Pan de polvo cookies
Go ahead, go wild and dust until you have had enough… These cookies can take it because the dough is barely sweet and they are meant to be showered in that extra sugar. Once out, dust them with extra confectioners’ sugar. That’s why its good to know when to stop… See that one that looks a bit burned and not so happy? That’s because I overworked the dough in that single ball to show you what it would look like. They will come out all golden and delicious. Once you are done rolling out enough cookies to fill a baking sheet or tray, place them into the oven for about 15 minutes.
Place the balls on a buttered baking sheet, and gently tap each ball as you lay them out. If that is the case, just place the dough in the refrigerator, covered, for 15 minutes… No worries, that will fix it. If you over worked the dough, your hands will be too greasy and it will be hard to make the balls.
Start making the cookies by grabbing small amounts of the dough and making 1 to 1 1/2″ balls. The warmth of your hands will do that if work the dough for too long. You know you overworked the dough if it becomes very, very greasy. No need to refrigerate if you stopped in time. You know that you need to stop as soon as you can turn it into a ball. Knead the dough until you can turn it into a ball. In no time, you will get this nice flaky crumbly dough.Īdd in the sugar and pecan mixture. Cut your cold butter into small chunks and spoon in the vegetable shortening in teaspoon amounts.ĭive in with your hands, and work in the butter and vegetable shortening into the flour with your fingers. So grab a large mixing bowl and stir in the flour and salt. Aside from being a quick and fun method, it is practical in a busy kitchen. They are similar to shortbread cookies, and as such, can be made in a bowl and mixed with your hands. It is the addition of this kind of sugar which gives these cookies that airy quality and that peculiar light sweet taste. Whichever way you decide to finely chop or grind them, mix them with the confectioners’s sugar. I should have convinced her to give it to me as a wedding gift, now that we are talking about weddings…. My mother has an old fashioned nut grinder, which looks like a small mill or molino. Just grind the pecans using a food processor or blender. Since the cookie is so light, pecans add a nice and nutty depth of flavor, as well as an extra crunch. They come in many flavors: plain, pecan, peanut, vanilla, cinnamon and even chocolate, to name some. And as you take a bite, they seem to melt and disappear. Maybe because these cookies break into the finest of crumbs the moment they touch your mouth. The name Polvorón seems to come from the word Polvo, which translates to dust or powder. One of Mexico’s most popular treats, consumed on an every day basis, and found in just about every Panadería (bakery) and any grocery store throughout the whole country. It took me a while to realize that those Mexican Wedding Cookies, so liked this side of the border, are what I love and know as Polvorones. What’s more, once I started my blog, I began to receive a lot of requests, via lovely emails, for their recipe. Since then, I have been asked about them continuously.
The first time I heard the name Mexican Wedding Cookie was once we moved to Washington D.C. Nor were there any of those cookies, at any wedding in Mexico that I have ever attended. There were no Mexican Wedding Cookies at our Mexican wedding (though there were a ton of roosters doing their Cock a Doodle Do thing next door, which made it hard for us to say our vows real loud…). I lived there all my life until I married my husband, another Mexican, and moved to the U.S. I had never heard the name Mexican Wedding Cookies.