The homemade Polvorones recipe is a simple recipe, useful for knowing how to make delicious, wonderful and classic Christmas sweets Polvorones. We suggest you make the most traditional ones and also a recipe for gluten-free Polvorones.
Surely you’re with us if we say that the Polvorones are highly characteristic sweets of Christmas, as is the case with other equally traditional sweets of these popular festivals, such as nougat or marzipan.
In the case of Polvorón, it consists of a kind of small cake made with ground almonds, wheat flour and lard, which has the peculiarity of crumbling when we bite into it.
Today it is common to find it with a wide variety of flavors, either flavored (such as cinnamon, lemon…) or even with certain added natural ingredients (such as chocolate, coconut, orange…)
What is the origin of the Polvorones?
To investigate the origin of the Polvorones we must travel to Spain, a country where in fact they are tremendously characteristic and popular. Specifically to Andalusia (in the Steppe), where back in the 16th century it was very common to use lard in pastries.
However, it was not until the 19th century when Filomena Micaela Ruiz, known by the name of “La Colchona”, began to make some mantecados so that her husband began to sell them in all those towns through which he passed.
In order for its conservation to be more and better, he began to make some mantecados that he dried at the end of the production process, in this way they were kept fresher and acquired the typical Polvorón texture. We could say that she was an enterprising woman who improved the ice cream recipe until she produced some sweets that later became the star sweet of Christmas: the shortbread.
In fact, we should know that mantecados are different from shortbread, although they have a similar appearance and almonds are the common ingredient in both. However, the shortbread has a lower amount of flour than the Polvorón, and stands out for being more compact.
If you want to surprise your family and friends this holiday season, here is a recipe for homemade shortbread so that you can make them comfortably at home.
Homemade Polvorones Recipe
Main ingredients:
- 600g Of flour
- 300g of lard
- 300g ground almond
- 150g icing sugar
- Cinnamon powder
How to make the homemade shortbread:
- Put the oven at medium temperature, and in one of its trays put the flour so that it is toasted.
- When it starts to take on some color, remove it, letting it cool.
- Now make a kind of volcano with the toasted flour and, in the center, add the butter, a pinch of cinnamon and the sugar.
- Knead it all very well. Uniform dough should form.
- Now cover the dough with a cloth and let it rest for an hour.
- Sprinkle a little flour on the counter and roll out the dough. Of course, it must be with a certain thickness.
- With the help of a mold now cut the dough into different portions.
- Dust the tray again with a little flour. Preheat the oven to medium temperature.
- Put the portions on the tray and let them cook for about half an hour.
- Finally let them cool and finish by sprinkling with icing sugar.
Gluten-free shortbread recipe
Because the Polvorones are made with wheat flour, we are faced with a Christmas product that is not recommended for people with celiac disease (that is, gluten intolerance). But this does not mean that you cannot enjoy some delicious gluten-free Polvorones. Today we want to offer you a simple homemade recipe.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 kg. gluten-free flour
- 1/4kg of sugar
- 1/2 kg. of butter
- Icing sugar
- Vanilla essence
Elaboration:
- In a bowl and with the help of a strainer, sift the gluten-free flour to prevent lumps from forming. Mix it with the sugar. With the softened butter, add it to the previous mixture together with the vanilla essence, and mix until you get smooth dough.
- Cut into small portions and form balls. Flatten them and place them on a baking tray where you should have placed baking paper (with a little butter to prevent them from sticking).
- Bake at medium temperature until golden brown. Once ready, sprinkle with icing sugar.
