In the Mexican state of Oaxaca, the cookies are presented in fringed white tissue paper and given as favors to wedding guests. In the United States, they are often called snowballs.

The Austrian version is called kipfel, and in Greece, they are known as kourambiethes.

Traditionally, the Mexican version uses pecans, but other nuts, including walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and pistachios, also taste good.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour





1/4 teaspoon salt





1 cup unsalted butter, softened





1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar





1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract





3/4 cup finely chopped nuts

Directions

In a medium-size bowl, stir the flour and salt. In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, mix together the butter and 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar until smooth. Stir in the vanilla extract and then the flour mixture until it is blended. Finally, stir in the nuts.

Cover and refrigerate the dough for about 2 hours or until it is firm enough to work with. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Shape the dough into balls that are about 1 inch in diameter.

Place the balls on ungreased baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between the cookies. One sheet at a time, bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or until set, but not brown. Meanwhile, place the remaining 1 cup of confectioners' sugar in a shallow bowl or pie plate.

Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and cool for 2 to 4 minutes. Carefully remove the cookies and roll each one in the sugar to coat. Cool the cookies completely on a wire rack. Sprinkle them with any remaining sugar.

When cool, store the cookies in an airtight container. These cookies freeze well.

Makes about 40 cookies.