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To balance all of the spicy Mexican food I made this week (Fire Roasted Salsa & Chicken and Lime Soup), I needed something sweet. I did a quick google search for “Mexican desserts” and found this little gem of a cookie.
I actually remember having these cookies when I was a child but was always under the impression that they were an Italian cookie… probably because we decided the name was fun to say in an over exaggerated Italian accent while running around the house with our mouths stuffed full of cookies. I think we did that for a straight. My poor mother.
These yummy little crumbly cakes are somewhat similar to pie crust but a little cakier and a little crumblier. They are pretty much balls of butter, flour and sugar flavored with a little bit of cinnamon and vanilla. They crumble when you bite into them then melt on your tongue. What more could you want?
I worked off of this recipe that I found on Allrecipes.com. I needed to add quite a bit more flour to achieve a dough that could be shaped into balls. So, I would suggest starting with 1.5 cups and add 1/4 cup more at a time until the dough is dry enough for you to handle without them melting butter all over you and greasing up your hands.
Polvorones
Polvorones
4.88 from 8 votes
Polvorones are rich, short bread-like cinnamon cookies, also known as Mexican Wedding Cookies.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Let the butter come to room temperature. Combine 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar with the butter. Whip the butter and sugar together until they are well incorporated and have a “creamed” texture (see photos below). You can use a mixer or a good ‘ol fork and some elbow grease. Then stir in the vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, combine the 1.5 cups of flour with 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp of salt. Mix them until the are evenly combined.
Stir the flour mixture into the creamed butter and sugar mixture. If the mix is still too sticky to form into balls with your hands, add more flour, 1/4 cup at a time. I added somewhere between 1/2 to 3/4 cup more after the initial 1.5 cups.
Shape the dough into 24 evenly sized balls (think ping pong balls). Combine the remaining 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon in a bowl and roll each ball in the sugar mixture to coat.
Place the sugar coated dough balls on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees or until they are a light golden brown in color. Let the cookies cool before eating for optimum crumbly texture!
Combine the room temperature butter and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar in a bowl.
Whip them up as best you can with a fork or use a mixer. This is super hard to do with cold butter so let it warm up.
In a separate bowl, combine 1.5 cups of flour, 1/4 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Stir until they are well combined.
Mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture. The result should be a stiff dough. If it is still really soft and too sticky to pick up and make a ball out of, add more flour 1/4 cup at a time until you are able to work with it using your hands. If the butter was really warm to begin with, you can put the bowl in the refrigerator to stiffen it up a bit.
Roll the dough into 24 ping pong sized balls. Mix together 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon and roll the balls in it to coat.
Place the sugar coated balls *cough* on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until they are golden brown.
When they are finished they will be a light golden brown color and the sugar coating will look a little crackled like this. Let them cool before eating!
Italian wedding cookies typically contain almonds or hazelnuts and are flavored with almond extract, vanilla extracts and spices like cinnamon or anise. Mexican wedding cookies, on the other hand, use a combination of ground nuts such as pecans and walnuts, as well as butter, sugar and sometimes chocolate chips.
If the butter is too cold, it won't be soft enough to bind the sugar, flour and nuts, making it crumbly and difficult to work with. Too warm and the dough might be greasy and difficult to roll into balls. Soften the butter to just cooler than room temperature and the dough should be perfect.
A polvorón (From polvo, the Spanish word for powder, or dust) is a type of heavy, soft, and very crumbly Spanish shortbread made of flour, sugar, milk, and nuts (especially almonds).
Food historians have noted that during the Cold War, Russian tea cakes started disappearing from American cookbooks, and wedding cookies began to appear. It could be a coincidence, but no one knows for sure," Parra explains. Most assume the cookie's name is due to its occasional appearance at some Mexican weddings.
For these kinds of receptions, you may want to consider 3-6 cookies per person, especially if you're going for a buffet-style dessert table. Finally, you should consider your guests dietary preferences. More options may be needed if your list includes a wide range of dietary requirements or restrictions.
Brown sugar—particularly dark brown sugar—makes a cookie chewy; white sugar makes it crispy. If your recipe calls for all white sugar and you want a fudgier result, try swapping out some of the white sugar for brown (go for half and half and adjust from there). You can also use honey or molasses for a chewier cookie.
You can store Italian wedding cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. If you stack the cookies, place a piece of parchment paper between each layer to prevent sticking.
Cookies made with butter are usually crispier than chewy cookies made with shortening, but the flavor is richer with butter. So a one-to-one butter swap will work great if you need a shortening substitute for cookies. In cakes and breads, the substitution is rarely noticeable when using shortening vs. butter.
Puerto Rican polvorones are slightly sweet shortbread cookies. Back home, some people call them mantecaditos, but growing up we called them polvorones, which loosely translates to “dust” in Spanish.
Unlike the Spanish polvorones, the polvoron in the Philippines is not baked. We simply toast the flour, add the sifted powdered milk, sugar and melted butter. All the ingredients are mixed in a bowl.
These buttery, nutty cookies are very similar to others worldwide. They are also known as Pecan Balls, Russian Tea Cakes, Snowdrops, Italian Butterballs, Southern Pecan Butterballs, Pecan Sandies, Swedish Tea Cakes, and Viennese Sugar Balls, to name a few.
Although I've tested them for longer and the batches I've tried seem fine for up to 4 weeks, my general rule of thumb is up to 2 weeks. I know they're fine to eat at 4 weeks, but I feel better about giving the cookies away when the recipients don't need to eat them right away.
Here's a much better recipe from The New Complete Book of Mexican Cooking: 1 cup flour; 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar; 1 cup unsalted butter; pinch of salt; 1 cup pecans, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Bakery or homemade cookies can be stored at room temperature two to three weeks or two months in the refrigerator. Cookies retain their quality when stored in the freezer for eight to 12 months.
Our Classic Italian assortment is a great way to sample of our traditional sweets. This tray includes Cranberry Almond Biscotti, Amaretto Biscotti with Almonds, Chocolate Almond Macaroons and Pignoli Cookies.
This tradition requires the groom to stay away from the bride the night before the marriage. Known for their passionate demeanor, Italians require the bride not to see her own reflection too. She can only look into the mirror if she takes off an accessory either an earing, shoe or glove.
Filling: Creamy layers between sponge cake can feature flavours like lemon, chocolate, or strawberries. If you want to make it a little more Italian style, why not consider pistacchio, hazelnut, coffee or event nutella!
Introduction: My name is Greg O'Connell, I am a delightful, colorful, talented, kind, lively, modern, tender person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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Servings 24 cookies
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