Description
Mexican Pink Cookies are bright bakery-style cookies with a tender, crumbly shortbread texture and a cheerful pink color. They are popular in Mexican bakeries and often served during celebrations like Cinco de Mayo, weddings, and baby showers. This easy recipe uses simple pantry ingredients and requires no dough chilling.
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
Pink or red food coloring
Granulated sugar for sprinkling on baked cookies
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 13 x 9 inch baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Beat softened butter and powdered sugar together until the mixture becomes light, creamy, and fluffy.
3. Mix in vanilla extract, salt, and a few drops of pink or red food coloring until evenly colored.
4. Add flour and mix just until a soft dough forms.
5. Scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into balls with your hands.
6. Place dough balls on the prepared baking sheet about 3 inches apart.
7. Flatten each ball to about ½-inch thickness using the bottom of a glass or your palm.
8. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes until the bottoms are lightly golden while the tops remain pink.
9. Immediately sprinkle granulated sugar over the warm cookies for a sparkly finish.
Notes
Thoroughly creaming butter and powdered sugar helps create the light, crumbly shortbread texture.
The dough does not require chilling, though it can be refrigerated up to 3 days before baking.
Remove cookies before the tops brown to maintain their bright pink color.
Cookies keep about 1 week at room temperature in an airtight container or up to 2 weeks refrigerated.
You can freeze the cookies for 1 to 3 months and thaw them before serving.
Flavor variations such as almond or lemon extract can replace vanilla for a different twist.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 151 kcal
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 88 mg
- Fat: 9 g
- Saturated Fat: 6 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.4 g
- Trans Fat: 0.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 16 g
- Fiber: 0.3 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 24 mg