Turuletes de Tonalá

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide mixing bowl
• •Rolling pin
• •Sharp knife or pastry wheel for diamond cuts
• •Parchment-lined baking sheets
• •Wire cooling rack

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the dry base

   Whisk the nixtamalized corn flour, all-purpose flour, grated piloncillo, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt in a wide bowl. Break up any hard bits of piloncillo with your fingers. The flour should smell faintly of corn and cane sugar before the fat touches it.

2. 2

   Rub in the lard

   Add the room-temperature manteca de cerdo and rub it into the flour with your fingers until the mixture looks sandy and holds together when squeezed. Do not melt the lard. Melted fat makes a greasy dough. Soft lard coats the corn flour and gives the turulete its firm, tender bite. La manteca es el sabor.

3. 3

   Bind the dough

   Beat the eggs with the milk, then pour them into the flour mixture. Work the dough by hand until it comes together into a smooth, slightly firm mass. If it cracks badly, add milk one teaspoon at a time. Do not make it sticky. This is a cookie from Tonalá, not cake batter.

4. 4

   Rest the masa

   Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let the dough rest for 15 minutes. The nixtamal flour needs time to drink in the liquid. Skip the rest and the dough fights you when you roll it. No me vengas con atajos.

5. 5

   Roll and cut

   Heat the oven to 350F. Roll the dough on a lightly floured board to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut it into diamonds, about 2 inches long, the way the Tonalá bakers stack them in baskets at the market. Move them to parchment-lined baking sheets. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if using and press them lightly so they stay put.

6. 6

   Bake until firm

   Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the pans once, until the edges are lightly browned and the tops look dry and matte. They should feel firm when lifted, not soft like a wheat cookie. In a wood-fired horno the bottoms take color faster, so the women who make these watch the underside first. Learn that habit.

7. 7

   Cool completely

   Let the turuletes cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then move them to a rack. They crisp as they cool. Eat them with coffee, atole, or a jícara of pozol de cacao. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Use fresh nixtamalized corn flour, not coarse cornmeal. Cornmeal gives grit. Masa harina gives the right corn flavor and structure.
• •Manteca de cerdo is correct here. Butter makes a different cookie, sweeter and softer, and it loses the market-bakery character. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Grate the piloncillo finely. Big chunks melt unevenly and leave hard sugar pockets. If your piloncillo is too hard, shave it with a sturdy knife or tap it into pieces before grating.
• •These are better the next day. The corn flavor settles and the cookie firms. That is why they work as market cookies.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can rest covered in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before rolling.
• •Baked turuletes keep for one week in a sealed tin or glass jar. Do not refrigerate them, the texture goes dull.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 18g)