Chai Cookies

Someone needs to seriously ask me to stop eating cookies.  I'm always a cookie monster, but I've turned into a terribly bad one this holiday season.  I just can't seem to get enough.  I've been craving Mexican Wedding Cookies for weeks now so I decided my Cooking Club holiday treat exchange was the perfect excuse to whip some up.  And the fact that I couldn't have the entire batch all to myself was a huge incentive.  I jazzed them up a bit by adding some "chai" inspired spices.  So I guess I should have just said I "spiced" them up, and then written no pun intended, ha!  I love the slight complexity the cardamom and ginger add.  The base is a nice nutty shortbread that isn't sweet at all, and then you roll them around in powdered sugar which makes each bite sweet, but not overly sweet, as the cookie crumbles.  These are perfect with tea.  I feel like I always say that, but seriously, these are perfect with tea.

I combined a bit of garam masala along with ground ginger and cardamom, but my garam masala is home made and has predominately clove in it, so just add a bit of ground clove instead, as store bought garam masala will not be the same.

"Chai" Mexican Wedding Cookies, adapted from Mom's old recipe box


1 c butter (2 sticks)

3/4 c blanched almonds, toasted
1/4 c toasted pecans
1 T vanilla extract
2 c flour
4 T powdered sugar plus about 1 cup more for rolling cookies in after baked
~ 1 t mix of ground ginger, clove, cardamom (just sprinkle them in and judge by the smell how strong you want the spices in the cookies, I like less cardamom and more ginger, for example)

In mini food processor (or coffee grinder) pulse nuts until fine. Cream butter with a hand mixer (or stand mixer) and then add sugar. Add vanilla, nuts, flour and spices and beat until incorporated.  Form 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes (until just toasted looking).  Roll cookies in powdered sugar while warm, and then roll again after they cool.