The Ultimate Guide To Danish Wedding Cookies

Danish wedding cookies are a delightful, buttery, bite-sized treat, often made with finely chopped pecans or walnuts and cinnamon, then generously coated in powdered sugar. They are a shortbread-style cookie, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture, and are perfect for any occasion, from weddings to holiday parties.

Despite their name, Danish wedding cookies are not of Danish origin. In fact, similar recipes exist in Scandinavian baking, such as Jødekager and Vaniljekranse. They are also known by many other names, including Mexican wedding cookies, Italian wedding cookies, and Russian tea cakes.

So, how do you make these delicious treats? Well, the process is quite simple. The dough is typically made from a combination of butter, powdered sugar, ground nuts, cinnamon, and flour. The cookies are then baked and coated in a generous amount of powdered sugar, giving them their signature snowball-like appearance.

Now, let's dive into the step-by-step process of creating these delectable cookies.

Choosing and preparing your nuts

Nuts are an integral part of Danish wedding cookies, adding a warm, nutty aroma and a subtle crunch. You can use pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds, Brazil nuts, or macadamia nuts. If you're using whole nuts, you'll need to chop or grind them before adding them to the dough. Here are some tips for choosing and preparing your nuts:

• Toasting the nuts – Toasting the nuts boosts their flavour and aroma. Preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fragrant. Keep a close eye on them to ensure they don't burn. Let them cool before grinding or chopping.
• Grinding or chopping the nuts – For a finer texture, grind the nuts in a food processor or nut chopper. If you prefer chunkier pieces, chop them by hand. If using pecans, you can buy pecan pieces instead of whole pecans to save money.
• Ensuring freshness – Nuts contain a lot of fat and can expire quickly. Make sure your nuts are fresh, as no one likes the taste of rancid nuts in their cookies. If you store your nuts in the freezer, let them come to room temperature before making the cookies.
• Measuring – If your recipe calls for a specific amount of ground nuts, remember that this will be a smaller volume than the same weight of whole nuts. For example, 1 cup of whole nuts will yield about 1/2 cup of ground nuts.
• Alternatives – If you don't like nuts or have an allergy, you can omit them from the recipe. You may need to adjust the amounts of other dry ingredients, such as flour, to compensate.

Combining dry ingredients

To combine the dry ingredients for Danish wedding cookies, you'll need to gather the following: all-purpose flour, ground cinnamon, and, if you're using unsalted butter, a little salt.

Start by measuring out your flour. For this recipe, you'll need 2 cups of all-purpose flour, which is equivalent to 270 grams or 9.5 ounces. If you're measuring by volume, be sure to use the spoon and level method for accuracy. Place the flour in a large bowl and set aside.

Next, you'll need to add the ground cinnamon. The cinnamon adds a lovely, subtle warmth to the cookies and is a key flavour in this recipe. You'll only need 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, which you can measure out and add directly to the bowl with the flour.

At this point, you can also add a little salt if you're using unsalted butter. The salt will enhance the sweetness of the cookies and bring out the buttery flavour. A pinch of salt (1/8 teaspoon) should be enough.

Now, it's time to mix the dry ingredients together. Using a whisk or a fork, gently blend the flour, cinnamon, and salt (if using) until they are fully incorporated and you have a uniform mixture. This ensures that the cinnamon and salt are evenly distributed throughout the flour.

That's it! You've now successfully combined the dry ingredients for Danish wedding cookies. In the next step, you'll be adding the butter, sugar, and other wet ingredients to this mixture to form the cookie dough.

Making the dough

To make the dough for Danish wedding cookies, you'll need a few simple ingredients: butter, powdered sugar, ground pecans or walnuts, cinnamon, and flour. You will also need a large mixing bowl, an electric mixer, and a wooden spoon or spatula.

Start by combining the butter and powdered sugar in your mixing bowl. Beat them together until the mixture is smooth and creamy. This should take around 2 minutes. You can use either salted or unsalted butter, but if you opt for the latter, add a pinch of salt to the mixture.

Next, beat in the vanilla extract. You can also add a tiny splash of almond extract if you wish. At this point, the mixture should be nicely scented and flavoured.

Now, it's time to add the dry ingredients: flour, ground pecans or walnuts, and cinnamon. Stir everything together until well combined. If you're using a wooden spoon, be sure to put in a bit of elbow grease to ensure the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.

Your dough is now ready to be shaped into cookies!

Shaping the cookies

If you want to get creative, you can shape these cookies into cocoon shapes or even skeleton bones for Halloween! You can also experiment with different sizes—while the standard size is around 1 inch in diameter, you could try making them a bit smaller or larger, though be careful not to go too big as the cookies are quite soft and may crumble.

Once you've shaped and placed your cookies on the baking sheet, they're ready to be baked!

Baking and coating

Shaping the Cookies

Roll the dough into balls before placing them on the baking sheet. The dough should be shaped into smooth balls, and they should be placed about 1 inch apart on the sheet. If the dough is sticky, lightly dust your hands with flour.

Baking

Preheat the oven to 300-400°F and bake the cookies for 10-30 minutes. The cookies are done when the bottoms are just starting to show a tiny bit of color. Be careful not to overbake them, as this will result in dry and crumbly cookies.

Coating

While the cookies are still warm, roll them in powdered sugar until completely covered. This will give them their iconic, snowball-like appearance. It is important to do this step while the cookies are still warm so that the sugar sticks to the cookies. If desired, you can roll the cookies in the sugar a second time after they have cooled completely to create a fluffy coating.

Frequently asked questions