Gluten-Free Mexican Wedding Cookies

I'm in trouble...big trouble. Because the holiday season, as far as I'm concerned, has kicked off. That means lots of baking for me. I love to experiment and see what I can convert to gluten-free. Some times I am successful and some times not. But when I am, I need to get these treats out of the house! My neighbors really like me.

I've said this before, if I see a picture of a certain food, I get a little obsessed; in a good way. I must have seen some of these delectable treats some where and decided I needed a good gluten-free version. I tried them last year but they fell apart so I was feeling a bit deflated. I had some time today to play thus, I started looking through recipes.

I found this one from the Gluten-Free Canteen. I loved the ingredients but wanted to use my blend and change the directions a bit. I also wanted to try to make it dairy-free (which I did successfully). However, use butter if you can. When I'm making them for friends and not my daughter, I will make them with butter. That could be bad. I might start sampling more!

Happy holidays! I hope you enjoy them. Remember, you can buy "Your Gluten-Free Holiday Meal" from my website. I pride myself in writing good recipes which explain how to do things. I hope it helps.


Gluten Free Mexican Wedding Cookies
Makes about 40 cookies


2 cups +1 tablespoon Amy’s Gluten Free Flour Blend
¼ cup almond flour or meal
½ teaspoon xanthan gum


1/2 heaping cup powdered sugar + about 1 cup for dusting cookies later
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, or vegetable shortening
1 large egg

¾ cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare 2-3 cookie sheets by placing parchment paper or silicone baking mats on top.
2. In a small bowl, mix the flour, almond flour and xanthan gum. Set aside.
3. Sift 1/2 heaping cup of powdered sugar into the bowl which you will use to cream the sugar and butter or shortening, either a large bowl or the bowl of a stand up mixer. Sifting is an important step so don't skip it. You can use a mesh strainer to sift the sugar. Add the butter or shortening to the bowl.
4. With a stand up or handheld mixer, blend the sugar and butter or shortening until creamy. Add egg and mix until well blended.
5. Add the flour mixture. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, mix until combined. Add the chopped nuts and mix. If the dough is very sticky, add a little more flour but not too much.
6. Roll into approximately 1” balls.  Place on the cookie sheets about 1” apart (I used 2 pans and then reused one of the pans; 3 in total).
7. Bake 10 minutes in the center of the oven, rotating the pan 180 degrees once after 5 minutes. Bake until fragrant and the bottoms are light brown. Remove from oven and set aside for a few minutes.
8. Place ½ cup of powdered sugar in a bowl. After the cookies have cooled about 3-4 minutes or until they are cool enough to handle, roll in the powdered sugar. Place on a wire rack and cool another 5-10 minutes. Roll each cookie a second time in the powdered sugar. TIP: I baked the cookies one tray at a time. While 1 batch of cookies were baking, I was rolling another batch in the sugar. It took longer but it was easier to remember which had been rolled once or twice.
9. Cool completely and then keep in a covered container.