Good evening, lovelies! How are your Christmas preparations coming along? TEN DAYS LEFT! Ah! I can hardly believe it. We actually JUST got our tree up the other day and I’ve only wrapped one gift. We’ve been buying a lot online and so it comes to us in a box and…well, there hasn’t been a reason for us to wrap those, you know? I’ll eventually make them pretty, but right now my boys can’t see what they’re getting so it’s ok.
ANYWAY, I am here with a recipe! I’ll share a few with you over the next week or so. My aunt is hosting a cookie exchange this weekend, so I’m trying some recipes out. Three or so. I hope you enjoy this first one, as it took a while to get down.
Let me start at the beginning? Another aunt of mine always makes the best pan de polvo cookies. They’re a Mexican tradition around Christmas time and at weddings. I asked for the recipe and she struck me DOWN, guys. Apparently her’s is a secret. I don’t mess with that, so I moved on. I checked online and there are so many variations, I didn’t know how to narrow it down.
Fast forward to this past weekend and my GRANDPA shares this one he uses. He knew it by memory! I changed it only slightly to add in some extra spice, but yah…here it is! They pretty scrumptious.
NOTE: This recipe yield A LOT. Like, over 10 dozen in the size I made, more if you roll out your dough and make smaller cookies. You could halve it or even third it and still get a substantial amount. I made the whole thing, split my dough in thirds and refrigerated it for another day. We have a lot of Christmas parties to go to, so I’m SURE it will be used up. Sharing is caring.
Ingredients
1 teaspoon anise seed
3 cinnamon sticks3 cups of sugar, separated (2c + 1c)
3 lbs vegetable shortening
5 lbs all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus 1 tablespoon, separated
1 teaspoon salt
Pre-heat your oven to 375F.
Place the cinnamon sticks and anise into 1.5 cups of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and strain. Set aside to cool.
Combine 2 cups of sugar and the shortening. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to your sugar mixture 1-2 cups at a time. This makes A LOT of dough and you may need to put it into a bigger bowl. It will slightly resemble pie crust dough.
Slowly add in the cinnamon anise tea (up to 1 cup). Mix it very well, getting the tea to permeate the entire dough.
Divide the dough into 3 equal parts. You can wrap two and put them in the fridge for later, or the next day. I’m also told you can freeze it, but I haven’t tried.
Form into balls, using a cookie scoop to measure the size.
I like to roll it and press it into a disk about 1.5″ wide and half an inch thick.
Evenly space them on a cookie sheet (I could fit 15 on mine) and bake them for about 20 minutes or until they turn light brown on the edges. WATCH THEM!
While the cookies are baking, make a cinnamon-sugar mixture. My ratio is 1.5 tablespoon of cinnamon for every cup. You can add more/less cinnamon if you like. It’s up to you!
While the cookies are still warm, gently toss them in the sugar mixture.
Place them on a rack to finish cooling. They taste best the next morning. It’s a crumbly delightful cookie. Great with a hot cup of coffee or perhaps some Mexican hot chocolate?
Enjoy!
Just what I needed. I was getting tired of the oatmeal cookies. My grandma loves these ones, only I know them as polvorones. I’m going to have to make them. Drools.
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Lisa
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December 16th, 2011 at 12:16 am
Yes! Some of my family call them polvorones too!
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mmmmm. reminds me of what we make here in New Mexico, biscochitos…’cept we use lard! :)
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yum!! I made some mexican wedding cookies some time ago and loved them. gotta try these soon. thanks for sharing! :)
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Oh yum!
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Yum. Great, now I am hungry ;)
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These look so yummy! I am going to give them a try very soon. As always, thanks for sharing your many talents!
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These look delightful, they actually resemble the pan de polvo cookies I love!! Where does this recipe originate? I am trying to find a recipe from Rio Grande City, TX.
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Raquel Huizar
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December 18th, 2012 at 9:19 am
It is the same recipe except they us lard in the Rio Grande,Tx. I know because my aunt gave me the same ingredients except for vegtable shortening became lard because it changes the cookies texture to a more crispy, flaky,and wonderful taste.
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Thank you for posting this recipe! My mother has alzheimer’s and couldn’t tell me the recipe.
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They are good. My mama used to make them with pork lard. But they are just as good with vegitable shortening. But with the pork lard is how I remember them.
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Has anyone ever cut this recipe in half or thirds? Seems like a lot of dough.
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Richard C
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December 10th, 2012 at 7:40 pm
I have a recipe for making smaller portions. It very easy too remember. I use 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 cup shortening and 3/4 cup sugar and 1Tbls ground cinnamon. Mix all ingredients together until you get a nice soft dough. Take wax paper and make rolls if dough about 2in in diameter. Refrigerate about an hour. When ready slice 1/3 inch and place on cookie sheet. Bake for about 12 to 15 min. Let them cool completely before you dust with cinnamon sugar mixture. If they are not cooled they will be very crumbly. Use a spatula to remove from cookie sheet. Handle with care. Enjoy!!
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Elisa M.
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December 20th, 2012 at 3:44 pm
Thank you so much for the tip about making the rolls, refrigerating and then slicing. It made things SO much easier!
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Maria
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January 1st, 2013 at 8:38 pm
Hi Richard, thanks for the smaller portion recipe, but how much cinnamon/anise tea do you make/use? 1/2 cup?
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Thanks for sharing your recipe. I used your recipe a few days ago with the help of my mom and omg they came out good. Once again thank you.
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Lisa
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December 12th, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Awesome! I’m going to be making them tomorrow for a party, this weekend. I’m prepared to make a HUGE batch. I predict I’ll be eating cookies for breakfast for WEEKS!
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I have also incorporated pecans and/or small pieces of walnuts into the dough to give it a crunch and a great taste. Enjoy!
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Question: when preparing the cinnamon anise tea and it’s time to pour the tea, do you leave the seeds of the anise or remove them? Let me know, I plan to try your recipe tomorrow. Thanks!
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Question: when preparing the cinnamon anise tea and it’s time to pour the tea, do you leave the seeds of the anise or remove them? Let me know. Thanks!
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the best, my family are from texas and these were always made at christmas and I was glad to make them for mine here in washington.
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What size disher are you using?
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