Little Cookies from Guatemala: Polvorosas

I had never made Polvorosas before today. I lived in Guatemala for 12 years and loved these little cookies so very much, but never had a recipe to make them. It makes me wonder why? But, it's never too late to start, I say.

Polvorosas get their name from the root word, "Polvo", meaning dust or powder. They are little shortbread cookies dipped in confectioners' sugar. One bite and the crumbs and powder go everywhere. Hence the name. Similar cookies are known as Mexican Wedding Cakes. I love the apt name of Polvorosas better. 

Polvorosas

I was thinking about these little cookies as I have been working through various Guatemalan recipes lately. I have been eating black beans like no tomorrow, and I made Rellenitos de Platano, or plantains with a black bean filling last week. I made enchiladas; no resemblance at all to what we know in the U.S. as an enchilada. Another thing on the agenda before I am over this Guatemalan food kick is Empanadas de Manjar. Many have heard of Empanadas as a meat filled pastry, but the ones I ate in Guatemala were a little orangey colored pastry filled with a cornstarch pudding. Delicious. I haven't made them for probably 30 years. I am craving my little antojitos (snacks, or cravings). 

packing into mini muffin tins

Back to the Polvorosas. I know from many years of baking that they are a shortbread cookie. Shortbread, if any of you are unfamiliar, is a dough made with no eggs. Often it is a simple, basic three ingredients: flour, butter or shortening and sugar. I chose to go with a little cornstarch to lighten the flour a bit, and I used a combination of butter and shortening; butter for the flavor, and shortening for stability. The next thing I wondered was how to get the right shape? These cookies are always about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and about 1/2 inch high. Making shortbread stick together in any shape is not easy. Then a had a flash of brilliance! Mini muffin tins.

unmolded from mini muffin tin

I took the "dough", more like a bowl of crumbs, and packed some into a mini muffin cup. Just one, to try out my theory. I pressed it in well, then turned over the tin, holding it from the opposite end and sharply rapped the tin down onto the cutting board. I lifted the tin, and there was the little formed cookie, pretty as you please. Okay, that worked. I continued on, using one row of 4 mini cups at a time, then turning it over and rapping sharply to get them out. Worked like a charm. 

Making these, I started out using pounds and ounces to measure the ingredients, though I translated that over to cups. Pounds and ounces is a more accurate measurement, of course. Here is my recipe.

Polvorosas

Makes 35 to 40 cookies

8 ounces all-purpose flour (1½ cups)
4 ounces cornstarch (¾ cup)
9 ounces sugar (1 cup)
5 ounces butter, room temperature (10 tablespoons)
4 ounces shortening, room temperature (8 tablespoons)

Place granulated sugar into a food processor or blender to make it very fine. Cream the butter and shortening, then add the sugar and cream well.

In another bowl, sift or whisk together the flour and cornstarch. With a wooden spoon mix the flour and cornstarch mixture into the creamed mixture, with a pinch of salt. This will never be a cohesive dough like other cookies, but crumbs that can be pressed together.

Using a mini muffin tin, pack the crumbs into the little wells, then turn the muffin tin over, holding from the opposite side. Rap sharply down onto counter or cutting board to release the cookies. You may try to make other forms out of this mixture, but the mini muffin tin idea worked really well.

Gently place cookie forms onto a baking sheet. Bake these in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Dredge in confectioners' sugar while still hot from the oven.





My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Russian Tea Cakes to Pistachio Tea Cookies

I am making cookies. 

Slowly. 

Pistachio Tea Cookies

A couple of days ago I made Russian Tea Cakes (aka Snowballs, Mexican Wedding Cakes), which are high on my favorites list. I love walnuts, and have always made them with walnuts. I love shortbread and shortbread type cookies too, so these are a hit for me, no matter how you look at them. My whole family is crazy about these cookies, so it is no surprise they turn up on the list each year.

I saw somewhere on the internet that these cookies have been made in variations. One was using pistachio and green tea powder. Another I saw was a chocolate version. I just happened to have both pistachios and green tea powder, so I took my original recipe and played with ingredients and came up with my own version, called Pistachio Tea Cookies. They turned out just delicious, even making a contender for first place in my cookie-loving heart.

A caveat about the Matcha green tea powder. Not all the Match sold is equal, not by a long shot. The better the quality, the brighter and denser the green of the powder. My first experience in buying Matcha was with no knowledge, and I bought a cheaper brand. It was very pale green, so light that it was difficult to get a real green color in these cookies. I used a full ¼ cup of the Matcha powder and it yielded a pale green cookie. Even the little bits of pistachio in the cookie were more noticeably green. If using a higher quality Matcha powder, you might need far less of it in these cookies. 

Pistachio Tea Cookies

Pistachio Tea Cookies

makes about 7 1/2 dozen cookies 

2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon pistachio flavoring
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/4 cups flour
2 - 4 tablespoons matcha green tea powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups unsalted raw pistachios, finely ground

Cream together the butter, confectioners' sugar and flavorings.  If pistachio flavor is not available, use either all almond, or half almond and half vanilla extracts. Using a pastry cutter, cut into the creamed mixture the flour, matcha green tea powder and salt.  Add in the nuts and blend well. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Form small balls about 1 inch in diameter and place on ungreased cookie sheets to bake for 14 - 16 minutes or until just set but not browned.

ready to bake

I found this dough worked really well with no need to chill it before making the cookies. I used a small cookie scoop 1¼ inch in diameter and packed the dough into the little scoop and dropped the cookies this way onto the cookie sheet. They were so cute! The scoop holds just over 2 teaspoons of dough, and these are just the perfect size.  Using one of these scoops makes cookies a real snap.  I would recommend that everyone invest in at least a couple of these smaller sizes.



My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook and Pinterest.

Easy Cookie Making: My Busy-Mom-Method

Simple Vanilla Cookies Sliced, using Busy Mom Method

Back when I was rearing my 4 children, I really had to use my time wisely. One day, I wanted to make cookies, but was in a rush, so I got this bright idea.  Why not just roll out the cookie dough onto the entire cookie sheet and bake it in one piece? Would that work?

I tried this out with a recipe for Simple Vanilla Cookies and it worked great!  Since the part I like least about making cookies is all the little individual scoops, then baking on separate sheets, waiting for one batch to be done, baking the next, and so on, not to mention all the counter space taken up with cooling cookies, this bright idea seemed exceptionally useful. I greased the cookie sheet and patted the dough out into a rough rectangle. The dough needs to be floured lightly, in order to be able to use the rolling pin. I rolled carefully, coaxing the dough to the edges and the corners. The dough is forgiving, and can be pushed around quite a bit. The sheet was popped into the oven to bake.

Simple Vanilla Cookies in cookie form

I quickly made up a small batch of simple icing by mixing up some confectioners' sugar with a pinch of salt, some vanilla and water enough to make a thick paste that fell very slowly from the spoon.  When the giant "cookie" came out of the oven, I quickly poured the icing onto the hot cookie. The icing melts onto the hot cookie, making it easy to spread carefully to all the edges, and in minutes the top had set. I used a large chef's knife and cut the giant cookie into small squares - and voila!  I had cookies in half the time and almost no work!

I have used this method for a few types of cookies and it works well.  It may not work for all cookies, and I have tried with only a few, but since these were some of the easiest to make, these recipes were the ones I made most often.  These Simple Vanilla Cookies were top of the list, but I also would make others like Hermits, redolent with warm spices, and ice them the same way.  Just that thin layer of icing, and what a difference.

Try this out sometime when in a rush, and see if it doesn't come out easily.  Just see what you think!

Simple Vanilla Cookies

Makes about 7 dozen

1 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup shortening or lard
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2¾ cups all-purpose flour

Cream butter, shortening and sugar. Add vanilla and salt. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in flour, mixing well. Drop from a teaspoon 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove immediately from pan.

If you like an iced cookie: make a glaze icing by mixing 1½ cups of confectioners' sugar, with ½ teaspoon vanilla and enough water (or milk) to make a paste, like very soft peanut butter. Add water by tiny amounts, starting with a tablespoon and adding in small bits thereafter. It gets runny very easily. Stir well each time before adding more water. Take each cookie and dip the top into the glaze and set aside to dry.

NOTES: Just for anecdotal trivia...

When I was in Guatemala, one morning I made a batch of these cookies. I popped the last pan in the oven, and set the timer. Itching to get outside for a bit, I stepped out to see what the children were doing. . . and got distracted. By the time I remembered the cookies they had baked and shrunken down to tiny little black hockey pucks - not even the dogs had any interest in them! It pays not to get distracted when baking. 


My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook and Pinterest.