Polvorones de Boda Conventuales Poblanos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Two rimmed baking sheets
• •Parchment paper
• •Dry comal or small heavy skillet for the anise seeds
• •Molcajete, spice grinder, or food processor
• •Rolling pin
• •1 1/2-inch round or crescent cookie cutter
• •Puebla talavera platter for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the flour

   Heat the oven to 325F. Spread the flour on a rimmed baking sheet in a thin layer. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, stirring every five minutes, until it smells nutty and turns pale beige. Do not brown it. Toasting dries the flour and takes away the raw taste. That sandy texture is the backbone of a proper polvoron.

   Let the flour cool completely before mixing. Warm flour melts the lard and makes the dough greasy. No me vengas con atajos.
2. 2

   Toast almonds and anise

   Spread the almonds on another baking sheet and toast for 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges smell sweet and lightly roasted. Cool them completely. Toast the anise seeds on a dry comal or small skillet for 30 to 45 seconds, just until fragrant, then crush them in a molcajete or spice grinder. Grind the cooled almonds with 2 tablespoons of the dough sugar until fine, stopping before they turn into almond paste.

3. 3

   Cream the lard

   Beat the manteca de cerdo with the remaining dough sugar for 2 minutes, until smooth and a shade lighter. Do not whip it like cake batter. This is a short dough, not pan dulce. Add the vanilla and aguardiente de anis and beat only until combined. La manteca es el sabor, and in these cookies it is also the structure.

4. 4

   Make the dough

   Whisk together the cooled toasted flour, ground almonds, crushed anise, canela, and salt. Add the dry mixture to the lard in three additions, pressing and folding with a spatula or your hand until the dough clumps when squeezed. Do not knead. Kneading wakes up the gluten and gives you a hard cookie. Press the dough into a disk, wrap it, and chill for 30 minutes.

5. 5

   Cut the cookies

   Line two baking sheets with parchment. Roll the chilled dough between two sheets of parchment to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 1 1/2-inch rounds or small crescents. A wedding polvoron should be two bites, not a plate-sized cookie pretending to be generous. Place them 1 inch apart. If the edges crack, press them back together with your fingers. Reroll scraps once.

6. 6

   Bake until set

   Bake at 325F for 14 to 16 minutes, rotating the pans once. The tops should stay pale and matte, with faint gold on the bottoms. Do not wait for deep browning. These are polvorones, not toasted biscuits. Let them rest on the baking sheet for 8 minutes so the lard-set crumb firms enough to move.

7. 7

   Coat in sugar

   While the cookies are warm but not hot, roll them gently in the powdered sugar for coating. Hot cookies break and turn the sugar pasty. Warm cookies grab it correctly. Move them to a rack, cool completely, then roll them in sugar a second time. The first coat seals the crumb. The second gives the white finish people expect at a boda or baptism.

8. 8

   Rest and serve

   Let the polvorones sit at least two hours before serving, and overnight if you can. The anise settles, the lard firms, and the almond comes forward. Serve them on a Puebla talavera platter with cafe de olla or hot chocolate. No chile belongs here. No lime, no drizzle, no costume. This is Mexican food too. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •Buy fresh manteca de cerdo from a carniceria that sells a lot of it. It should be white, clean-smelling, and soft, not gray or rancid. The shelf-stable hydrogenated brick from the supermarket is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Toast the flour and almonds ahead, but never mix them warm into the lard. Warm ingredients make the dough oily and the cookies spread.
• •Do not replace the almond with peanut and call it the same cookie. Peanut polvorones exist, and they are good, but this Puebla convent version wants almond.
• •No chiles belong in this recipe. Not all Mexican food is chile and lime. The flavor here is anise, canela, almond, wheat, sugar, and lard. Así se hace y punto.

Advance Preparation

• •The flour and almonds can be toasted up to 3 days ahead. Cool completely and store airtight at room temperature.
• •The dough can be refrigerated for 2 days or frozen for 1 month. Let it soften just enough to roll without cracking.
• •Finished polvorones keep in an airtight tin for 1 week. Coat them again in powdered sugar before serving if the first coat has absorbed into the cookie.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 23g)