Wedding cookies are HANDS DOWN my favorite cookie. As if shortbread wasn’t awesome enough on its own, when you add a ton of delicious nuts and roll it around in powdered sugar…well, they’re almost too good to be true. They literally melt in your mouth.
Traditionally wedding cookies are made with pecans, but I had this idea to make them with hazelnuts instead. I recently discovered that hazelnuts are available in my regular grocery store, and they actually turn out to be cheaper than other baking nuts! But I find them to be much more flavorful and interesting than pecans or walnuts or even almonds. They’re the perfect thing to balance out the butter in these delicious cookies!
- 1 c. butter, at room temperature
- 1 c. powdered sugar
- 1 t. vanilla
- 2 c. flour
- 1 c. hazlenuts, finely chopped
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Whip together the butter, 1/2 c. of the powdered sugar, and the vanilla with an electric mixer until they are light and fluffy.
- Add in the flour and nuts on the lowest speed and mix together until a soft dough forms.
- Roll the dough into small balls (about a tablespoon each) and place a couple inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until the bottom of the cookies turn golden brown.
- Let the cookies cool in the pan for 5 minutes before rolling them in the remaining powdered sugar.
- Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
These cookies have a bit of an identity crisis. Are they Italian wedding cookies? Mexican wedding cookies? Snowballs? Russian tea cakes? Butterballs? The list goes on…
What does your family call them? My mom always referred to them as Italian Wedding Cookies, but I find it hilarious they have SO many names. And now that I’ve talked about them so much I’m dying to eat another one. Peace out.
-Lauren
P.S.- A giveaway and a VLOG are coming in tomorrow’s post!
Matt @ Runner Savvy
Looks great!