My gluten-free Mexican Wedding Cookies are a classic Christmas cookie that you can enjoy during the holidays even if you have a variety of food allergies. We like them so much we make them all year long.
Easy Paleo Christmas Cookie Recipe
I decided to create this easy paleo cookie recipe after one of my fans reached out on Twitter and asked me to create a Mexican Wedding Cookies recipe. Well here you go! These Mexican Wedding Cookies are gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and refined sugar-free. With only 8 healthy ingredients they’re also quick and easy to make. Paleo Mexican Wedding Cookies? Yes please!
What are Mexican Wedding Cookies?
According to Wikipedia, Mexican Wedding Cookies have quite a few other names and are also commonly referred to as Russian Tea Cakes and Snowball Cookies:
Russian tea cake is a kind of pastry, commonly eaten around Christmas in the United States. It is a form of jumble, a pastry common in England during the Middle Ages. Also known as Mexican wedding cakes and butterballs, they are perhaps most commonly called snowball cookies for their powdery white spherical appearance and for appearing around the winter holidays.
Easy Homemade Christmas Gifts
These paleo Mexican Wedding cookies are a wonderful homemade Christmas gift. If you like making holiday gifts, rather than buying them, you’ll want to check out my post on How to Make Homemade Christmas Gifts which is full of healthy paleo cookie and candy recipes for Christmas as well as recipes for organic all-natural beauty care items such as homemade lip balm, and so much more!
Mexican Wedding Cookies
Ingredients
- 1½ cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ⅛ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons palm shortening
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup pecans, toasted and chopped
- ½ cup powdered coconut sugar
Instructions
- In a food processor combine almond flour, salt, and baking soda
- Pulse in shortening, honey, and vanilla
- Mix in pecans by hand
- Using a 1 tablespoon ice cream scoop, scoop dough out in scant tablespoons
- Use your hands to form cookies into balls, pressing very firmly
- Bake at 350°F for 7-10 minutes
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes
- Dip cookies into powdered coconut sugar
- Serve
Mexican Wedding Cookie Recipe Tips
When you make these paleo Christmas cookies, press the dough into balls very firmly so they don’t fall apart after they are baked, this is an important step so do not skip it! Also be sure to form scant tablespoon sized balls so that the cookies are bite sized and so that you get the correct yield.
To stick to the classic version of this recipe, roll the cookies in powdered sugar instead of coconut sugar. To make the powdered coconut sugar called for in this recipe simply whiz your regular coconut sugar up in a vitamix or coffee grinder. I make a cup or so at a time and store my powdered coconut sugar in a glass mason jar. I find that homemade powdered coconut sugar keeps for at least a few weeks when stored this way.
Low-Carb Mexican Wedding Cookie Recipe
If you can tolerate xylitol, although most people with gut and digestive issues cannot, you can make powdered xylitol sugar using the method outlined above for the powdered coconut sugar and dip your gluten-free Mexican Wedding Cookies in powdered xylitol sugar. If you’re on a low-carb diet you’ll definitely want to check out my Low-Carb Recipes page!
More Paleo Christmas Cookie Recipes
Below are some of my favorite gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and refined sugar-free holiday cookie recipes!
This post is an oldie but goodie from the archives. I first published this recipe in 2013.
Aleesha Banks says
I will definitely make this cookies. As I was searching for a long for Mexican cookies. So can’t wait.
Elana says
Thanks Aleesha!
Stephanie says
How could I forget…. Danish Butter Cookies and Lace Cookies!
Elana says
Thanks Stephanie!
Stephanie says
Another christmas cookie favorite I remember are pecan tassies:)
Elana says
Thanks Stephanie!
Reba says
I love your recipes and look forward to making more. Since I’m trying to count calories and carbs, is there any way to know how many calories and carbs the recipes have? My doctor wrote “obese” on my chart at 64 years old, 5’2″ and 157 pounds, so I’m trying to lose some weight.
Many thanks.
QueenJellyBean says
A batch of 16 made without powdered sugar on top – per cookie: 111 calories, 9.6 gm fat, 5 gm carb, 2 gm dietary fiber, 2 gm sugar, 3 gm protein
Elana says
Thanks Queen JellyBean and Reba! I offer more on nutrition here:
https://elanaspantry.com/nutrition-information/
Have a great day!
Elana
lori says
my girls’ love oreo truffles! they are made from cream cheese and smashed oreo cookies, rolled in to balls (like truffles) then cooled and dipped later in either almond bark (ick) or white chocolate.
any suggestions?
Elana says
Lori, I’ll add that to my list of recipes requests :-)
lauren says
Though I was raised Christian I had never heard of Christmas cookies until I was 27! I asked my mom about it and she said “Of course I’ve heard of them, we didn’t make them because we ate healthy”. So you are not alone with the Christmas cookie obstacle. Though these cookies sound delicious to me!
Elana says
Thanks Lauren!
Barbara says
Just made these today. I used butter instead of shortening and didn’t roll them in sugar after they were baked. They turned out really good and I like them a lot. Very happy to have this recipe.
Elana says
Barbara, thanks for letting me know these cookies were really good and that you liked them a lot!
Karyn says
I made these last night and they are delicious. I do more primal than pale, so I substituted grass-fed unsalted butter (2TBSP) and they were really, really good! I love the powdered coconut sugar idea. Opens up new ideas for icing/frosting recipes with a bit more stiffness (thinking coconut milk and powdered coconut sugar?)
Elana says
Karyn, I’m so happy to hear these are delicious!
Nan says
Ooo, I can suggest lots of favorite Christmas cookie recipes I would love to be able to eat again. Here’s one, for a start: Rum Raisin Shortbread Cookies. (Let me know if you’d like the recipe for the original.)
Elana says
Thanks Nan!
Leona says
My favorite holiday cookies are pizzelles. Would love to have an almond flour recipe for them – not necessarily paleo. Thank you for your delicious recipes.
Christine says
Here are 2 favorites that I’d like “Elana-fied”:
Gilleys – they’re made in a Pizzelle maker, but they’re more substantial:
0.5 pounds Butter (2 sticks)
1 pounds Sugar, Light Brown (2 1/4 cups)
2.25 teaspoons Vanilla
3 Eggs
0.125 cups Coffee, Brewed, Strong
5 cups Flour, All-Purpose
Conbine ingredients. Chill for several hours. Bake in waffle or cookie iron.
********************
Modern Chewy German Peppernuts – Pfefferneuse, but chewy instead of rock-hard. I’m actually going to attempt to convert this on my own, and will report back if I remember!
1.5 cups Flour, All-Purpose
1 teaspoons Ginger
1 teaspoons Cloves, Ground
1 teaspoons Baking Powder
0.25 teaspoons Pepper, Black, Coarse-Ground (Fresh)
0.5 teaspoons Salt
0.67 cups, packed Sugar, Brown
0.5 cups Margarine
1 Eggs
Combine ingredients. Drop spoonfuls of the cookie on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Cool on cookie rack, then roll in confectioners sugar.
I’d also love a copycat version of the Peparkakor cookies that come in the decorated tin at World Market (they’re thin, crispy molasses rounds).