Polvorones Rosas (or Big Pink Mexican Cookies)

Wow, the week I have had.  NOTHING sweet had been working out for me.  I made these chocolate cookies with marshmallows baked inside and I didn’t make enough that didn’t burst open and/or I felt were baked long enough to post a recipe.  I did use half a large marshmallow, though, so if I can get the cookie to work with a mini marshmallow then I will post it.

Earlier in the week, I tried to adapt a different cookie recipe and it just wasn’t right.  Then over the weekend I tried to make candy (OMG, caramel is tough!) twice and once, I cooked it too long (my friend and I chewing for days, pretty funny!) and the next time, not quite enough.  Geesh!  So I figured I would make something that I have made before but had not posted.  I have made these cookies before but I still wanted to see if I could tweak the recipe I used before or find another.  Then after hours of research on the internet (seriously, hours because polvorones can refer to Mexican wedding cookies/cinnamon cookies/cookies with ground nuts, a Filipino candy, or a Spanish Christmas cookie) I had just narrowed down the recipes I was considering, when I came upon what I felt was the meanest blog post ever.  I will not name the blogger but the whole point of the post was to complain about some of the cookies I grew up eating.  She even goes so far as to broadly say that “the Mexicans make shitty cookies”.

Ready for the oven!

Just stab me in my heart!  She was not picking out one particular kind of cookie, either, in the post she was reviewing about five.  To be fair, the picture in her post does not contain a big pink cookie and yes, I do kind of get what she says.  Yup, depending on the panaderia (Mexican bakery) you go to, sometimes you can taste the “Crisco, sugar and flour,” but then stop going to that panaderia!  She goes on to dismiss all Mexican bakery cookies as “clownish” although she does give credit to churros and tres leches cakes as being delightful Mexican sweets.  My husband says that she is entitled to her opinion and I that I should calm down.  I guess he is right.  I do have one last point, though, nowhere in her post does she mention Mexican hot chocolate.  She was eating her cookies all wrong!  You need a nice mug of Ibarra or Abuelita to dip them in!  Everyone knows that.  

Overall, I got the feeling that she thinks the cookies are just too simple to be taken seriously.  Seriously, I made these cookies three times with what I felt were completely different results.  The first batch, I made too thin and they tasted too buttery but they were nice and soft.  The second time I decreased the butter a bit and tried to make them without a mixer, using only my hands (something I had seen on youtube), adding the sugar last.  Those cookies, I thought, came out too tough.  My husband liked them, he doesn’t like how the bakery cookies tend to fall apart, I kinda do.  The third time, I went back to the first recipe and the first method but made sure to not make the cookies too thin.  That seemed to do the trick.  They didn’t taste too buttery and they were soft and they didn’t fall apart easily but they probably would if dipped in chocolate.  That is exactly what I was going for.  I was lucky that the recipe only makes a dozen cookies, otherwise I would be in big trouble.

Sprinkled with sugar just out of the oven.

O geez, my GeekyLink for the week is SO awesome and so totally obscure.  Again, I must reference Kevin Smith and his SModcast Internet Radio network.  I guess a few months ago Walt Flanagan, from the Tell ‘Em Steve Dave Podcast, challenged this band to put music to a song he wrote.  The result is an AWESOME song called “I Sell Comics” by Courage My Love.  I figure it references comics so it qualifies as a GeekyLink.  I have been listening to this song over and over all week.

Big Pink Mexican Cookies

adapted from Cake Central

Ingredients

1/2 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco), yup it is in here but you are not supposed to taste it

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

Red food color

2 cups all purpose flour

Granulated sugar for sprinkling

Method

Preheat oven to 350°

Beat shortening, butter and powdered sugar together until creamy.

Add vanilla and salt and mix well.

Add food coloring to desired color and mix well.

Add flour and mix until combined but do not overmix.

Scoop into two inch balls (about 2 tablespoons).  I used my 1 tablespoon cookie scoop and topped them one on top of the other like a double scoop of ice cream then rounded the two in my hands and placed it on the cookie sheet.

Flatten the cookie with the palm of your hand and make sure the cookies are at least 3 inches apart.  The thickness is up to you.  I would go about 1/2 an inch or so, maybe slightly less, but a 1/4 inch is too thin.

Bake at 350° for 15 minutes.

After removing them from the oven, sprinkle with granulated sugar.  Enjoy!