Biscochitos (New Mexican Biscuits)
This biscuit is the traditional biscuit of New Mexico in the US. It's quite a simple but flavourful biscuit that is traditionally cut as a fleur-de-lis, but use your favourite biscuit cutters or simply a glass!
Ingredients
Serves: 72
- 750g plain flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 410g lard
- 300g caster sugar
- 2 teaspoons anise seed
- 2 eggs
- 4 tablespoons brandy
- 4 tablespoons caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Method
Prep:30min ›
Cook:10min ›
Ready in:40min
- Preheat the oven to 180 C / Gas 4. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together the lard and 300g 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 about a 5mm thickness, and cut into desired shapes using cutters. The traditional is fleur-de-lis. Place biscuits onto baking trays. Mix together the 4 tablespoons of sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over the tops of the biscuits.
- Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the bottoms are lightly browned.
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Reviews & ratings
Average global rating:
(77)
Reviews in English (61)
Very good sugar cookies with just a hint of licorice flavor! I couldn't find lard so I used butter instead and they still turned out fantastic. - 01 Sep 2007 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
This recipe is the best. My Grandmother used to make me these cookies as a little girl. The only difference to the recipe was she used ( pineapple-juice)instead of (brandy). She would roll the cookies in the sugar & cinnamon when the cookies were still hot. Thank You VERY MUCH. - 20 Dec 2006 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
DELICIOUS! I'm Latina... these cookies bring back memories of baking at Xmas with my Grandmother! A couple of suggestions: (1) Melt lard in the microwave before mixing it with sugar.... it keeps the dough more moist when rolling; (2) Use 1 Tablespoon of Anise Liquid instead of seeds; (3) at Xmas, coat w red & green sugar sprinkles instead of sugar & cinnamon; (4) Use bread flour instead of all purpose flour & ALWAYS sift it; (5) NEVER substitute Crisco, butter or Vegetable Oil for the lard. Notes: #2 - I don't like licorice but love these cookies. By using anise liquid instead of seeds, the taste spreads thru the cookie & isn't as overpowering! Even my Mexican family prefers them over my grandmother's own recipe with anise seeds! #4 -- Bread flour helps keep the cookie light like shortbread instead of dense & heavy. I have used wheat flour & it doesn't change flavor just texture. Don't forget to sift the flour as this too helps keep them light & flaky. #5 -- I know I know, the lard has 10,000 calories & it's all fat! But, the cookie is supposed to be flaky & a light shortbread consistency; you lose that texture with other shortenings & they become heavy & dense. I try to eat healthy & use Canola butter, wheat flour, splenda in recipes but this isn't one of them that works with substitutes. Eat them once or twice a year guilt free then get on the bike & do some cardio. Trust me, after 46 years of eating these cookies, you won't regret the indulgence! - 05 Jul 2010 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)