At Christmas time in Spain you are able to find all kinds of treats that are not available the rest of the year. In the grocery stories you see whole new sections and most of the items resemble nothing from home. A favorite Christmas treat is a shortbread-like cookie called polvorón. In Spanish, polvorón literally
means powder cake. They are made using finely ground almonds, Iberico
shortening (originally pig fat), sugar and not much else, so they literally crumble in your mouth!
The result is a sweet, slightly crunchy treat.
Polvorones
- Time 25 minutes
- Serves 16
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose Flour
- 3/4 cup almonds (raw)
- 1 cup good quality lard
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup powder sugar (optional)
How to make it
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Measure and pour flour out onto a cookie sheet. Place in oven and "toast" the flour. Occasionally move the flour around on the sheet, so that it toasts evenly. Leave in oven for about 8 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- Place raw almonds on another cookie sheet. Toast the almonds until they change color just slightly. Remove and place almonds into a food processor. Process almonds until they are finely ground.
- Cream lard, sugar and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour and finely ground almonds and continue mixing. The dough will be very crumbly!.
- Place a sheet of waxed paper on a cutting board or other flat work surface. Press the dough together to form a ball. Then press the dough onto the waxed paper. Carefully flatten it down to about 1/2 inch. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the cookies.
- Use a small spatula to carefully move the cookies from the waxed paper to a cookie sheet for baking because the dough is very dry and flaky.
- Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet for 25-30 minutes at 400ºF.
- Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow cookies to cool completely before removing them. Take special care not to break them.
- Dust with powder sugar when ready to serve.
- Makes approximately 16 cookies.
At Christmas time in Spain you are able to find all kinds of treats that are not available the rest of the year. In the grocery stories you see whole new sections and most of the items resemble nothing from home. A favorite Christmas treat is a shortbread-like cookie called polvorón. In Spanish, polvorón literally
means powder cake. They are made using finely ground almonds, Iberico
shortening (originally pig fat), sugar and not much else, so they literally crumble in your mouth!
The result is a sweet, slightly crunchy treat.
have you tried to make them yet??
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing how to make polvoron. We actually specialize in polvoron-making, available in 7 flavors: Butter, Cappuccino, Chocolate, Choco Nut, Cookies & Cream, Pinipig and Ube Crunch. Polvoron is really a favorite pasalubong gift to overseas family and friends. =)
ReplyDeleteGood thing you've mentioned to preheat the oven because in some recipes of polvoron, they immediately wrap the mold without putting in the oven that's why it ends up powdery. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHAPPY NEW YEAR! =)