purpose gluten free flour if I'm in a rush, and the cookies still turn out just a bit more dense.

Want to make your own blend? Check out my mock all purpose gluten free flour blends.

Nuts

If you're using raw pecans or walnuts, grind them coarsely until irregular pieces of nuts are still visible. If using almonds, grind or chop more finely.

Food processor

It's best to prepare the nuts by pulsing in a miniature (or full-sized) food processor as described above. If you don't have one, chop by hand with a sharp knife instead of in a blender, which will grind too much.

Nutrition