These Mexican Wedding cookies (also known as Russian Tea cookies), are a traditional cookie remade gluten-free and vegan here. And no, they require no Mexican wedding occasion to be enjoyed, and no Russian tea party either (although I'd happily partake in both! :) ).
If you're ever in the mood for a sweet, lightly buttery, delicate, soft and crumbly cookie, that's a little shortbread-like, and has a lovely hint of pecan flavor to it -- am I the only one who has those moods? ;) -- this cookie is for you.
Rather than going with chunks of pecans in the cookie (which I'm not opposed to by the way -- feel free to throw some more in if you like), I opted to grind the pecans down into a flour, so that each morsel of these cookies is imbued with pecan flavor. It also helps the gluten-free flour mix I used in these to taste good and have a good texture.
To replace the traditional powdered sugar that Mexican Wedding cookies typically get rolled in and dusted with, I went with my favorite powdered sugar substitute -- coconut milk powder.
And last but not least, and this is where things get a little "naughty" for me -- I used vegan butter in these to cut out the dairy. I usually try to avoid using it when possible (opting for more wholesome ingredients), however I found that it gives these cookies a lovely flavor and texture. Perhaps some form of pecan butter or cashew butter can be used instead here (you'll need to play around with the quantities a little -- here's an example of some pecan-butter based cookies as a starting point). I think the hint of vegan butter in each cookie here though makes these extra special and is totally worth it.
Mexican Wedding Cookies
Delicious traditional Mexican Wedding Cookies -- sweet, soft and crumbly, a little shortbread-like, and filled with pecans. Vegan and Gluten-Free Recipe.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients
Cookies:
- ½ cup pecan halves
- ¾ cup white rice flour
- ¼ cup vegan butter* (room temp.)
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp tapioca flour
- 2 tbsp maple sugar**
- less than a 1/16 teaspoon raw ground vanilla bean***
Coating:
- ¼ cup coconut milk powder****
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350F. Line a cookie tray with some parchment paper and set aside.
- Process pecans into a fine nut meal in a food processor. Add all remaining cookie ingredients and process to combine everything together.
- Use a small cookie scoop, or simply gather about 1 ½ tablespoon of the mixture and roll into a ball. Place on the prepared cookie sheet, and repeat with remaining dough (you should get about 12 cookies), spacing them out roughly an inch apart.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Then remove and cool the tray on a cooling rack for about 15-20 mins.
- Place the coconut milk powder into a small bowl. Roll / dip each cookie in the bowl to coat in the coconut milk. If you'd like, you can also place some of the remaining coconut milk into a little sieve and dust the cookies some more for a more powdery look. Enjoy!
Notes
*I used organic Earth Balance. My butter was soft but not melted -- that's the ideal state for these cookies. Note that I didn't add any salt to the recipe, since EB is already salted, but if you're using an unsalted vegan butter substitute you might want to add a little pinch of salt to the cookies.
**I used maple sugar here since it's mild in color, so the end result is closer to a traditional Mexican Wedding cookie. If you don't have access to maple sugar, feel free to use a dry sweetener of your choice. Just keep in mind that sweeteners like date sugar or coconut sugar will likely darken the cookies slightly.
***Or use ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract.
****Keep an eye out on the ingredients in the coconut milk powder, as some contain dairy as an additive. I used it here as a substitute for the traditional powdered sugar used to coat these types of cookies.
Bella says
Any thoughts on walnuts and arrowroot or tapioca instead of the coconut milk powder? Your recipes are perfect- cannot do sugar at all.
Audrey says
Hi Bella. Arrowroot or tapioca will work in terms of look, but I don't think they taste particularly nice... I've seen them used as a powdered sugar alternative, but I can't imagine the cookie tasting good being coated in so much of it. You can just skip the coating here all together if you can't find / do coconut milk powder. Alternatively I've previously used cashew milk powder (amazon) instead and it works great, so it's an option you can look into.
deborah says
can you substitute the rice flour with gf oat flour?
Audrey says
Hi Deborah. I think that should work just fine. Enjoy!
Mimi Rotlewicz says
I didn't coat them. They are so good
Audrey says
So glad you enjoyed them, Mimi. Thanks for the lovely feedback :)
Maria says
Great recipe Audrey!
Audrey says
Thanks so much, Maria!
Kate says
Hi Audrey!
As if someone else came up with a gluten free and vegan mexican wedding cake cookie! I love it!
Have you tried making this with coconut oil instead of the vegan butter?
Thanks in advance!
Audrey says
Hi Kate. I think the vegan butter lends these a lot of flavor, but the recipe should still work with coconut oil if you prefer. Enjoy! :)
Audrey says
Only thing I should add though is to add a tiny bit of salt to the cookies if you go the coconut oil route, since vegan butter is usually salted (so I didn't add any additional salt to the recipe for that reason, but salt balances the flavors nicely).
Nadja says
Hello Audrey,
Are there other types of flour we can use here?
Coconut flour? Almond flour? Other?
Thank you :)
Audrey says
Hi Nadja. Coconut flour is definitely a no (coconut flour requires a very high ratio of liquids to flour in a recipe, so it's not a good substitute for other flours usually). Almond flour on its own is not absorbent enough either. You'd need to use a grain flour, like rice, sorghum, or perhaps a gf baking mix. If you're looking for some grain-free cookies though, I've got lots of recipes in the grain-free section on the recipes page here on the blog and in my book Unconventional Treats.
Patrizia says
This look delicious! I can’t do coconut, what could I use to replace it? Thank you for your recipes!!!
Audrey says
Hi Patrizia, the coconut milk powder here is meant to replace the traditional powdered sugar Mexican Wedding cookies get rolled in. So you could always just use that instead of the coconut milk. Otherwise you can skip that step and just enjoy the cookies uncoated -- they'll still be delish :)
Susan N. says
These sound great. Could one use almonds instead of pecans?
Audrey says
Hi Susan, yes, absolutely. Enjoy :)