Tortitas de Santa Clara Poblanas

Puebla owns these tortitas. Not the whole country. Puebla. They live in the historic center, around the old convent streets where talavera tiles catch the light and dulcerias stack boxes of camotes, muéganos, borrachitos, and these pale round cookies with their green pepita crown.

The base is wheat flour and manteca de cerdo. Yes, lard. La manteca es el sabor, even in sweets. It gives the cookie that sandy, tender bite that vegetable shortening tries to imitate and never quite manages. The topping is pepita molida, ground hulled pumpkin seed, sweetened with piloncillo or sugar syrup until it sets into a soft matte glaze. No chile. No lime. Not all Mexican food is hot, and Puebla knows how to be serious about sugar.

I first learned these from a señora near Calle 6 Oriente who sold sweets by weight and corrected my dough before I even asked. Too wet, she said. Tortitas de Santa Clara need a dough that obeys the hand, not one that clings to it. She was right. You press a shallow well in each cookie, bake it pale, then fill it after. Recetas probadas y garantizadas. Cada estado, su propia cocina.