# Danish Wedding Cookies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 6, 2000, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-wedding-cookies/8302 "2000-03-06T20:40:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2000, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-wedding-cookies/8302/1 "2000-03-06T20:40:00Z")
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](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… ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2000, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-wedding-cookies/8302/2 "2000-03-06T20:57:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2000, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-wedding-cookies/8302/3 "2000-03-06T21:14:00Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2000, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-wedding-cookies/8302/4 "2000-03-06T21:47:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2000, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-wedding-cookies/8302/5 "2000-03-07T00:58:00Z")
## 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 ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2000, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-wedding-cookies/8302/6 "2000-03-07T03:07:00Z")
We call them Butterballs and make them every Xmas. De-lish. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-wedding-cookies/8302/7 "2000-03-07T16:16:00Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2000, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-wedding-cookies/8302/8 "2000-03-07T17:17:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2000, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-wedding-cookies/8302/9 "2000-03-08T09:41:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2000, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-wedding-cookies/8302/10 "2000-03-08T15:39:00Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2000, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-wedding-cookies/8302/11 "2000-03-08T17:42:00Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. 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.”