Cookies, Cookies, Cookies

“Where have you been?” You may be asking since I haven’t posted a recipe in several weeks. Between work, Christmas parties, Holiday dinners, the gym, Christmas shopping, caroling and other shenanigans, I haven’t had time to either cook or post any recipes. I am sure you understand.

I do however, have a recipe for you. This is a recipe I meant to post a month ago: hojarascas, a type of Mexican (from Monterrey to be more specific) cookies. I wanted to give it to you so you could bake them for Christmas and give them to friends and family for the holidays. I guess you could still do that if you really make the effort. Anyhow, these type of cookies are not, per se, Christmas cookies, so you can make them whenever. However, I do not make them often because they are time-consuming and mainly because once I eat one, I have to eat 35 – and that, my friends, cannot be good for my heart or my physique (yeah, yeah, I’m shallow). So yes, they are highly addictive… but they are so good. Before you start your new year’s resolution of getting in shape (which seems to be everyone’s resolution) bake yourself some hojarascas, eat them all, and throw the recipe away. If you don’t do that, you will be very tempted to make them over and over again and, as I said before, that is not good for you.

Here it is!

Hojarascas (it makes 140 cookies approximately)

Ingredients:
Dough
2.2 pounds of flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups of sugar
1.1   pound of lard
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (Mexican vanilla is preferable)
¼ cup milk (or more if necessary)

Topping
½ cup of sugar
1 tablespoon powdered cinnamon

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 350 F.

2.  In a large bowl (or electric mixer) mix eggs, lard and vanilla. Add the flower and baking powder. Add the milk slowly until the consistency of the mix is soft and it no longer crumbles. You may need to add more mlk.

3.  Divide the dough into four or five balls. In a floured surface, spread out one dough ball with a rolling pin and roll out (1/8 inch thick). Cut using a flower-shaped cookie cutter. Repeat.

4.  Transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 17 min. In the meantime, mix topping (sugar and cinnamon) in a wide bowl.

5.  Take cookie sheet out of the oven and let it sit a few minutes. Use  a metal spatula to transfer cookies to the bowl where the topping is and cover each cookie with it.

6.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.