If you are ever lucky enough to visit this enchanted island, I suggest you ask the locals which is the best bakery, and try absolutely everything they have. Puerto Rican bakeries are magnificent. They’re pastry wonderlands filled with secrets and family recipes. If only I could get the recipe of bizocho de novia! These cookies are a traditional Puerto Rican cookie that tastes AMAZING. They’re called Mantecaditos which roughly translates to tiny ice creams. How can a cookie taste bad if it’s associated with ice cream? Well, it cannot. These cookies are the bombdiggity.
Ingredients
2 c of all-purpose flour
1 tsp of almond extract
3/8 c of sugar
1/2 c of Crisco
1/2 c of butter
2 large egg yolks
Sprinkels
Optional: 1-2 drops of yellow food coloring
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. These cookies like a tropical setting. They were raised on a tropical island. They will refuse to bake if they’re needs are not met. Please, don’t provoke them. Hispanics are known for their fiery attitudes.
2. In a mixer or bowl, cream together the Crisco, butter, and sugar. The butter and sugar do not like Crisco. They’ve heard that it’s rather unhealthy and would prefer to not associate themselves with such an odd ingredient. I suggest you explain to the sugar and butter that Crisco is just different and that they should all get along. All the ingredients share a common goal and the Crisco is a valid player.
3. Once you’ve dealt with the Crisco debacle, add the almond extract, eggs, and the flour. Not all at once, of course. You’ll want to add the almond extract first, mix a bit, and one egg for each cup of flour. The eggs are quite temperamental so don’t over mix. They might make your cookies taste off because you’ve made the eggs bitter. Apologizing won’t fix the batter, be kind to your eggs.
4. After the ingredients are all well mixed, the dough will take the perfect cookie dough form. It will be soft but not sticky and will be easy to mold. The time for baking has arrived. The cookie dough is now prepared and ready to be molded into cookies. I rolled mine into about 1 inch balls and then pressed down on the center. This makes the sprinkles stick, you could also just roll the top of the cookies in the sprinkles but I didn’t think that far ahead. Learn from my mistakes.
5. Bake these cookies anywhere from 8-12 minutes. Keep an eye on them and baking time will vary depending on the cookies size. It took mine about 10-12 minutes to bake.
Man I wish I could get my hands on some of those.
I would gladly share!
So there is no actual ice cream in there? How about if you made these, then added an ice cream layer in between. That would be awesome.
Yes, oh that would be fantastic. You, sir should consider becoming a cheg. I think chocolate chip ice cream would go amazing with this cookie.
I would consider becoming a cheg if I could cook, but stuffing ice cream between two cookies I could do, but mostly to eat in front of other people.
That would make the people really rather bitter. Is that your main goal? To spread bitterness?
Absolutely. I want to spread bitter on the world like butter on a sandwich.
OMG! i wanna make those! Gracias por la receta!
You’re welcome! I hope you do make them.
Oh wow I’ve got to make these! They look very good!
Oh! I hope you do!
Love, love, love Mantecaditos…thanks for the awesome recipe!!!
You’re so very welcome!
Yaay! Thanks for sharing. Just made Apple Crumb Cake today, but I’d love to make those sometime soon.
Great! I’d love to see how your cookies turn up. I absolutely love apple crumb cake! Isn’t it the best right out of the oven?
The cookies look so cute!! Must be delicious too!! Thank you for sharing and have a great November!! Cheers~ 😀
where are you? hoe all is good! Merry Christmas in advance Melisa! 😀
I’m back! I’ve been trying to balance doing my Masters with pretty much everything else. It’s been a tough ride. Happy Holidays to you too, Sam! I can’t wait to catch up with you and your delicious blog!
So glad to hear from you and that everything is well, Melisa 😀
Yum! Will have to try one (or a few dozen). Great post by the way. I invite you to check out my blog: http://veggiechica.com . Hope you enjoy.
Good day Melisa, In November 11, 2012 you posted another recipe for the polvorones. Is this an updated recipe or they are different article?
It’s the same one. I had transferred my original site to this one and those recipes were meant to be hidden. They were but I guess they became unhidden somehow.
Oh, sorry! This recipe is different. I was answering from my phone and the app doesn’t really show much or I must have missed it. These are Mantecaditos not Polvorones, so yes they are different recipes.
Deben ser muy ricos!!!
Siii! A mi me encantan de vainilla y almendra!
They won’t be the same but I wonder if one can use vanilla instead of almond extract. Or I just won;t serve these to the daughter who is allergic to almonds. They sound wonderful. but I don’t have Crisco. Your narrative makes the recipe special!
Thanks for the lovely comment! You can use vanilla extract instead of almond. I’ve made vanilla ones too. Any kind of vegetable shortening would work instead of Crisco. Good luck with making these! I hope the come out wonderful.
I’m making those cookies right now , I wish they look good and taste good. They are for my mom she love those cookies. So this is a surprise for her.. I’m 17 years old and my mom is at work… Wish me luck
How many cookies does this recipe make? Just trying to estimate for a hurricane relief fundraiser how many times I need to double/triple/quadruple the recipe. Thanks a bunch!
I’ve emailed you! Good luck on your fundraising! I’d say this recipe produces about 2 dozens but this depends on how big you make the cookies. I’ve never made HUGE batches so I can’t really tell you how much you should make but I think quadrupling it is a good idea.
We flavor with anise