Polvorones con Chocolate are a delicious and nut-free twist on a Mexican Wedding Cookie that everyone will love. Affiliate links were used to link to items I am discussing. A copy of The New Southwest was sent to me by the publishers for the purposes of an honest review.
Guys! When you come home from vacation do you feel like your brain is spinning off in every direction from all the stuff you need to do? John swears I am like this after all vacations, but I swear that spring break is the worst one of all. I am worrying about all of this summer stuff I have not organized yet, I am trying to remember everything I need to do for my sister’s wedding in July, and I think I might literally have something planned for every single weekend between now and when we leave for the beach. In June. That’s ridiculous.
This is all why when I can kill 2 or 3 birds with one stone, I get extra excited. And this is one of those posts. It all started a few weeks ago, when Alex very excitedly came out of her after school Spanish language class (just an introductory dip into the language) very excited about the Mexican food party they were going to have for the last class and could I please come and bake something too? Mexican? Why, YES! I can, because it just so happened that my upcoming Creative Cookie Exchange theme was Cookies for Cinco de Mayo! Perfect!
Then, in the meantime, Hippocrene Books sent me for review Meagan Micozzi’s The New Southwest: Classic Flavors with a Modern Twist
writes wrote Scarletta Bakes (which has unfortunately been shut down since this post was written and that is all I know), and her cookbook is full of cookies that I want to make (it has loads of delicious savory dishes too, but it was cookies I was looking for and bookmarking like a madwoman). Talk about divine intervention! I made one amazing cookie and took care of baking for Alex’s class, baking for Creative Cookie Exchange and got to use this awesome new cookbook! Win-win-win!
Plus how much fun did I have doing it all with Alex?
Polvorones are what we think of as Mexican Wedding Cookies. Interestingly, they do not need to include nuts, which I always think of as being in Wedding Cookies. Meagan’s version–which looks SO GOOD and which I have provided for you below with permission of the publisher, included pistachios. However, Alex and I were concerned about including nuts in a school treat, so we decided to pull out some hot chocolate made from shaved bittersweet chocolate and use that instead. I have also included my version below.
As I mentioned above #CreativeCookieExchange this month is all about celebrating Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican heritage celebration that is much bigger in the United State than it is in Mexico (to my surprise although I guess it makes sense). It is also big with food bloggers, as we like to grab any excuse to celebrate a particular culinary tradition. And truly people do have Cinco de Mayo parties, so I hope our collection of cookies (linked to below) give you some great ideas for desserts for your own party!
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 t vanilla extract
- 2 cups AP flour
- 1/2 cup shaved bittersweet chocolate to make things easy, use shaved chocolate for hot chocolate such as what Williams Sonoma sells at the holidays
- 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
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Cream the butter and granulated sugar together in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla. Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour and mix to just incorporate. Whisk together the remaining flour and the shaved chocolate. Mix that into the dough just until incorporated--the dough will be stiff and maybe a little crumbly.
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Use your hands to clump the dough together and place on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape the dough into a log approximately 2 to 3 inches in diameter. Wrap tightly and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
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When you are ready to bake your cookies, preheat the oven to 350 F. Slice the dough log into 1/4-inch thick slices and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, 1-2 inches apart (the dough will not spread, but do make sure there is room for hot air to circulate between the cookies).
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Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the cookies are firm and turning golden on the bottom. Let cool for 5-10 minutes on the cookie sheet, before tossing the warm cookies very gently in the powdered sugar and placing on a cooling rack.
- 1 cup pistachio kernels
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
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Preheat oven to 350°F.
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Spread the pistachio kernels in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for 5 to 7 minutes or until fragrant and slightly golden. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
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Cream butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla. Add flour and mix just until you have a uniform, stiff dough.
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Coarsely chop the cooled pistachios. Fold into the dough, using clean hands if necessary to gently work the pistachio pieces throughout. Place finished dough on a large sheet of parchment paper and shape into a log approximately 2 to 3 inches in diameter. Wrap tightly and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
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Once the dough is chilled through and you are ready to bake your cookies, preheat the oven again to 350°F. Slice the dough log into 1⁄2-inch-thick slices and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (these cookies will not spread so you can fit up to 16 on a standard-sized half sheet pan). Bake for approximately 25 to 28 minutes. Finished cookies will be firm and just turning light golden brown on the bottoms. (Note: if you bake your cookies straight from the refrigerator, you may need to leave them in the oven for up to 30 minutes. But that said, overbaking these cookies is not good, so start checking for doneness at 20 minutes.)
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Remove baked cookies from oven and cool for 5 to 10 minutes on the cookie sheet. Place the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl and toss the still-warm cookies in the confectioners’ sugar. The key is to toss the cookies in the sugar when they are not so hot that the sugar will melt, but warm enough that it will adhere to the exterior of the cookies. Place finished cookies on a rack to cool and set completely.
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YIELD: approximately 25 cookies
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© Hippocrene Books
The theme this month is Cinco de Mayo – and what better way to celebrate than baking cookies! Creative Cookie Exchange has decided to stop using the linky. What this means is that the only way to join in the fun is to become a host. Just contact Laura at thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com and she will get you added to our Facebook group, where we discuss our cookies and share links.
You can also just use us as a great resource for cookie recipes–be sure to check out our Facebook page, our Pinterest Board, and our monthly posts. You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month! Also, if you are looking for inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made:
- Mexican Chocolate Wedding Cookies from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
- Polvorones con Chocolate from Laura The Spiced Life
- Mexican Hot Cocoa Thumbprint Cookies from Sophie at Sweet Cinnamon & Honey
- Feast Day Cookies from Felice at All That’s Left Are The Crumbs
- Margarita Cookies from Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
- Cinnamon and Piloncillo Cookies from Renee at Magnolia Days
- Chocolate Chilli Roll Out Cookies from Jill at Made with Love
- Dulce de Leche Alfajores from Holly at A Baker’s House
- Triple Orange Mexican Cookies from Karen at Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Ducle de Leche Cookie Bars from Kathya at Basic N Delicious
The publisher did send me The New Southwest: Classic Flavors with a Modern Twist
Affiliate links were in this post, but only to link to items I would be discussing and linking to anyway.
Laura I know exactly the feeling you describe! Coming back from vacation and realizing that you are going to need another one very soon because you have so many things waiting for that makes you so tired even to think about it! The cookies look amazing and you little daughter so cute rolling them!
I was thinking of making these also, now I’m going to have to try your recipe as yours look so good.
Coming back from vacation is always so difficult. It’s hard to get back into the routine and catch up on everything. Nice choice for adding chocolate to these cookies. Although my husband would prefer the ones with pistachios.
I do so always love it when I can kill multiple things on my blog agenda with one recipe! These polvorones sound so good! I think in their vanilla form, they would be a little too much like Greek wedding cookies for the.boy to appreciate them…but with the chocolate they are totally their own thing!
Great theme, Laura, and well done killing several birds with one delicious cookie! Bet Alex’s class loved them!
These look delicious, love that they have the chocolate in them!! I have never had a Mexican Wedding Cookie before, would love to try one!!
Glad to hear you could take a moment out of your busy schedule to bake and enjoy these cookies and I am sure your daughter’s class thought they were great!
These look so good, I’m sure they just melt right in your mouth! I love Polvorones, and they’re so fun because you can mix them up so easily with simple ingredients. And such a nice story about your daughter’s Spanish class. Reminds me of being in grade school and making flan for Cinco de Mayo. 😀
Love your substitution of shaved chocolate, Laura. But I love even more how you and your daughter get to bake together <3
The photos of your daughter are just precious, and the cookies sound so good. I know vacations can be stressful, so how nice that you could get this done in advance!
Omggggg. How do you come up with this stuff?!
Alex has that perfect look of concentration, how wonderful that she loves being in the kitchen with you. You guys are making some wonderful memories together. As much as I love nuts, I think that the shaved chocolate idea is genius.
These are just gorgeous!
What a lovely collection of cookies. They love so delicious and I can’t wait to try them!
On the last day of vacation, my mind is already creating a mental list of things to do. I feel like I need to hit the ground running when I get home. You make working with bittersweet chocolate so much fun. Your daughter is adorable.
These are definitely creative gems and so great that they can be made nut-free. They look like they would just melt in your mouth!
It does look like you had fun!
I’ve always thought of Mexican wedding cookies as round balls – so interesting that these are a flatter shape. I’m totally smitten with Alex, as she concentrates on making cookies, I can sense the seriousness with which she works. And how thoughtful of the two of you to make a nut-free version for her class. Both versions are gorgeous and must be quite delicious.
I love that you created a version that your daughter could bring to school, while keeping the essence of the cookie!
Laura,
You and Alex make a terrific team–wonderful photos!
I like the idea of these cookies–I’m always glad when cookie baking can be chunked into ‘make the dough’ and ‘bake the cookies’ sprints instead of one marathon.
Thanks!