Those Powdered Sugar-Covered Crumbly Ball-Shaped Cookies
That only seem to show up around Christmas. Yeah, these:
Russian tea cakes. Mexican wedding cakes. Polvorones. We called them 'worms' from the time we were in single digit ages because Mom always shaped them into crescents.
Whatever you want to call them, they've been on my mind lately. A lot. One of those odd, simple (and actually non-chocolate) things that I daydream about every now and then. I've made them twice in two weeks. Here's Mom's recipe:
1 cup butter
1 cup sifted powdered sugar (plus additional for coating)
1/2 tsp. salt
1-2 cups almonds or pecans, ground (she's got pecans underlined...I concur)
1 Tb vanilla
2 cups flour
Cream butter. Gradually add the 1 cup powdered sugar and salt, creaming well. Stir in pecans and vanilla. Add flour gradually. Mix thoroughly.
Shape by rounded spoonfuls into crescents (or balls). Place on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake at 325F for 15 to 18 minutes. Do not brown. Roll (carefully) while warm in powdered sugar.
Notes:
Since the price of pecans seems to be keeping pace with the price of gold lately, I cut them with almonds. I toasted the nuts lightly beforehand. Cool them completely before grinding and adding to the butter mixture.
Chill the dough balls before baking. They still spread out, but not as much as room temperature dough. Possibly because of the increased fattiness of the pecans, and the loosey-goosey amount of nuts in the recipe--I've been using 1.5 to 2 cups. Looks like I'm going to have to do more research to achieve the nicely spherical cookies I've seen pictured elsewhere...
Russian tea cakes. Mexican wedding cakes. Polvorones. We called them 'worms' from the time we were in single digit ages because Mom always shaped them into crescents.
Whatever you want to call them, they've been on my mind lately. A lot. One of those odd, simple (and actually non-chocolate) things that I daydream about every now and then. I've made them twice in two weeks. Here's Mom's recipe:
1 cup butter
1 cup sifted powdered sugar (plus additional for coating)
1/2 tsp. salt
1-2 cups almonds or pecans, ground (she's got pecans underlined...I concur)
1 Tb vanilla
2 cups flour
Cream butter. Gradually add the 1 cup powdered sugar and salt, creaming well. Stir in pecans and vanilla. Add flour gradually. Mix thoroughly.
Shape by rounded spoonfuls into crescents (or balls). Place on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake at 325F for 15 to 18 minutes. Do not brown. Roll (carefully) while warm in powdered sugar.
Notes:
Since the price of pecans seems to be keeping pace with the price of gold lately, I cut them with almonds. I toasted the nuts lightly beforehand. Cool them completely before grinding and adding to the butter mixture.
Chill the dough balls before baking. They still spread out, but not as much as room temperature dough. Possibly because of the increased fattiness of the pecans, and the loosey-goosey amount of nuts in the recipe--I've been using 1.5 to 2 cups. Looks like I'm going to have to do more research to achieve the nicely spherical cookies I've seen pictured elsewhere...