Food & Drink

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Mariana Barran de Goodall’s cuernitos de azúcar

Recipe by Mariana Barran de Goodall

December 11, 2020

photo: Julie Soefer

“For children, complementing these cookies with warm milk with a spoonful of vanilla [mixed in] makes for a very festive and special treat,” says Mariana Barran de Goodall, the founder of Hibiscus Linens in Houston; Hotel Amparo in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; and Amparo Fine Living in Birmingham. For Garden & Gun’s December/January 2021 issue, Goodall shared her tradition of making cuernitos de azúcar, or Mexican wedding cookies, as a way to pay tribute to her Mexican roots during the holidays. (She also shared her recipes for shortbread-like hojarascas and gorditas de azúcar, or sugar tortillas.) “I love to store them inside tin cans when possible,” she says of these cookies.

Ingredients

Cuernitos de Azúcar (Yield: About 45 cookies)
- 2½ sticks butter
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 cups of flour
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup powdered sugar, to coat

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 325°F. In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the flour and chopped pecans, and then mix until blended. Cover and chill the dough for an hour in order to more easily shape the cookies (chilling is not required, however). Preheat oven to 325°F. Shape dough into balls or crescents, or cut into shapes using a cookie cutter. Place them spaced on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the edges look a bit golden. Cool on a wire rack until just warm, and then roll in the powdered sugar to coat. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.