Bizcochito Mexican Holiday Cookie Food

BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Cream the lard with sugar and anise seed on medium speed. In a separate bowl. beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add beaten eggs to creamed mixture. Mix together well, adding wine to form a stiff-like dough, add more wine, if necessary.
• Refrigerate dough overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and let stand for a while, until dough is soft enough to roll. Divide dough in quarters and roll to about 1/16 to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutter and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until bottom of cookie is golden brown. Meanwhile, mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Drop the baked cookies into sugar and cinnamon mixture and set aside to cool.

BIZCOCHOS (MEXICAN HOLIDAY COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Beat the lard until creamy.
• Mix the wine or fruit juice with 1 cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon and anise seeds; add to lard and mix with a wooden spoon.
• Add the egg yolks; mixing well.
• Add enough flour to make soft dough; roll out to 1/2-inch thick and cut in desired shapes and place on greased cookie sheet.
• Bake 15 minutes; checking often to prevent burning.
• Mix the remaining 1 cup of sugar and 4 teaspoons cinnamon; dredge cookies in the cinnamon sugar mixture while still warm.

BISCOCHITOS

Steps:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix 1 cup sugar and the lard on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat to combine. Add vanilla, Grand Marnier, and zest; beat to combine.
• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually beat flour mixture into sugar mixture on low speed. Beat in anise seeds. On medium, gradually add 2 tablespoons water or more to form a ball. Divide dough in half; shape into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic; chill 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center. Combine cinnamon and remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a small bowl.
• On a floured surface, roll the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut dough into moons, stars, or shapes you like with a 2-inch cutter; lightly sift cinnamon-sugar over each shape. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, 10 to 12 minutes; cookies should be set but not brown. Transfer the cookies and parchment to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining batches.

BISCOCHITOS TRADITIONAL COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl, and set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream together the lard and 1 1/2 cups 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 1/2 or 1/4 inch thickness, and cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. The traditional is fleur-de-lis. Place cookies onto baking sheets. Mix together the 1/4 cup of sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over the tops of the cookies.
• Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the bottoms are lightly browned.

BIZCOCHITOS (MEXICAN ANISE COOKIES)

Steps:

• Cream margarine; gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, beating at medium speed of a mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Combine cake flour, aniseed, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture, stirring until well-blended. Divide dough in half; shape each portion into a ball, and wrap each in plastic wrap. Freeze 40 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 d F. Remove one portion of dough from freezer; remove plastic wrap. Roll dough to a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface; cut with a 2-inch round cutter. Place on baking sheets. Combine 2 teaspoons sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over cookies. Bake at 350 d F for 10 minutes. Remove from baking sheets immediately; cool on wire racks. Repeat procedure with remaining portion of dough. Store in an airtight container.
• Note: Time does not include chill time of dough.

BIZCOCHOS (MEXICAN HOLIDAY COOKIES)

Steps:

• Whip lard until creamy.
• Mix wine (or fruit juice), 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon and anise.
• Add this to lard.
• Mix with wooden spoon.
• Add egg yolks; mix well.
• Add sufficient flour to make a soft dough; roll out 1/2 inch thick.
• Cut in desired shapes and place on greased cookie sheet.
• Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
• Check often to prevent burning.
• Mix remaining cinnamon and sugar.
• Dredge cookies in this mixture while they are still warm.

BIZCOCHITO (MEXICAN HOLIDAY COOKIE)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350* Non greased cookie sheet Cream butter, sugar, and anise Beat eggs, and add to butter and sugar mixture, cream... Stir together in separate bowl, flour, baking powder, and salt, and cinnamon.
• Stir into cream mixture... Alternate the dry mixture with Gran Marnie, cream together.
• Turn out on floured board knead several times...Roll to 1/8 inch thick and cut with biscuit cutter or floured glass, or cookie cutter..
• Dust tops with sugar and cinnamon... Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 8 to 10 minutes at 350* cool cookies onto rack....

EASY BIZCOCHITOS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine cookie mix, flour, orange zest and aniseed. Stir in melted butter, egg and vanilla until blended., Divide dough in half. Shape each into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-in. cookie cutter., Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. In a small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over cookies. Bake 6-9 minutes or until edges are light brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

LEMON BIZCOCHITOS

Steps:

• Sift flour and baking powder into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat 1 1/2 cups sugar and butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add eggs, lemon juice, aniseed and peel; beat to blend. Stir in dry ingredients. Gathering dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill until firm, about 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 2 large baking sheets. Mix in cinnamon and 1 tablespoon sugar in small bowl. Roll out dough on floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Using cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over. Transfer cookies to sheets. Bake until golden, about 12 minutes. Transfer to racks; cool. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Store airtight.)

BISCOCHITOS (MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES)

Steps:

• Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Using a food processor, grind 1 cup of nuts to coarse cornmeal texture. Transfer to a medium size bowl. Using either the food processor or chopping by hand, coarsely chop the remaining cup of nuts. Transfer to the same bowl and add the flour and salt.
• In a large bowl, either using hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the butter and superfine sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract. With mixer on low, slowly add the flour-nut mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl and beaters, then continue to beat on low speed until the dough is cohesive.
• Working with one tablespoon at a time, press and roll dough together into balls and lay on prepared sheets, about 1 inch apart.
• Bake cookies until pale gold and the bottoms are just beginning to brown, about 18 minutes, switching and rotating baking sheets halfway through the baking.
• Let cookies cook on the cooking sheet for 10 minutes, then move to cooling rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.
• Using either a bowl or a paper bag filled with confectioners' sugar, roll the cookies to coat. Just before serving, re-roll and gently shake off any excess.

ORANGE-ANISE BIZCOCHITOS (MEXICAN ORANGE-ANISE COOKIES)

Steps:

• In a large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat shortening and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth. Add egg, orange peel, and orange juice and beat just until combined.
• In a medium bowl, mix 2 1/2 cups flour, anise seeds, baking powder, and salt. Add to shortening mixture, stir to mix, then beat well until well blended. Divide dough in half and flatten each half into a disk. Wrap each disk tightly in plastic wrap and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Unwrap dough. On a lightly floured surface, with a floured rolling pin, roll one disk at a time to about 1/8-inch thick. With floured (2 to 2 1/2-inch) cookie cutters, cut dough into shapes and place about 1-inch apart on greased cookie sheets.
• Bake cookies at 350°F just until edges are golden, about 10-12 minutes. Cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.