Wedding Cookies KA

By mariannefeldman

kingarthurflour.com

Mexican Wedding Cookies, Vanilla Snowballs, Russian Teacakes, just plain Wedding Cookies... these tender, crumbly cookies, full of ground almonds and covered with a blizzard of confectioners' sugar, go by many names. But one thing is constant: their melt-in-your-mouth texture and distinctive, attractive appearance: round and white as a cumulus cloud.

Volume
Ounces
Grams
Recipe summary
Hands-on time:
10 mins. to 15 mins.
Baking time:
15 mins. to 20 mins.
Total time:
1 hrs 25 mins. to 2 hrs 5 mins.
Yield:
4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• DOUGH
• 1 cup (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter*
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract, optional
• 1 teaspoon salt*
• 3/4 cup almond flour or 3/4 cup blanched almonds, finely ground
• 2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• If you use salted butter, reduce the amount of added salt to 1/2 teaspoon.
• COATING
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Preparation

Step 1

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
2) In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract, and salt.
3) Beat in the almond flour, then the all-purpose flour.
4) Scoop chestnut-sized (1") pieces of dough, and roll them into balls. A level teaspoon cookie scoop will give you just the right amount of dough. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheets, leaving 1" between them.
5) Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, until they feel set on top: and some of them are MAYBE beginning to barely brown around the edges.
6) While the cookies are baking, put the topping sugar in a shallow bowl.
7) Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them, 5 or 6 at a time, to the bowl. Roll them in the sugar to coat, then transfer them to a rack to cool.
8) When the cookies are cool, roll them in the sugar again; they should be thoroughly coated and snowy white.
9) Store airtight at room temperature.
Yield: 4 dozen cookies.