Tabasqueñas de Canela

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl
• •Wooden table or sturdy kneading surface
• •Baking sheets
• •Clean cotton kitchen cloth
• •Wire cooling rack

Instructions

1. 1

   Wake the yeast

   Stir the yeast into the warm milk with one tablespoon of the sugar. Let it stand for 8 to 10 minutes, until foamy. Warm means comfortable on your finger, not hot. If you kill the yeast, the dough will sit there like a stone and that is your fault, not the flour.

2. 2

   Mix the dough

   In a large bowl, whisk the flour, remaining sugar, canela molida, and salt. Rub in the manteca de cerdo with your fingers until the flour looks sandy and smells faintly sweet from the cinnamon. Add the eggs, vanilla, and foamy yeast mixture. Mix until a soft dough forms.

3. 3

   Knead until smooth

   Turn the dough onto a lightly floured table and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. It should become smooth, elastic, and still a little tender under your palms. Do not bury it in flour. The panaderas in Villahermosa keep this dough soft because a dry dough bakes into a hard biscuit. No me vengas con atajos.

   If the dough sticks badly, dust the table with one tablespoon of flour at a time. Too much flour steals the tenderness.
4. 4

   Let it rise

   Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a clean kitchen cloth, and let it rise in a warm corner for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until puffy and nearly doubled. In Tabasco heat, dough moves quickly. In a cold kitchen, it takes its time. Watch the dough, not the clock.

5. 5

   Shape the tabasqueñas

   Punch the dough down gently. Divide it into 18 pieces, about 45 grams each if you use a scale. Roll each piece into a smooth ball, then flatten into a thick round biscuit about 2 1/2 inches wide. Set them on parchment-lined baking sheets with space between them.

6. 6

   Proof again

   Cover the shaped dough with a cloth and let it rest for 25 to 30 minutes, until the rounds look swollen and light. This second rest gives the tabasqueñas their tender crumb. Skip it and you get little cinnamon stones. Así se hace y punto.

7. 7

   Bake gently

   Heat the oven to 350F. Bake the tabasqueñas for 16 to 18 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the bottoms are lightly golden and the tops feel set but not hard. They should smell of canela and vanilla before they take much color. These are not crisp cookies. They are soft panadería biscuits.

8. 8

   Coat with canela

   Stir the coating sugar with the ground canela. Brush the warm tabasqueñas lightly with melted butter, then press the tops into the cinnamon sugar. Let them cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes so the crumb settles. Serve with cafe de olla or black coffee in the afternoon.

Chef Tips

• •Use Mexican canela if you can find it. It is softer, more floral, and easier to grind than the hard cassia sticks sold in many supermarkets. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •The dough should stay soft. If you keep adding flour until it feels dry, you have already lost the tender panadería texture.
• •Manteca de cerdo gives the cleanest crumb. Vegetable shortening makes the biscuit flatter in flavor. Butter works for brushing at the end, but it is not the body of the dough.
• •These are best the day they are baked, but they keep well because the lard protects the crumb. Warm one briefly on a comal the next morning and eat it with coffee.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be mixed, kneaded, covered, and refrigerated overnight after the first rise. Let it sit at room temperature for 45 minutes before shaping.
• •Baked tabasqueñas keep for 3 days in a covered tin or basket lined with a cloth napkin.
• •Freeze the baked biscuits for up to 1 month. Rewarm on a low comal or in a 300F oven until the crumb softens.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 55g)