Biscochitos Recipes

BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Cream the lard with sugar and anise seed on medium speed. In a separate bowl. beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add beaten eggs to creamed mixture. Mix together well, adding wine to form a stiff-like dough, add more wine, if necessary.
• Refrigerate dough overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and let stand for a while, until dough is soft enough to roll. Divide dough in quarters and roll to about 1/16 to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutter and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until bottom of cookie is golden brown. Meanwhile, mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Drop the baked cookies into sugar and cinnamon mixture and set aside to cool.

BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Beat lard in mixer until creamy. Add 2/3 cup sugar, beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and rum and mix until blended. Add the flour, baking powder, anise seed and salt. Beat until a smooth dough is formed.
• Roll dough on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4-inch thickness. Cut the dough into desired shapes. In a shallow bowl, combine cinnamon and remaining sugar. Dredge 1 side of cookie in cinnamon sugar mixture. Place cookie, sugared side up, on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8 to10 minutes or until golden brown, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the cooking time. Allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack.

BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• Put the flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of the anise in a large bowl and whisk to blend.
• In a small bowl, cut the butter into pea-sized pieces.
• Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.
• Add the egg yolk, vanilla, and ice water and mix with your fingers just until the dough comes together into a ball.
• Working on a lightly floured surface, take egg-sized pieces of the dough and smear them away from you with the heel of your hand into 6-inch streaks. (This step helps to achieve the layered texture of the authentic cookie without using lard).
• Scrape up all the streaks of dough and pile them on top of one another to form a disk.
• Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
• On a portable (this will be refrigerated again), lightly floured surface, roll the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
• Refrigerate for 30 miutes, or until firm.
• Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375°F.
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or use a non-stick cookie sheet.
• With a cookie cutter, cut out 2 1/2-inch circles (I use stars), and place them on the cookie sheets about 2-inches apart.
• Chill the cookies 10 minutes before baking.
• Reroll the scraps of dough and cut out more cookies, chilling before baking.
• Meanwhile, mix the remaining 1 Tablespoon ground anise and 2 Tablespoon sugar together in a small bowl.
• Sprinkle a thin layer of the sugar mixture over the cookies.
• Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges.
• Cool on the pan on a wire rack.
• May be store at room temperature, well-wrapped, for up to 5 days.

BISCOCHITOS II

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Mix together shortening, margarine and sugar with a mixture until well blended. Mix in the rest of the ingredients until smooth.
• Roll out on a floured board to 1/2 or 1/4 inch thickness.
• Cut into desired shapes and place on baking sheets. Bake until golden brown, about 10 - 12 minutes. Garnish as desired or leave plain.

BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 1 cup sugar and the lard on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat to combine. Add vanilla, liqueur, and zest; beat to combine.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Gradually beat flour mixture into sugar mixture on low speed. Beat in anise seeds. On medium, gradually add the water and mix until dough forms a ball (add more water if necessary). Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in center. Combine cinnamon and remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a small bowl.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut dough into shapes with a 4-inch fleur-de-lis cutter; lightly sift cinnamon-sugar over each shape. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Chill in freezer until dough is very firm, about 15 minutes. Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating halfway through; cookies should be set but not brown. Transfer the cookies and parchment to a wire rack to cool. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix 1 cup sugar and the lard on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat to combine. Add vanilla, Grand Marnier, and zest; beat to combine.
• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually beat flour mixture into sugar mixture on low speed. Beat in anise seeds. On medium, gradually add 2 tablespoons water or more to form a ball. Divide dough in half; shape into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic; chill 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center. Combine cinnamon and remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a small bowl.
• On a floured surface, roll the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut dough into moons, stars, or shapes you like with a 2-inch cutter; lightly sift cinnamon-sugar over each shape. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, 10 to 12 minutes; cookies should be set but not brown. Transfer the cookies and parchment to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining batches.

BISCOCHITOS TRADITIONAL COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl, and set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream together the lard and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth. Mix in the anise seed, and beat until fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time. Add the sifted ingredients and brandy, and stir until well blended.
• On a floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/2 or 1/4 inch thickness, and cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. The traditional is fleur-de-lis. Place cookies onto baking sheets. Mix together the 1/4 cup of sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over the tops of the cookies.
• Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the bottoms are lightly browned.