Biscochitos Recipes

BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Cream the lard with sugar and anise seed on medium speed. In a separate bowl. beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add beaten eggs to creamed mixture. Mix together well, adding wine to form a stiff-like dough, add more wine, if necessary.
• Refrigerate dough overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and let stand for a while, until dough is soft enough to roll. Divide dough in quarters and roll to about 1/16 to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutter and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until bottom of cookie is golden brown. Meanwhile, mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Drop the baked cookies into sugar and cinnamon mixture and set aside to cool.

BISCOCHITOS TRADITIONAL COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl, and set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream together the lard and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth. Mix in the anise seed, and beat until fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time. Add the sifted ingredients and brandy, and stir until well blended.
• On a floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/2 or 1/4 inch thickness, and cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. The traditional is fleur-de-lis. Place cookies onto baking sheets. Mix together the 1/4 cup of sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over the tops of the cookies.
• Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the bottoms are lightly browned.

LAVENDER AND LEMON BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in egg, lavender and lemon zest. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Divide dough in half. Shape each into a disk; cover and refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 1-in. round cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Sprinkle with additional sugar., Bake until bottoms are light brown, 9-11 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Store in airtight containers. Freeze option: Freeze cookies in freezer containers, separating layers with waxed paper. To use, thaw before serving.

BISCOCHITOS II

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Mix together shortening, margarine and sugar with a mixture until well blended. Mix in the rest of the ingredients until smooth.
• Roll out on a floured board to 1/2 or 1/4 inch thickness.
• Cut into desired shapes and place on baking sheets. Bake until golden brown, about 10 - 12 minutes. Garnish as desired or leave plain.

BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix 1 cup sugar and the lard on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat to combine. Add vanilla, Grand Marnier, and zest; beat to combine.
• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually beat flour mixture into sugar mixture on low speed. Beat in anise seeds. On medium, gradually add 2 tablespoons water or more to form a ball. Divide dough in half; shape into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic; chill 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center. Combine cinnamon and remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a small bowl.
• On a floured surface, roll the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut dough into moons, stars, or shapes you like with a 2-inch cutter; lightly sift cinnamon-sugar over each shape. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, 10 to 12 minutes; cookies should be set but not brown. Transfer the cookies and parchment to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining batches.

BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Beat lard in mixer until creamy. Add 2/3 cup sugar, beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and rum and mix until blended. Add the flour, baking powder, anise seed and salt. Beat until a smooth dough is formed.
• Roll dough on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4-inch thickness. Cut the dough into desired shapes. In a shallow bowl, combine cinnamon and remaining sugar. Dredge 1 side of cookie in cinnamon sugar mixture. Place cookie, sugared side up, on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8 to10 minutes or until golden brown, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the cooking time. Allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack.

BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 1 cup sugar and the lard on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat to combine. Add vanilla, liqueur, and zest; beat to combine.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Gradually beat flour mixture into sugar mixture on low speed. Beat in anise seeds. On medium, gradually add the water and mix until dough forms a ball (add more water if necessary). Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in center. Combine cinnamon and remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a small bowl.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut dough into shapes with a 4-inch fleur-de-lis cutter; lightly sift cinnamon-sugar over each shape. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Chill in freezer until dough is very firm, about 15 minutes. Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating halfway through; cookies should be set but not brown. Transfer the cookies and parchment to a wire rack to cool. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

BISCOCHITOS - NEW MEXICO'S STATE COOKIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Sift flour with baking powder and salt.
• In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream lard with sugar and anise seeds until fluffy.
• Beat in egg until incorporated.
• On low speed, add milk and flour mixture to lard mixture until incorporated.
• Turn dough out on lightly floured board, knead gently to form a ball, then press to 1/4 inch thickness.
• Cut into shapes OR roll into balls (~1 inch in size).*.
• Toss shapes in cinnamon and sugar topping.**.
• On greased baking sheets, bake for 13 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees F or until bottoms of cookies are lightly browned. Yield: about 50 small cookies.
• *If you roll them into balls, be sure to press them down slightly with a fork after positioning them onto baking sheets.
• **The easiest way to do this is to put several balls/shapes and the cinnamon and sugar into a small tupperware container. Put the lid on and shake gently.

EASY BIZCOCHITOS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine cookie mix, flour, orange zest and aniseed. Stir in melted butter, egg and vanilla until blended., Divide dough in half. Shape each into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-in. cookie cutter., Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. In a small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over cookies. Bake 6-9 minutes or until edges are light brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

MI TIERRA BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• Put the flour, baking powder, salt, the 1 1/2 cups sugar, and the anise seed in the bowl of an electric mixer and blend at low speed. Add the lard in small batches, increasing the mixer speed to medium until the lard is well incorporated. Reduce the speed to low and add the beaten eggs and the brandy.
• Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.
• When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F. Form the dough into Ping-Pong-ball-sized pieces. Place 12 balls on each of four cookie sheets. Dip a fork in dry flour and press the balls twice to form a crisscross pattern. The resulting cookie should be only about 1/4 inch high. Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges and bottoms are golden brown.
• Remove from the oven. Using a spatula and spoon, drop the baked cookies one by one into the sugar and cinnamon mixture and roll gently to coat. Set aside to cool.

BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• Put the flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of the anise in a large bowl and whisk to blend.
• In a small bowl, cut the butter into pea-sized pieces.
• Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.
• Add the egg yolk, vanilla, and ice water and mix with your fingers just until the dough comes together into a ball.
• Working on a lightly floured surface, take egg-sized pieces of the dough and smear them away from you with the heel of your hand into 6-inch streaks. (This step helps to achieve the layered texture of the authentic cookie without using lard).
• Scrape up all the streaks of dough and pile them on top of one another to form a disk.
• Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
• On a portable (this will be refrigerated again), lightly floured surface, roll the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
• Refrigerate for 30 miutes, or until firm.
• Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375°F.
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or use a non-stick cookie sheet.
• With a cookie cutter, cut out 2 1/2-inch circles (I use stars), and place them on the cookie sheets about 2-inches apart.
• Chill the cookies 10 minutes before baking.
• Reroll the scraps of dough and cut out more cookies, chilling before baking.
• Meanwhile, mix the remaining 1 Tablespoon ground anise and 2 Tablespoon sugar together in a small bowl.
• Sprinkle a thin layer of the sugar mixture over the cookies.
• Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges.
• Cool on the pan on a wire rack.
• May be store at room temperature, well-wrapped, for up to 5 days.