Mexican Wedding Cookies

These are a definite hit among family and friends - one batch makes like a million little cookies, but they're always gone in just a few days (depending on how many people are in the house at the time). Even though I would ordinarily label this an "easy-peasy" recipe, but it's a little labor/time-intensive when you use a 1/2 tbsp scoop like suggested. I lowered the sugar in the cookie itself so that it's balanced by the powdered sugar coating.

• 3/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• powdered sugar for rolling

​Yield: about 60

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1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and place rack in the bottom 1/3 of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream the shortening and sugar together. Beat in the vanilla extract. Gradually blend in the flour (the dough should be crumbly). Fold in the walnuts.
3. Pinch off pieces of dough and roll into balls (or pack into a 1/2 tbsp scoop to shape half-dome pieces). Place 1" apart on the prepared baking sheets.
4. Bake for 12 minutes. (They may still be tacky on the surface - this is okay. They will harden as they cool, and that tackiness will help the powdered sugar to stick and set.)
5. While still warm, roll in powdered sugar and transfer to wire racks to cool. (Note that the powdered sugar sticks best when the cookies are warm, so that the sugar melts a little. After they've cooled, you can dump them in a container with more powdered sugar so that they look nice and Christmas-y.)

Note: I've made these in both 1 tbsp size, and 1 tsp size, and I've found that the 1/2 tbsp is really the best compromise. The 1 tbsp sized cookies never really created the tacky surface that was needed to make the powdered sugar adhere well, and the 1 tsp size was just way too small - it took forever to finish up the dough that way. In the end, I can get through the whole bowl of dough using a 1/2 tbsp in about 15-18 minutes.