Biscochitos are often referred to as Mexican shortbread, and they are very popular around the Christmas holidays. The biscochito dough is flavored with generous amounts of anise and a hint of orange and then covered in cinnamon sugar. Essentially a cross between sugar cookies and Mexican wedding cookies.
Biscochitos are also known as polvorones or pan de polvo, and they are really quite easy to make. My daughter demands the holiday baking to include these cookies, after she fell in love with them on a trip to New Mexico, where biscochitos have garnered the official title of New Mexico’s state cookie!
Jump to: RECIPE | Lard vs Butter | Ingredients | Drink Pairing
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I also earn from qualifying purchases. You can read our disclosure information here–
Lard vs Shortening vs Butter
It is said by many that in order for biscochito recipe to be authentic, you must use lard. While I have no problem with lard, there are many cooks who are averse to lard for a number of reasons.
I have tested them made with lard and with butter and I have included directions for either one in the recipe below. Here are a few of the primary differences between lard, shortening and butter:
- Base ingredient: Lard is made from animal fat, while shortening is made from hydrogenated vegetable oil. Butter is made from milk or cream.
- Flavor: Lard can have a flavor that ranges from mildly porky to neutral, while shortening has no flavor. Butter has a rich flavor and can make cookies chewier. Sometimes lard and butter are used in combination to achieve the best of both flavors and textures.
- Texture: Lard typically works best when deep-frying food, baking flaky pie crusts or making masa dough for tamales. Shortening is an option for vegetarian and vegan bakers, and is a good choice for baked goods with delicate flavors. It is also ideal for making cookies with a softer texture.
- Melting point: Shortening typically melts between 111°F and 122°F (44°C – 50°C), while lard has a melting range of 30-40 °C (86-104 °F) for leaf lard and 43-48 °C (109-118 °F) for back fat lard.
- Health: Lard has less saturated fat than butter, and most of its fat is monounsaturated. Monounsaturated fat is considered healthier than saturated fat.
So the bottom line is that with respect to “flavor”, you can use lard, shortening, or butter and achieve a fairly comparable flavor in these cookies. The texture is where you will see the most difference.
Biscochitos Made with Butter:
Biscochitos Made with Lard:
Ingredients
The following photo shows you all the ingredients you will need for this recipe. For details on measurements, see the recipe below.
Tip: If you are looking for lard in the grocery store it is often in the meat department, whereas shortening is with the oils, and butter is with dairy.
Drink Pairings
I personally like my cookies with a hot robust tea like this raspberry fennel tea or this pu-erh blend.
If you are at a Mexican celebration however, you might be served an atole or a champurrado. These are delicious hot drinks that are classic Mexican libations.
Like this recipe? It helps me out greatly if you leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below and maybe even leave me a quick comment too!
Mexican Shortbread Cookies: Bizcochitos
Equipment
- bowls
- Stand mixer or hand blender
- microplane for orange zesting
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground anise seed can sub in ground star anise
- 2 teaspoons orange zest zest from 1 large orange
- 1 ¼ cups butter can substitute lard or shortening
- ¾ cups sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon brandy can substitute vanilla
- 2 teaspoons anise extract can substitute more anise seed to the dry ingredients
For Sugar-Cinnamon Dusting Powder
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉In a large bowl, whisk together the first 7 ingredients (all the dry ingredients minus the sugar). Set aside.3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 1/2 teaspoon ground anise seed, 2 teaspoons orange zest
- In a stand mixer, add the lard (or butter) and sugar and mix until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the egg, the brandy and the anise extract and mix until combined.Slowly add the flour mixture to the bowl of the stand mixer while mixing over low speed. Mix until just combined.Gather the dough into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.1 1/4 cups butter, 3/4 cups sugar, 1 large egg, 1 tablespoon brandy, 2 teaspoons anise extract
- Lightly flour the surface where you will be rolling out the dough, as well as dusting the rolling pin with flour. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper.Separate the dough into 3 roughly even balls and roll each one out individually to about 1/4-inch thick. Use your favorite cookie cutter to cut out cookies, and gather unused dough pieces into ball and roll out again. Continue until the cookie sheet is full and then bake for 10 minutes (at your previously pre-heated oven of 350℉).Do not overcook. Remove the cookies from oven when edges are just starting to turn golden. For my oven that was 10 minutes.While cookies are baking, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar with 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a fairly large bowl (depending on how big your cut cookies are).
- Remove cookies from oven and sprinkle with the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Cool for 10 minutes and then place the cookies one-by-one in the bowl of sugar-cinnamon mixture and spoon the mix over the cookie. Shake it off a little and place on a plate or wire rack.Repeat this process for all of the cooled cookies.Roll out and cut the dough for the second batch of cookies, bake them 10 minutes and repeat the sugar-cinnamon coating process. Same thing for the 3rd batch.Note: If you have more than one cookie sheet you can prepare the 2nd and 3rd batches of cookies for baking while the 1st batch is cooking.1/2 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Dorothy Stainbrook says: 
Leave a comment