Danish Wedding Cookies

Factual Questions
1

Well, my first version of this question got lost in another thread, so I’ll give it a thread of its own.

There is a type of cookie (here in the US anyway) called “Danish Wedding Cookies”. They are some type of shortbread(?) cookie containing nuts or chips and with a white powdered sugar coating. There is a picture of a box at http://www.keebler.com/nutrition/danish_wedding/danish_wedding_fam.htm

Questions. 1) Are these cookies really Danish in origin? 2) What do they have to do with weddings?

My board got hacked and all I got was this lousy sig file…

2

Those look and sound very much like what are more commonly called Mexican Wedding Cookies. I did a search and found lots of recipes for MWC’s (basically butter, sugar, and nuts), but didn’t find any recipes for DWC’s. The only references to “Danish” were to the Keebler cookies.

I surmise that Mexican Wedding Cookies are traditionally served at Mexican weddings.

There recipes for other cookies that are very similar, though, so there may be a Danish version out there somewhere.

3

My family calls 'em Mexican Wedding Cakes. I always assumed it was a slightly derogatory name – implying that the Mexicans can’t afford a real wedding cake, so they have these little bite-size cookies instead (which are about the same color because of all the powdered sugar). But that’s just a WAG.

“And thanks agin fur the plague, Porpentine.”
– mr. john

4

I’ll cast my vote for Mexican wedding cakes, but I don’t think the term is derogotory (I might be wrong). I think they are actually served at traditional Mexican weddings. I made some once and the recipe was basically butter with powered sugar and a little bit of flour to hold things together. Not good for you…but they were yummy.

5

I’ve been to lots of mexican weddings and gobbled lots of wedding cakes at those weddings. Yummy authentic tradition.
Peace,
mangeorge

I only know two things;
I know what I need to know
And
I know what I want to know
Mangeorge, 2000

6

We call them Butterballs and make them every Xmas. De-lish.

7

Whoo hoo, now I get to stop feeling guilty for calling them that. This is what I love about the board…

“And thanks agin fur the plague, Porpentine.”
– mr. john

8

We always called these yummy cookies Mexican Wedding Cakes. I have also heard them called Swedish Tea Cakes or Butterballs. I have never heard them called Danish anything.

Jess

Remember the Straight Dope credo: It’s all about wiping out ignorance, not coddling the ignorant.

9

Well, I’m a Dane and I’ve been to a fair number of weddings, but I don’t think I’ve ever come across cookies of any specific importance. Of course, being male, I’m supposed to be ignorant of the deeper symbolism of a lot of the weird stuff that happens at weddings, but cookies ? Doesn’t ring a bell.

OTOH, the nationalities assigned to foodstuffs seem to be more or less random: What an American would call Danish pastry is called Viennese bread in Denmark. Heaven knows what they call it in Vienna.

10

This is SO weird! Just last night, my brother and I were talking about these, and he asked me if I knew (a) if they were really Danish in origin, (b) if they were really served at weddings, and © why the hell Keebler hasn’t changed the package design in twenty years – e.g., why the pink box?

I think point C was bothering him the most.

Anyway, I told him I’d post an inquiry on the SDMB, and I logged on to discover this thread! How synchronicitous is that?

So I’d like to add point C to the OP, if anyone knows why Keebler has kept the same package design for decades on this product when all their other packaging has evolved.

Live a Lush Life
Da Chef

11

I remember from long ago that Wedding Cookies came in a bag instead of a box. It was a pink bag so that part apparently hasn’t changed.

I also seem to think that I saw them before Keebler came along. I am wanting to say that Sunshine Bakeries made them but have no cite other than a vague recollection.

“It turns out it isn’t so much a law of physics as it is a local ordinance.”