Polvorones Ticuleños de Hanal Pixán

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting the flour
• •Fine-mesh sifter
• •Two heavy sheet pans lined with parchment
• •Wooden spoon or stand mixer with paddle attachment
• •Tin or wooden box lined with wax paper for storage

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the flour

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium-low. Add the flour and stir constantly with a wooden spoon for about 8 minutes, until the flour turns the color of pale sand and smells faintly nutty. This is the step most recipes outside Yucatán skip. The Ticul panaderas do not skip it. Toasted flour is what gives the polvoron its dry, sandy crumb that crumbles the second it touches your tongue. That is where the name comes from. Polvo. Dust.

   Do not let the flour brown. The moment you smell anything close to burning, pull it off the heat. Pale sand color, not toast.
2. 2

   Cool and sift

   Spread the toasted flour on a sheet pan and let it cool completely to room temperature. Sift it together with the powdered sugar, salt, and canela into a wide bowl. Sifting matters here. Lumps of unsifted flour become hard spots in the cookie.

3. 3

   Cream the manteca

   In a separate bowl, beat the lard with a wooden spoon or a paddle attachment until it is smooth, pale, and the texture of soft frosting. Five minutes by hand, three with a mixer. La manteca es el sabor. No me vengas con atajos. Butter will give you a cookie. Lard gives you a polvoron ticuleño. The two are not the same thing.

4. 4

   Build the dough

   Beat the egg yolk and vanilla into the creamed lard. Add the sifted dry ingredients in three additions, mixing gently with your hands until a soft, sandy dough comes together. The dough should hold when squeezed but crumble at the edges. If it feels too wet, add a tablespoon more flour. If it will not hold, add a teaspoon of lard. Wrap in plastic and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Do not refrigerate. Cold lard cracks when you shape it.

5. 5

   Shape the polvorones

   Heat the oven to 325F. Line two sheet pans with parchment. Pinch off pieces of dough about the size of a walnut, around one heaping tablespoon each. Roll each one between your palms into a smooth ball, then press gently with the heel of your hand to flatten into a thick disc about 1/2 inch high. The Ticul shape is a low round, not a tall ball. Place on the sheet pan with about an inch between them. They do not spread much.

6. 6

   Brush and decorate

   Brush the top of each polvoron lightly with beaten egg white. The egg white is glue, nothing more. Scatter the grageas de colores generously over the top, pressing them in lightly so they stick. The colors matter. Hanal Pixán altars are dressed in color, the marigold orange of cempasuchil, the pink papel picado, the bright candles. The sprinkles are part of that visual language. A plain polvoron is for everyday. A polvoron with grageas is for the dead.

   Use Mexican grageas if you can find them. They are slightly waxier and hold their color in the oven. American sprinkles bleed and fade.
7. 7

   Bake low and gentle

   Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. The polvorones are done when the bottoms are pale gold and the tops are set but still very pale. They should not brown on top. If they color too much, they lose the sandy, melt-in-the-mouth texture that defines them. They will feel soft when they come out. That is correct. They firm as they cool.

8. 8

   Cool completely before moving

   Let the polvorones rest on the sheet pan for at least 20 minutes before lifting them. Warm polvorones break apart in your fingers. Once cool, dust the spaces between the sprinkles with a little more powdered sugar if you want them whiter, the way Ticul panaderias do. Store at room temperature in a tin lined with wax paper. They keep for two weeks and the flavor of the lard and the canela only deepens. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Use real manteca de cerdo, the kind you render yourself or buy from a carniceria, not the shelf-stable industrial version in the baking aisle. The flavor is the entire point of the cookie. A good rendered lard tastes faintly sweet and clean, not soapy or waxy.
• •Toasting the flour is not optional. It removes the raw-flour taste and is what gives the polvoron its signature dry, sandy crumb. Five minutes saves you nothing if it costs you the texture.
• •If you are making these for a Hanal Pixán altar, make them in the morning of October 30 or 31. Yucatecan tradition is that the food on the altar should be made fresh, not days ahead. The souls deserve the first batch.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be made one day ahead and rested at cool room temperature, wrapped tightly in plastic. Do not refrigerate. Cold lard cracks when you try to shape it.
• •Baked polvorones keep at room temperature in a tin for up to two weeks. The flavor of the canela and toasted flour deepens after the first day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 21g)