Polvoron Recipes

FILIPINO POLVORON

Steps:

• Toast the flour in a non-stick skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning, until it turns light brown, about 5 minutes. Let cool, at least 15 minutes.
• Cut waxed paper into twenty 4-inch squares.
• Stir butter, sugar, powdered milk, and lemon extract into the flour. Mix well. Fill a polvoron mold tightly with a portion of the mixture. Press the plunger down to release the candy onto a square of waxed paper. Wrap candy in the waxed paper and twist the ends. Repeat until all of the candy mixture is used up.

POLVORONES (MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES)

Steps:

• Put 1/2 cup of the walnuts and the salt in a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Roughly chop the remaining 1 cup walnuts.
• Position two oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.
• Beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the granulated sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the flour, then the ground and chopped walnuts. Divide the dough in half, forming each half into a ball. Wrap separately in plastic and chill until cold, about 30 minutes.
• Put the confectioners' sugar in a large bowl.
• Working with half of the chilled dough at a time and keeping the rest in the fridge, roll the dough by 2 teaspoonfuls between your palms into balls. Arrange the balls on a large baking sheet, spacing them 1/2 inch apart.
• Bake the cookies until golden brown on the bottom and just pale golden on top, about 18 minutes. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Toss the warm cookies in the powdered sugar. Transfer the sugar-coated cookies to a rack to cool completely. The cookies can be prepared up to 2 days ahead. Once cooled, store them in an airtight container. You need to make sure they are cooled before storing them, otherwise they will get soggy. Sift additional powdered sugar and cinnamon over the cookies if desired before serving.

POLVORON WITH CASHEWS (FILIPINO SHORTBREAD)

Steps:

• If you want to make it with cashews: If you haven't done so already, crush the cashews. I like to crush it to the point where about half of it is almost powder and the rest is in small pieces. Over medium heat, melt a sliver of butter and toast the crushed cashews stirring occasionally until golden brown.
• Using a large skillet, toast the flour over medium to low heat. You want to make sure that you are stirring it continuously to avoid burning. Be patient! This can take up to 20-30 minutes. Just continue until the flour is tan/beige in color. Once toasted, remove from heat and allow it to cool completely.
• Sift cooled toasted flour with the pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl.
• In another large mixing bowl, sift together the powdered milk and the sugar.
• Add the flour mixture into the powdered milk/sugar mixture and stir well.
• Once combined, sift all the ingredients together back into the other large bowl (the one that previously held the flour).
• Pour in the melted butter into the mixture and stir well. The texture will be like lightly damp sand.
• If you have a molder, simply fill the mold with the mixture and press firmly with the back of a spoon. Release the shaped polvoron and set aside and repeat.
• If you don't have a molder (like me), use a mini cupcake pan:.
• Fill the mini cupcake pan with the mixture and press with the back of a spoon. If you want a completely flat surface on top, you can use the cap of a bottle. Once all cupcake holes are filled, place a tray (or a cutting board) big enough to cover the whole tray and carefully flip it over. The result will be perfectly shaped biscuits. If it doesn't come out, you can try using a meat pounder and lightly hit the tray when it's flipped over.
• Once you have molded all of the Polvorons, stack and store into an airtight container. Freeze for a couple of hours and remove.
• If you want to, wrap each Polvoron individually with the cellophane paper.