Polvorones de Panaderia

Source: Panaderia La Guadalupana, Mexico

Makes 20-24 cookies about 3” diameter

Preparation time: 1 hour

Tips: typical mexican cookies come in colors: yellow, pink or chocolate. Flavor all the same.

Ingredients

Preparation

Original Full Size Recipe (100-120 cookies)

1Kilogram sugar

1 Kilogram vegetable shortening

2 Kilograms all purpose flour

10 grams (2 1/2 teaspoons) baking soda

5 eggs

For various colors: food color or cocoa powder

This instructions follow the Traditional methods of Mexican bakeries.

Preheat oven to 425F degrees

1.Measure all needed ingredients and have on hand ready to use.
2.In a large bowl or mixer bowl, place sugar and shortening. With a fork or mixer at low speed mix until mixture become quite liquid and sugar feels completely dissolved. Use a large bakers scraper to gather all as you mix.
3.Make a well, add egg and baking powder, mix with aid of spatula.
4.Add flour on stages mixing until all dough comes together.
5.For Full recipe you will work from now on with 1/5 of dough at a time (5 batches total). From which you may do variety of colors and or shapes. Colors are obtained by adding yellow, or pink food coloring and a bit of cocoa for chocolate. I prefer to add no coloring and add a bit of vanilla extract.
6.Working with the entire batch of dough (1/5 recipe Home baking recipe). Add a little bit of water if the dough is too dry and crumbly. Roll on the counter to form a log.

7.Panaderia size (4.5” cookie): 2” log diameter, cut slices 1” thick.
8.Home size (3” cookie): 1.5” log diameter, cut slices 1” thick. This size will fit into typical storage glass jars with 3.5” mouth opening, the Panaderia size will not.

9.Place a tray or bowl with some depth of sugar. Cut logs into 1” thick pieces. Place each piece cut side down in bowl of sugar. pick from bowl and place in baking tray with sugar coating side up. Place cookies about 1.5 inches apart (about 15 per sheet).
10.When all cookies are in the baking sheets, take a heavy flat bottom glass and press gently the top of each cookie, dip glass in the sugar if it sticks. This will enhance the look of the cookies with cracking edges, but is not require.
11.Place baking sheets in 425F degrees oven and inmediately lower temeprature to 400F degrees. Watch carefully until polvorones are slightly colored but not brown. The initial high heat should make them crack as they should from rising.
12.Cool in trays for few minutes, remove to racks. Cool completely before storing in glass sealed containers, Polvorones keep well for several weeks.

NOTES :

1) Panaderias in Mexico will make, besides the 3 different color round polvorones, they will combine 2 or 3 logs of various colors. Roll them together to form a long log of triangle form. When cut into cookies and baked, resulting in a multi-color cookie commonly seen at bakeries.

*2) Bakeries use baking soda in this recipe instead of baking powder. Results are similar. To substitute baking soda for baking powder, use 3 teaspoon of baking powder to replace the 1 teaspoons baking soda. Baking powder has leaving and acid ingredients. Baking soda only has leaving ingredient, needs to be combine with acid to work, add to mixture when sugar and shortening are well mix and almost liquified.