Besitos Yucatecos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Stand mixer with paddle attachment
• •Fine-mesh sifter
• •Two heavy rimmed baking sheets
• •Parchment paper
• •Small offset spatula or thin metal spatula
• •Pastry bag with plain round tip (optional)

Instructions

1. 1

   Separate and warm the yolks

   Separate eight eggs and save the whites for something else. The bakeries in Mérida that make besitos by the kilo end up with bowls of whites that become merengues or suspiros the same afternoon. Nothing is wasted. Let the yolks come fully to room temperature. Cold yolks will not emulsify properly with the fat and you will fight the dough the entire time.

   Save your whites covered in the refrigerator. They keep three days and become merengues yucatecos with the same vanilla and orange blossom that go into this dough.
2. 2

   Cream the fats

   In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the softened butter, the lard, and the sifted powdered sugar. Beat on medium for four to five minutes until the mixture is pale, fluffy, and almost white. The lard is not optional. La manteca es el sabor and it is also the texture. Butter alone gives you a French sable. Lard alone gives you a shortbread. The two together give you a besito that holds its shape on the tray and then collapses on the tongue. Así se hace y punto.

3. 3

   Add the yolks one at a time

   With the mixer on medium-low, add the yolks one at a time, beating fully between each addition. Take your time. Eight yolks is a lot of fat and protein to bring into one emulsion and if you dump them in at once the batter will break and look curdled. Scrape down the sides of the bowl twice during this process. When all the yolks are in, the mixture should look like pale yellow silk.

4. 4

   Perfume the dough

   Add the vanilla extract, the orange blossom water, and the salt. Mix on low until just combined. The orange blossom is the signature of Yucatán's old bakery tradition. It is what makes these besitos taste yucateco and not generically Mexican. Do not skip it. If you cannot find agua de azahar at your local mercado or Middle Eastern grocer, the cookie is still good without it. But it is not a besito yucateco anymore.

   Good Mexican vanilla from Papantla in Veracruz is dark, slightly smoky, and has a long finish. The clear imitation vanilla from the supermarket is sugar water with a chemical. No me vengas con atajos on this one.
5. 5

   Fold in the flour and cornstarch

   Sift the flour and cornstarch together a second time directly into the bowl. Mix on the lowest speed only until no dry flour remains. Stop the moment the dough comes together. Overworking develops gluten and gluten is the enemy of a besito. You want a soft, pliable dough that holds a fingerprint when you press it. If it feels stiff, your butter was too cold. If it feels greasy, it is too warm. Wrap it in plastic and rest it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

6. 6

   Shape the kisses

   Preheat the oven to 325F (165C). Line two heavy baking sheets with parchment. Pinch off pieces of dough about the size of a small marble, roughly 10 grams each. Roll each one between your palms into a smooth ball and place on the parchment with one inch between them. They do not spread much. The cookies should be small. Besitos are kisses, not cake slices. A proper one fits whole in your mouth.

   The bakers on Calle 62 in Mérida shape these in seconds with a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip, piping small domes onto the tray. If you have a steady hand and a piping bag, do it that way. It is faster and the rounds come out identical.
7. 7

   Bake pale, not golden

   Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. The bottoms should be barely tan and the tops should stay pale, almost white. This is the part most cooks get wrong. Besitos yucatecos are not supposed to brown. The moment they take color, they cross from kiss to cookie and the texture turns crumbly instead of melting. Pull them when the edges look set but the tops still look raw. They finish setting on the tray.

8. 8

   Cool completely on the tray

   Do not touch them for at least 15 minutes. Hot besitos fall apart at a glance. As they cool, the fat in the dough firms up and the cookie holds together. Once they are fully at room temperature, lift them gently with a thin spatula. If one breaks, eat it. The baker's tax.

9. 9

   Sandwich with guava

   Warm the guava paste in a small saucepan over low heat with a teaspoon of water, stirring until it loosens into a thick spreadable jam. Let it cool until it is soft but no longer hot. Spread about a quarter teaspoon on the flat side of one cookie and press a second cookie gently on top. The pair should hold but not squish. The guava is traditional in many Mérida bakeries, though some serve the cookies unfilled, dusted only with sugar. Both are correct. Both are besitos.

   If you want the unfilled version, skip the guava entirely and dust the cookies generously with powdered sugar while they are still slightly warm. This is the convent-style version, plain, pale, and pure.
10. 10

    Dust and rest

    Dust the finished sandwiched cookies heavily with sifted powdered sugar. Let them sit at room temperature for at least two hours before serving. The dough relaxes, the guava sets, and the powdered sugar settles into the cracks. A fresh besito is good. A besito that has rested overnight is what the Mérida bakeries sell. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Use Mexican vanilla, not the supermarket clear imitation. Papantla in Veracruz produces some of the best vanilla in the world and it costs more for a reason. A small bottle lasts a year and the difference between real vanilla and imitation is the difference between a besito and a sugar cookie.
• •The lard matters. Manteca de cerdo from a Mexican carniceria, not the shelf-stable hydrogenated brick from the supermarket. Real lard tastes clean and gives the cookie the melt-in-your-mouth quality that pure butter cannot replicate on its own. If you must use all butter, accept that the result will be denser and less yucateco.
• •Orange blossom water (agua de azahar) is sold at Middle Eastern grocers, at well-stocked Mexican mercados in the south of the country, and online. If you live in a place without easy access, order a bottle. It lasts indefinitely and you will use it in the polvorones, the suspiros, and the rosca de reyes too.
• •The eight egg whites left over are not a problem. They are a gift. Whip them with sugar and a few drops of the same orange blossom water for merengues yucatecos. Or fold them into a sponge cake. Or freeze them in an ice cube tray for the next round of besitos. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado, they will tell you the same.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be made one day ahead, wrapped tightly in plastic, and refrigerated. Let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before shaping or it will crack.
• •Baked but unfilled besitos keep in an airtight tin at room temperature for up to one week and the texture actually improves after the first 24 hours.
• •Sandwiched besitos with guava are best within three days. The guava softens the cookie over time, which is its own pleasure but a different texture from the day they are filled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 56g)