Turuletes Chiapanecos y Tabasqueños

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small saucepan for piloncillo syrup
• •Wide mixing bowl
• •Wooden rolling pin
• •Sharp knife or pastry wheel
• •Two heavy baking sheets

Instructions

1. 1

   Make piloncillo syrup

   Put the piloncillo, water, and canela stick in a small saucepan. Set over medium heat and stir until the piloncillo dissolves into a dark syrup, 5 to 7 minutes. Let it bubble gently for 2 minutes, then remove the canela and cool until warm, not hot. Hot syrup melts the lard too fast and makes greasy dough. Warm syrup works cleanly.

2. 2

   Mix dry ingredients

   In a wide bowl, whisk the masa harina, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and ground canela. Use your hand to break any lumps in the masa harina. The dough should taste first of corn, then piloncillo. If wheat takes over, you are making another cookie.

3. 3

   Work in manteca

   Add the manteca de cerdo to the dry mixture and rub it in with your fingertips until the bowl looks like damp sand. Do not rush this. The fat has to coat the corn flour so the turulete bakes tender and crumbly instead of hard. La manteca es el sabor, and here it is also the texture.

   Use fresh, clean-tasting lard from a butcher or Mexican market. Old lard tastes stale and will ruin a plain cookie like this. There is nowhere for bad fat to hide.
4. 4

   Form the dough

   Beat the egg, orange juice, vanilla, and warm piloncillo syrup together in a small bowl. Pour into the masa mixture and knead with one hand until a soft dough forms. If it crumbles and refuses to hold, add warm water one tablespoon at a time. Stop when the dough feels like soft clay and no dry streaks remain. It should not be sticky.

5. 5

   Rest the masa

   Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. Masa harina needs time to drink. If you roll it immediately, the edges crack and the center bakes gritty. The señoras who sell these in the plaza know this without measuring a thing. You are going to learn it by waiting.

6. 6

   Roll and cut

   Heat the oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or lightly grease them with manteca. Dust the table with masa harina and roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/3 inch thick. Cut diagonal strips one way, then diagonal strips the other way, making diamonds about 2 inches long. Move them with a thin spatula so the points stay sharp.

7. 7

   Bake until firm

   Arrange the diamonds 1 inch apart on the prepared sheets. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the bottoms are lightly golden and the edges feel firm when tapped. The tops should stay pale beige with small golden freckles from the piloncillo. Do not bake them dark. A turulete should snap at the edge and crumble in the middle.

8. 8

   Cool completely

   Let the turuletes cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then move them to a rack. They firm as they cool, so don't judge them hot. Serve with café de olla, chocolate de agua, or a plain cup of coffee. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Fresh nixtamal masa gives the deepest corn flavor, but it contains more moisture than masa harina. If you use fresh masa from a tortillería, use 2 1/2 cups fresh masa, reduce the orange juice to 2 tablespoons, and add only enough flour to make a rollable dough. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Piloncillo should smell like cane, minerals, and caramel. If it smells dusty, it has been sitting too long. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado. They know which vendor sells the fresh cones.
• •Do not replace manteca de cerdo with butter and expect the same cookie. Butter adds water and milk solids. Manteca gives the dry, sandy crumb that belongs to these southern market sweets.
• •For a more Tabasco-leaning batch, make the piloncillo syrup a little darker and add 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest. For a firmer Chiapas-style market cookie, bake the full 22 minutes and let them dry overnight before serving.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be made one day ahead, wrapped tightly, and refrigerated. Let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling so the manteca softens.
• •Baked turuletes keep for 5 to 7 days in a covered tin or clay jar. They are better the second day, when the piloncillo and corn settle into each other.
• •The piloncillo syrup can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept refrigerated. Warm it gently before mixing so it folds into the dough evenly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 22g)