Well today’s recipe was a new one for me. I’ve never been to a Mexican wedding, which goes to say that I’ve never had Mexican Wedding Cookies! And if that is not enough, it was my first time using Amaranth too. Since I’ve never had a Mexican wedding cookie I’m not sure how they are supposed to taste, but I found them to be quite tasty. They were a little dry for my liking, but not enough to make my husband stop eating them!

So let’s get started.

First I got my pecans and toasted them so they would have time to cool before I put them in my food processor. It only takes about 6- 8 min so just lay your nuts out on the pan, turn your oven on and then pop them in and let them bake until they’re nicely toasted.

Then let them cool and toss them in the food processor

And hit the power button

Next in your mixer place your  butter, salt, vanilla, almond extract and half of your powder sugar.

Then add your pecans until fully combined

Now here is where I took a break and tried my hand at popping Amaranth

First get a pan (I used a large pot) and get it REALLY REALLY hot!

Don’t worry about using oil or any sort of liquid. You want it DRY and HOT

Take your un-popped Amaranth in 2 Tablespoon quantities. That is what chef Brad suggests, but I burned my first three batches so I only did one tablespoon at a time! Hopefully one day I can pop like a pro and do two tablespoons!

 Unless your pan moves easily on the stove, keep a spoon nearby to push around the amaranth

The lighter- white pieces are the popped amaranth. A word of warning: DON’T LET IT SIT TOO LONG or it will burn and it smells like burnt popcorn.

 Here is a close up of the unpopped and popped

Now add your flour and popped amaranth into the cookie mixture

Roll the dough in to small balls. They don’t spread out, so feel free to pack the pan more than I did and cook for 10-15 min

Just a note. It’s pretty dry dough, so try not to roll the dough in your hands, or it just kinda crumbles. I found that if I just pinched it together it worked better.

Once cooked and cooled, roll the cookies in your remaining powder sugar and enjoy!

 So until next time…