Hojarascas Conventuales de Anís

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small saucepan for the anise-cinnamon infusion
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Stand mixer or sturdy wooden spoon
• •Rolling pin and 1 1/2 to 2 inch cookie cutter
• •Two parchment-lined sheet pans

Instructions

1. 1

   Steep the anise

   Put the anise seed, cinnamon stick, and water in a small saucepan. Bring just to a simmer, cover, turn off the heat, and let it steep for 15 minutes. Strain and cool completely. The liquid should smell sweet, sharp, and clean, not medicinal. This is the perfume of the cookie, so do not replace whole anise seed with star anise. They are not the same thing.

2. 2

   Mix the dry base

   Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl for a full 30 seconds. The baking powder must be evenly scattered through the flour or you will get bitter little pockets in the cookie. Convent baking looks plain until you understand how exact it is.

3. 3

   Cream the lard

   Beat the manteca de cerdo in a mixer bowl or with a wooden spoon until it looks lighter and satin-smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the 1/2 cup sugar and beat until the mixture is pale and soft. La manteca es el sabor. Butter will give you a different cookie, and shortening will give you a dull one.

4. 4

   Form the dough

   Beat in the egg yolk. Add the flour mixture in two additions, sprinkling in 3 tablespoons of the cooled anise-cinnamon infusion as you mix. Stop when the dough gathers into soft clumps. Pinch a piece between your fingers: it should hold together without feeling sticky. If it crumbles into dry sand, add more infusion 1 teaspoon at a time. Do not knead it like bread. You want a tender, sandy crumb.

   If the dough looks greasy, your lard was too warm. Chill the bowl for 10 minutes, then continue. Good hojarascas are crumbly, not oily.
5. 5

   Chill the dough

   Divide the dough in half, pat each half into a disk, wrap well, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 325F. Line two sheet pans with parchment. The short rest lets the flour drink in the anise tea and firms the lard enough for clean cutting.

6. 6

   Roll and cut

   Dust the table lightly with flour. Roll one disk at a time to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with a 1 1/2 to 2 inch round or fluted cutter and set the cookies 1 inch apart on the sheet pans. Gather scraps gently and reroll once. If the edges crack badly, wait 5 minutes. Cold lard fractures. A patient cook learns that before ruining the dough.

7. 7

   Bake until pale

   Bake 14 to 16 minutes, rotating the pans once, until the cookies are set and the bottoms are barely golden. The tops should stay pale. If they brown like galletas comerciales, you went too far. Hojarascas take their name from dry leaves, and the bite should crumble cleanly under your teeth.

8. 8

   Coat with canela

   While the cookies bake, stir the 3/4 cup sugar with the ground canela in a shallow bowl. Let the baked cookies rest on the pan for 5 minutes, then roll them gently in the cinnamon sugar while still warm enough for the coating to cling. Move them to a rack and cool completely. They are fragile at first. Handle them like you paid for the flour yourself.

Chef Tips

• •Buy fresh manteca de cerdo from a carnicería or a serious Mexican market. It should be ivory-white and smell clean. If it smells stale, your cookies will taste stale. The fat is half the recipe.
• •Use whole anise seed, anís verde, not star anise. Star anise is stronger, darker, and wrong for this cookie. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado if the spice bin is not labeled.
• •Mexican canela is usually Ceylon cinnamon, thin and brittle, not the hard cassia sticks sold in many supermarkets. It grinds finer and gives a softer perfume. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •These cookies are meant to be pale. Do not chase deep color. Their character is crumb, scent, and the cinnamon sugar that catches in the cracks.

Advance Preparation

• •The anise-cinnamon infusion can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Bring it back to room temperature before mixing the dough.
• •The dough can be made 24 hours ahead. Let it sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before rolling so the lard softens enough to work cleanly.
• •Baked hojarascas keep 10 days in an airtight tin with parchment between layers. They are better on the second day, once the anise and canela settle into the crumb.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 22g)