Spanish Polvorones Cookies Polvorones Espanoles Recipes

POLVORONES: SPANISH CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
• Place the almonds on a baking tray and toast in the oven until they start to go a faint golden color (roughly 8-10 minutes). Reduce the oven temperature to 250F (120C).
• Take the almonds out of the oven and grind into a flour-like texture in a food processor.
• Next, in a large mixing bowl, combine the lard/butter, sugar, and cinnamon with an electric hand mixer until smooth and creamy.
• Add the flour and ground almonds to the lard/butter mixture and incorporate into a dough. (The dough will be quite crumbly, but that's okay!).
• Place a sheet of waxed baking paper onto a clean countertop or cutting board. In the mixing bowl, work the dough into the shape of a ball, and then put it on top of the baking paper. Carefully flatten it with a floured rolling pin to a rectangle with about a 1/2-inch thickness.
• Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into circular cookies.
• Move the cookie dough to a greased baking tray/cookie sheet (you might want to use a spatula, as the crumbly dough might break apart in your hands).
• Bake the cookies for 25-30 minutes, until you see the edges start to turn a golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the tray until you move them, as moving them hot will likely cause them to crumble to dust!
• Serve at room temperature, dusted with powdered sugar.

SPANISH POLVORONES COOKIES/ POLVORONES ESPANOLES

Steps:

• 1. Cut shortening into the granulated and powdered sugars in a large mixing bowl. Add the ground almonds, almond extract and cinnamon and mix well. Next mix in flour one cup at a time. Mixture will be crumbly and dry. You may want to use your hands as I do to mix together. As you add the last cup of flour your mixture will be very crumbly. Just mix all the ingredients very well.
• 2. Next beat the egg yolk and add to the mixture mix into the dough as well as possible. Refrigerate the dough for at least two or more hours.
• 3. After two hours or more divide the dough into four portions. Using a portion of the dough at a time, roll or form a rope 1 - 1 1/2 inches wide. Lay the rope on a cutting board and flatten the rope slightly. Slice the rope diagonally to make diamond -shaped cookies.
• 4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees 20 minutes before baking. Lay cookies on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow them to cool on the cookies sheet for 5-10 minutes. They are very crumbly, So once cooled slightly, very carefully remove them using a spatula. Cookies are delicious and will melt in your mouth. Enjoy. I will be baking these for the holidays and will post my picture when I bake them.