Biscochos 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.

BIZCOCHOS (MEXICAN HOLIDAY COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Beat the lard until creamy.
• Mix the wine or fruit juice with 1 cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon and anise seeds; add to lard and mix with a wooden spoon.
• Add the egg yolks; mixing well.
• Add enough flour to make soft dough; roll out to 1/2-inch thick and cut in desired shapes and place on greased cookie sheet.
• Bake 15 minutes; checking often to prevent burning.
• Mix the remaining 1 cup of sugar and 4 teaspoons cinnamon; dredge cookies in the cinnamon sugar mixture while still warm.

NEW MEXICO BISCOCHOS

Steps:

• Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in large bowl, set aside.
• In mixer bowl beat the lard and sugar together until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg yolks, cinnamon, anise extract and juice/wine. Mix till incorporated.
• Add flour mixture to lard mixture and mix well.
• Roll dough out onto floured counter top to 1/2" thickness. I work half the dough half at a time, rolling into a large square. Cutting into strips about 1 inch wide, then cut those strips into 2" cookies. (A ruler works great!).
• Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400°F for about 8-10 minutes.
• While cookies are warm roll them in cinnamon sugar.

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.