Polvorones: Mexican Christmas Cookies

My mother-in-law made the best Polvorones: a soft crumbly cinnamon cookie, also known as Mexican Christmas cookies or Mexican wedding cookies. To this day, I have yet to tast a better cookie than hers. And I’ve tried many. And although I lost the original recipe she gave me years ago, before her passing, with time I was able to re-create it.  Below, I share my version of my mother-in-law’s classic Mexican Christmas cookies for you to enjoy with your family and friends.

Until my next blog,

Maria

Ps. I almost forgot to mention how great these cookies go with coco or tea!

Polvorones: Recipe Makes approximately 40 cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
½ cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup of lard
1/2 cup of  salted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Coating:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:
Note: Butter and lard must be at room temperature.
Step 1: With an electric mixer, mix butter and lard until they are well combined, then add the sugar and vanilla and mix until all ingredients are well combined.

Step 2: Combine flour and baking powder in separate bowl and mix. Once the dry ingredients are well combined, add them to wet ingredients by folding them in. Then, using your hand work and gather the dough to form a ball.

Step 3: Form small balls of dough (approx. no bigger than 1 inch wide. Should be bite size. The dough should yield a minimum of 40 cookies) and place them on a cookie sheet. If you make the cookies too large, they may not fully cook from the center. You do not need to butter the cookie sheet because the cookies are already rich in butter and lard—they won’t stick.

Step 4: Place the sheet of raw cookie dough in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Step 5: Preheat oven to 375 degrees, then place cookie sheet in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 15-20 minutes. When the cookies are fully baked, they should be slightly browned at the bottom. Remove sheet from oven and let cookies cool slightly (for the next step you will still want them to be a little warm).

Step 6: Combine cinnamon and sugar in a bowl,  gently roll baked cookies individually in sugar and cinnamon mixture until completely coated. Lastly,  serve to family and friends and enjoy!