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.
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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.
Phyllis says
This is a superb recipe! I replaced the shortening for coconut oil and didn’t roll them in coconut sugar. I froze them, hoping that they would last until Chanukah or Xmas. Well, that didn’t happen; my husband & I gobbled up each and every one of them because they are that good. They freeze very well. Thanks again, Elana, for another delicious recipe.
Elana says
Phyllis, thanks so much for letting me know this is another delicious recipe!
Cindy says
Do these freeze well?
Would you leave off rolling in sugar until thawed?
Elana says
Cindy, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
JUDE GREBELDINGER says
I can’t find Palm Shortening so can I use butter?
Elana says
Jude, I haven’t tried that, feel free to experiment :-)
Teresa says
Can I use coconut oil instead of shortening?
Elana says
Teresa, Barbara, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
Bev says
This cookie is more than amazing. The crumb is perfect. I subbed walnuts but I bet pecans are even better. I rolled in Swerve Conf Sweetener. Made a batch for my grandkids but Papa at 6, so I’m making another batch to hide.
Elana says
Bev, thanks for letting me know this cookie is more than amazing :-)
Michelle says
Is it possible to replace the coconut sugar with anything for this receipe?
Elana says
Michelle, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
JoAnn says
Made this delightful recipe earlier today. I used a small scope so they would all be the same size and bake the same. I used Presidents Choice blend and used unsalted butter like one other person did as I didn’t have the shortening that is in the recipe. It made 22 cookies. They taste wonderful. (I made another site’s Mexican cookies but they were awful and threw them out). I can always count on your recipes working for me. Thanks for sharing this great recipe.
Elana says
JoAnn, thanks for your comment and for letting me know these cookies are delightful! I’m so happy to hear you can always count on my recipes –makes testing each more than a dozen times so worth it :-)
Christina says
These are amazingly delicious!!! They taste just like the version from my childhood. They’re actually better than some I had at a recent Christmas party. I subbed walnuts for pecans and they turned out great.
Elana says
Christina, thanks for letting me know these cookies are better than the real ones!
Madalynn Gerold says
My dad and I each made this recipe as directed, but I used butter instead of palm shortening.
The flavor on my dad’s with the palm shortening was almost exactly that of a sweet potato. The overall experience was a sweet potato pie. The dough was also very crumbly, and very tedious to make into balls. However, the texture of the finished cookie was surprisingly tender and delightful.
The version with butter instead of palm shortening came together much more easily as a dough, the flavor was much more true to the Russian Tea Cakes I grew up on, but the texture of the finished cookie was slightly more chewy.
They were both crowd-pleasers, and we will make them both again.
Elana says
Madalynn, thanks for letting me know these cookies are tender and delightful and that they’re a crowd-pleaser too! :-)
Amy Jean says
Hi Madalynn;
Whenever I make anything from Elana’s Pantry, I make sure I stick to the recipe. This way you will know for
sure that it has been tested for great results! Elana if you see this comment, can I freeze. Most likely you will say “yes” but just wanted to check with you. It’s Christmas day, & I am making some for my neighbor when we join them for dinner. Also my relatives will be coming from California, & I did plan to make these most delicious cookies that I made last year. Merry Christmas to you Madalynn, & Elana!!! :)
Amy Jean
Elana says
Amy Jean, so sorry not to respond sooner! I was enjoying some time off with my family during the holidays. I haven’t tried freezing these so not sure, but I’m guessing it would work :-)
Amy Jean says
P.S.
I actually got 24 cookies from this recipe!!!!! :)
Elana says
Amy Jean, that’s awesome!