Coyotas de Villa de Seris

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Sturdy rolling pin
• •Box grater or heavy knife for the piloncillo
• •Two parchment-lined sheet pans
• •Fork with sturdy tines for sealing the edges
• •Pastry brush for the egg wash

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the masa

   Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder in a wide bowl. Add the lard in three portions, working it in with your fingertips until the flour looks sandy and pale yellow. The lard has to be at room temperature, soft enough to smear but not melted. La manteca es el sabor and it is also the texture. Cold lard will not blend. Melted lard will make the dough greasy.

   No me vengas con atajos. Butter is not lard. Vegetable shortening is not lard. The flavor of a coyota is the flavor of manteca de cerdo working its way through the dough as it bakes. Use the real thing.
2. 2

   Bring the dough together

   In a small bowl, whisk the warm milk, sugar, and egg yolk until the sugar dissolves. Pour into the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. Turn it out onto a lightly floured table and knead for five minutes. The dough should be soft, smooth, and elastic, the texture of an earlobe. Cover with a clean cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes. The rest is not optional. The gluten needs to relax or you will fight the rolling pin.

3. 3

   Prepare the piloncillo filling

   While the dough rests, grate the piloncillo on the coarse holes of a box grater, or chop it fine with a heavy knife. Piloncillo is hard. It will not blend itself. In a bowl, combine the grated piloncillo with the half cup of flour and the cinnamon. Work it with your fingers until the mixture looks like wet sand. The flour is what holds the piloncillo together when it melts in the oven. Without the flour, the sugar runs out the edges and burns on the pan.

   Do not substitute brown sugar for piloncillo. Piloncillo is unrefined cane sugar with molasses still in it, and the flavor is darker, smokier, more honest. Brown sugar is white sugar with a little molasses sprayed back on. It is not the same. If you cannot find piloncillo, look at a Mexican grocery, not the baking aisle of a supermarket.
4. 4

   Divide and shape

   Divide the rested dough into 24 equal pieces, about the size of a small lime. Roll each piece into a smooth ball between your palms. Cover them with a cloth so they do not dry out while you work. Heat the oven to 375F now. A coyota needs a hot oven to set the masa before the piloncillo melts through.

5. 5

   Roll and fill

   On a lightly floured surface, roll one ball into a thin disc about six inches across, like a small flour tortilla. The disc should be even, no thicker in the middle than at the edges. Mound about three tablespoons of the piloncillo filling in the center, leaving a half-inch border. Roll a second ball into a matching disc and lay it over the top. Press the edges together with your fingertips, then with the tines of a fork, sealing all the way around. The fork marks are the visual signature of the coyota. The senoras in Villa de Seris press them tight so nothing leaks.

   The disc has to be thin. Coyotas are not empanadas. Two thin layers of masa around a generous layer of piloncillo, that is the proportion. If your dough is too thick, the coyota will be heavy and the piloncillo will not melt evenly.
6. 6

   Score and brush

   Transfer the assembled coyotas to a parchment-lined sheet pan, leaving an inch between them. With a sharp paring knife, make two or three small slashes across the top of each one. The slashes let the steam escape and keep the top from doming. Brush each coyota with the egg wash. The wash gives the top that deep golden color the panaderias of Hermosillo are known for.

7. 7

   Bake until golden

   Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. The coyotas are ready when the tops are deep golden brown and you can see dark caramel bubbling through the slashes. The piloncillo has melted into the masa and is doing its work. Pull them out and let them rest on the pan for ten minutes before moving them. The filling is molten sugar and it needs to set, or you will burn your tongue and lose half the filling. Asi se hace y punto.

8. 8

   Cool and serve

   Transfer the coyotas to a wire rack to cool completely. They are best eaten the day they are baked, with a tall glass of cold milk or a cup of cafe de olla. The piloncillo will set into a dense, chewy center as the coyota cools. That texture, the thin crackly masa and the soft caramelized filling, is what the street vendors of Villa de Seris have been selling since long before any of us were born.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the piloncillo at a Mexican grocery, not a supermarket baking aisle. The good piloncillo comes in cone shapes wrapped in plastic and is dark, almost black-brown. Light piloncillo is younger and less concentrated. Both work, but the dark one gives you the flavor of a real coyota.
• •Lard from a Mexican carniceria, sold in tubs and freshly rendered, is what you want. Industrial hydrogenated lard from a supermarket shelf is a compromise. If that is what you can find, use it, but know what you are missing.
• •Coyotas keep at room temperature in a sealed tin for three days. They soften slightly on the second day, which some cooks in Villa de Seris consider an improvement. They do not freeze well. The piloncillo turns gummy.

Advance Preparation

• •The masa can be made up to one day ahead, wrapped tightly in plastic, and refrigerated. Bring it back to room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling.
• •The piloncillo filling can be mixed up to three days ahead and held in a sealed jar at room temperature.
• •Assembled but unbaked coyotas can be held in the refrigerator for up to four hours before baking. Brush with the egg wash just before they go in the oven.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 130g)