Tortitas de Santa Clara

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •3 1/4-inch round cutter and 2 1/2-inch cutter for marking the center
• •Rimmed baking sheets lined with parchment
• •Food processor or metate for grinding pepitas
• •Heavy saucepan or small copper cazo for the syrup
• •Wooden spoon
• •Puebla talavera platter for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the pepitas

   The night before, combine the raw hulled pepitas, baking soda, and 4 cups water in a bowl. Cover and let them soak for 8 hours. The baking soda loosens the thin green skin that clings to the seed. This is how you get the pale Puebla filling, not a bright green paste that looks like it belongs somewhere else.

2. 2

   Rub and dry

   Drain the pepitas and rinse them well. Rub them between clean kitchen towels, then pick out the loosened skins. They will not become perfectly white unless you found true pepita blanca from a good vendor, and that is fine. Spread the seeds on a dry towel for 30 minutes so they are no longer wet. Do not toast them. Toasted pepita belongs in moles and pipianes. Santa Clara needs a sweet, clean seed flavor.

   If the pepitas smell oily or rancid, throw them out. Old seeds make a bitter glaze, and sugar will not hide it.
3. 3

   Make the dough

   Whisk the flour, powdered sugar, salt, and baking powder in a wide bowl. Add the manteca de cerdo and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Add the egg yolks and 1/4 cup cold water. Mix just until the dough comes together. If it crumbles dry in your hand, add cold water one tablespoon at a time. Knead three or four times, wrap, and rest for 30 minutes. The lard gives the tortita its sandy break. Butter makes a different cookie. La manteca es el sabor.

4. 4

   Shape the tortitas

   Heat the oven to 350F. Roll the dough on a lightly floured table to 1/8 inch thick. Cut 3 1/4-inch rounds and transfer them to parchment-lined baking sheets. Press a smaller cutter, about 2 1/2 inches, lightly into the center of each round to mark a shallow well without cutting through. Pinch the outer edge gently so it stands a little higher, then prick the center with a fork. That rim is not decoration. It holds the pepita glaze.

   Work the scraps only once. Overworked dough turns tough, and a tough tortita is a waste of good manteca.
5. 5

   Bake the shells

   Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the shells are dry and just pale gold at the edges. Do not chase a brown cookie. A señora on Puebla's Calle de los Dulces once stopped me for this exact mistake: pale, she said, or ya la regaste. She was right. Let the shells cool completely on the pan.

6. 6

   Grind the pepitas

   Put the dried pepitas in a food processor and grind until they look like damp sand. Add the whole milk and blend until you have a thick, smooth paste, scraping the bowl as needed. A metate gives the finest texture. A processor works in a modern kitchen. No me vengas con atajos that change the dish, but a good tool is still a good tool.

7. 7

   Cook the syrup

   Combine the granulated sugar, 1/2 cup water, and canela stick in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a steady boil over medium heat and cook until the syrup reaches 235F, the soft-ball stage, 7 to 9 minutes. If you do not have a thermometer, drop a little syrup into cold water. It should gather into a soft ball between your fingers. Remove and discard the canela.

8. 8

   Finish the glaze

   Lower the heat and stir the pepita-milk paste into the hot syrup. Add the salt and ground anise. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 6 to 8 minutes, until the glaze thickens, turns glossy, and leaves a clean path on the bottom of the pan for two seconds before closing. If it runs like milk, it is not ready. If it turns grainy, the heat was too high. The texture should mound softly on a spoon.

   Sugar work burns badly. Keep children away from the stove for this step, and do not taste the glaze until it has cooled on a spoon.
9. 9

   Fill the shells

   While the glaze is still warm, spoon 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons into the center of each baked shell and spread it to the raised rim. Work steadily. If the glaze stiffens before you finish, loosen it over low heat with a spoonful of warm milk or water. Let the tortitas stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour, until the surface sets into a smooth cap.

10. 10

    Serve on talavera

    Arrange the tortitas on a Puebla talavera platter, slightly overlapping, with one broken open so the sandy base and dense pepita topping show. Serve with cafe de olla, chocolate de agua, or nothing at all. They keep in an airtight tin at room temperature for 3 days. Do not refrigerate them. Cold makes the lard pastry dull. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •At a Puebla market, ask for pepita de calabaza pelada or pepita blanca for dulce. If the vendor hands you salted roasted pepitas, no. Those are for snacking, not for Santa Clara.
• •The pale glaze takes patience. The baking soda soak loosens the skins, but modern hulled pepitas may still leave a beige-green tint. Accept the compromise. Do not add white food coloring. That is a costume.
• •Use manteca de cerdo in the dough. Butter gives a richer flavor but a heavier bite. The traditional tortita needs that dry, sandy break under the teeth, and lard does it properly.
• •The syrup decides the texture. Use a thermometer if you have one. The nuns did not need one because they made these every week; you probably do not. Pride is not a measuring tool.
• •This is a 32-state cuisine. Puebla's sweet kitchen deserves the same respect people give its mole poblano. Sugar work, seed grinding, lard pastry, all of it is technique.

Advance Preparation

• •The pepitas can be soaked, rubbed, dried, and refrigerated in an airtight container up to 2 days ahead.
• •The dough can be made 2 days ahead and kept refrigerated. Let it soften just enough to roll without cracking.
• •The baked shells can be made 1 day ahead and stored airtight at room temperature. Fill them the day you plan to serve for the cleanest texture.
• •Filled tortitas keep for 3 days in an airtight tin at room temperature. Do not refrigerate them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 60g)