Galletas – first try

I’ve been wanting to make those galletas (cookies) that they sell in the Mexican bakeries that are entirely coated in rainbow sprinkles (nonpareils). But, I’m not really sure what to call them. Some people seem to call them polvorones, despite the fact that those are really kinda different. There are different kinds of polvorones. They’re originally from Spain and as we know, the Spanish have a history of really making the rounds, sharing their language, their food, their religion, …..and lets just leave it at that. So, now their are different types of polvorones in Europe, Latin America, the Philippines, and….I’m sure I’m leaving some one out, the name can refer to many different things. And thus Polovorones seems to mostly suggest a crisp crumbly cookie of many different kinds. The most common to us in the states being the Mexican wedding cookie.

I decided to start with the Polvorones/ Mexican wedding cookie recipe from My Sweet Mexico. But I made several adjustments since I knew from the beginning that I was going for something different. Although they don’t taste much like the galletas I had in mind, I’m glad to say that they came out delicious. I’m sad to say that I made myself sick on them. They’re kinda rich and buttery. It might be safer to make them small next time to avoid over indulging (Even though, the ones in the panederias are always HUGE!!!!)

I’m including the recipe I used so I can keep track of what I’ve tried and so you too can make yourself sick on delicious buttery cookies if you so choose to. But in all honesty, if you make them smaller and show more restraint that I, you might really enjoy this cookie.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups of butter
• 1 cup of superfine sugar
• 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup almond flour
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Rainbow sprinkles (nonpareils)
• Yellow food coloring (optional)

Clarify the Butter:

In a small saucepan melt the butter over low heat. Once the butter has completely meted, remove from heat and with a large spoon skim the foam off the top of the melted butter and discard. Carefully strain the melted butter through a fine mesh sieve and into a bowl. This should catch any foam that you may have missed and some of the butter solids.

Cool and make the butter mixture

Add the sugar to the bowl of melted butter and refrigerate till cooled, about 30 minutes. Using the whisk attachment for your electric mixer, whip the cooled butter and sugar mixture on high speed until it is very pale in color (almost white) and almost resembles a cream, approximately 8 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

Add the flours:

Fold the all-purpose flour into the butter mixture in 3 parts.  Add a few drops of yellow food coloring and mix well into the dough. Incorporate the almond four and the vanilla extract. You will need to use your hands to finish this process

Shaping the cookies:

With your hands take a piece of dough and roll the dough into a ball (the larger you want your cookies the larger you need to form the balls), flatten the ball slightly to form a disk ½  to  1/3 inch in thickness. Place the disk top down into a shallow bowl filled with nonpareils. Move the nonpareils around the dough close to the sides of the disk to adhere some to the sides of the cookie (but not to the bottom).

Bake:

Carefully place cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicon mat. Leave space between cookies for them to spread. Bake in a preheated oven of 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the cookie are crisp around the edges and start to get firm towards the center.

The number of cookies will vary depending on the size, but you should have enough dough for two sheets of cookies.

UPDATE: I’ve noticed a number of people find their way to this post, but not many people find their way to galletas: take 2

I prefer the second “take 2”  recipe. I’ll probably make some small final adjustments to that recipe to eventually settle on one. Take 2 has a little bit of a soft chewy center. Not too much like the traditional cookies. But, delicious and cheery!!!!

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