seasons greetings: mexican wedding cakes

Greetings from PA (aka not the Blizzard of 2010)! I'm not snowed in under 14 inches of snow and my flight home (so far - I leave Wednesday) isn't canceled, so there's really no good reason for me to be baking up the storm I have been the past two days except... I can! And there are people (family) here to eat everything! Which means good things for my waistline and gives me something to do besides the Back To The Future marathon that appears to be never ending.

To that end, here are some cookies I whipped up tonight after some social plans fell through. When you can't drink, bake! My Mom used to make these and I found them absent in the Christmas cookie tins this year, so I perused Tastespotting and found this recipe that seemed easy enough for 10pm on a holiday Monday - though I'll tell you what, cookies are tough to make when there are cute little Grizzle dogs nearby. I used almonds since that's what was on hand (thanks Mom's kitchen pantry!) and they turned out quite tasty! And hey, they even look like the snow balls I'll be coming home to on Wednesday when/if I make it back to NYC.

There will be another Christmas-recipe coming, though to be honest I seemed to stick by tried and true recipes this year. I made this appley-goodness for Christmas dinner dessert, and put together a batch of these as hostess gifts for a neighbors party, but by request I'll be posting my Mom's Holiday Pretzel Salad! So stay tuned...

I hope you all had wonderful holidays filled with family, laughter and lots of joy (and good food) - now on to the recipe!

Mexican Wedding Cakes

via azcookbook.com

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup toasted and ground almonds (no need to skin them)

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 325 F. Line a rimless baking sheet with parchment paper (I didn't).

In a bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.

Add the ground almonds and beat on low speed until blended. Add the dry ingredients and beat until a soft dough comes together in large clumps (it will seem very dry).

To form each cookie, roll a level tbsp. of dough between your palms into a 1-inch rectangle.

Place 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake until the cookie bottoms are light brown and the tops are very lightly colored, about 20-22 minutes. Be careful not to over-bake. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Gently roll the cookies in the sugar to coat them evenly. Store the cookies in an airtight container. The cookies will become surprisingly softer the second day - make sure you cover them nicely when storing.