Golf Ball Cookies
Crumbly, nutty cookies with cinnamon and lemon that have little to do with golf, thanks be.
This week’s Secret Life of Cookies podcast featured 3 guests, all of them from the world of comedy: Jodi Lieberman, Amber J. Lawson and Zoe Friedman. Together they started Comedy Gives Back, a non-profit that supports the health and well-being of comics. It’s a funny and poignant conversation about what it takes to be a comedian these days.
My guest gathered together in Zoe Friedman’s LA kitchen, and we chatted across the miles (me in less glamorous New Jersey), all while baking cookies that look like golf balls to support the Comedy Gives Back celebrity golf tour.
The cookies are dense and crumbly nut cookie, flavored with cinnamon and lemon and rolled in powdered sugar while still warm. It’s a type of cookie similar to one found in many different cultures. The Austrians among us call them kipferl and make them smaller and in the shape of crescents, but you might also know them as Mexican wedding cookies or Greek kourambiedes. I flavored them with cinnamon and lemon to make them sing a little differently than my kipferln do, but you can leave the spices out of you wish, or try others. Nutmeg and orange? Or swap out the nuts for pistachios, add cardamom and orange and wowsers. That’s going to be a version I try this holiday.
Let me know what combos you try in the comments.
Give a listen to the podcast and bake along.
Golf Ball Cookies
aka Mexican wedding cookies, Greek kourambiedes
makes about 2 dozen
What You’ll Need:
1 cup (226 grams) butter, softened
3/4 cup (85 grams) powdered sugar (plus about 1 cup (113 grams) more for rolling the cookies in at the end)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour
1 cup (114 grams) pecans, finely chopped
What You’ll Do:
Heat the oven to 325° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Using a stand or hand mixer, beat together the butter, 3⁄4 cup powdered sugar, vanilla, lemon zest, and the cinnamon until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl and the beaters once or twice. Achieving light and fluffy will take 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the flour and mix on low speed to prevent giant clouds of flour choking you out of your kitchen until just combined. Scrape down the bowls and beater and add the finely chopped pecans until just blended.
Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls and place on baking sheet. Leave 2 inches between each cookie to allow for spreading. Bake for 18 to 24 minutes (everyone’s oven is different!), rotating the pans back to front and up and down once, until light golden and just firm to the touch.
Let the cookies cool on the rack for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, pour about 1 cup of powdered sugar into a bowl. While the cookies are still warm, toss them in the powdered sugar to coat them on all sides. Just before serving, dust with more powdered sugar. These cookies are nice the day they are made, but are one of those miraculous cookies that gets better with age.
And…
A very special thank-you to everyone who offered kind thoughts and great suggestions for my substack going forward. I am so grateful for your ideas, which have inspired me.
As we head into the holiday season, I am testing recipes ‘round the clock so we can have a variety of new, reliable recipes and interesting choices to bake and eat. If you don’t already have a paid subscription to the newsletter, and are financially able, please consider supporting my work and my butter bill. And remember! My newsletter could make a swell gift for all the bakers in your life. You won’t even have to wrap it. Just click here for a special subscription offer:
Hmmm. Baking around the clock...I’m thinking we should hold a cookie baking marathon.
I absolutely love Mexican Wedding cookies so I am every so grateful to have your recipe for them. The pistachio, cardamon and orange variation sounds perfect. My brother and sister-in-law are so happy that I've subscribed to your Substack since they always get half of most recipes I make (sometimes I only make 1/2 of the recipe and don't share). My sister-in-law doesn't bake, but she has so many other outstanding qualities, it's forgiven.