Polvorones Recipe

Frank surprised me with this book, My Sweet Mexico, for my birthday. I had seen it in San Fransisco and told him about it. I love the theme, the layout and photos, and was sold when I saw the Polvorone recipe. I became obsessed with Polvorones earlier this year and couldn't find a recipe anywhere. The ones that we buy at the local Mexican bakeries are crumbly and not too sweet and go great with afternoon coffee. I was glad to see that the recipe in this book did not call for lard, but used butter instead. I new that this recipe would be the first one that I tried out from the book.

Here are a few of the many other desserts that I want to try out in this book.

Mexican Opera Cake

Impossible Flan

Tres Leches Cake

The Polvorone recipe calls for making clarified butter, something I had never done before. Once you make it and strain it, you add the sugar and let it cool.

You then whip this mixture.

The only other ingredients are Flour, Almond Flour (ground Almonds) and Vanilla. This all comes together into a very crumbly dough.

The recipe has you roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter. I couldn't get the dough to hold together so I just formed the cookies by hand, patting them down and around the edges to press the dough together.

The final result is a very crumbly, but melt in your mouth cookie. These have a finer crumb than the ones we had purchased. The recipe calls for superfine sugar, but I think I might try it with regular sugar to see what the difference would be. They are really yummy and perfect with my afternoon cappuccino!

Polvorones/ Mexican Wedding Cookies

1 1/2 Cups unsalted butter
1 Cup superfine sugar
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Cup Almond flour
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Sifted confectioners sugar for dusting (I skipped this step)

To clarify the butter, cut into pieces and melt in a saucepan over low heat. Skim off any foam and discard. Turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes or so, until the remaining milk solids sink to the bottom. Gently strain the butter, making sure not to include the solids.
Measure 1 Cup.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a bowl, combine the warm butter with the sugar and refrigerate until it solidifies, about 30 minutes. Remove from the fridge and whip until thickened. Stir in all-purpose flour gradually, using a spoon to spatula, then add the almond flour and vanilla and combine. Knead, still in the bowl, with the palm of your hand until it starts to come together.

This is where I departed from the recipe and formed the cookies individually by hand. I made them pretty large and ended up with 1 dozen cookies. The recipe calls for making 2 dozen and I will probably make them smaller next time.

Bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (I used silpat) for 10 to 12 minutes (my larger cookies too 15 minutes and I rotated the pans halfway through). They are ready when the edges just start to turn color, the tops will still be pale.
I skipped the last step of dusting with powdered sugar, but I might sprinkle with regular sugar next time or add it before baking. They are definitely great with out it though.

Allow to cool and enjoy over a plate or napkin, unless you want to make a big mess of crumbs!