Mexican Wedding Cookies

Oh the baking urge - it's a scary thing when it hits. For the past week or so, I've been craving these tasty cookies. I think it's positively silly to wait until the holidays to make them. They taste wonderful year-round. I used this recipe off the Food Network site.

I added 2/3 the amount of sugar and then tasted the dough to make any adjustments. I hate it when cookies are too surgery - especially these cookies, since the pecans have such a delicate, buttery flavor. Oh! And I threw my pecans into a grinder so they became more like pecan meal. I think this is the best way to do it since the cookie is quite crumbly as is. Usually I cut down on the amount of butter in my cookies, but this time I didn't because the dough can get very dry without the added fat content.

Shout out to Domino Farms - hometown, Baltimore!!!

The dough should look a little something like this :) Resist the temptation to add more flour to increase the batch size - these little sweeties need the extra fat content to keep a tender crumb.

Roll them into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for about 20 minutes, as the recipe indicates, but check towards the end. When you smell them, they're most likely almost ready to take out of the oven.

The prep station. Allow the cookies to cool on the tray for about 3-4 minutes, otherwise your fingers will burn off - nuts retain heat VERY well. Roll them in confectioner's sugar and place on a serving dish.

Munch away!