I grew up in New Mexico, and have such fond memories of Christmas time with the food, the family, the food, the luminarias, the food… Okay, so confession: when I was little, I didn’t like biscochitos so much. It’s the anise flavor…I never really liked black licorice, so these cookies were my least favorite Christmas cookie. I grew out of that, thank goodness, because these cookies are YUM! I still dislike black licorice, but the anise flavor is so light and delicate in biscochitos that it really just adds a warm, sweet hint of licorice.
I was inspired by the recipe for these cookies from one of my favorite New Mexican cookbooks, Red or Green New Mexico Cuisine by Clyde Casey. There is nothing extraordinary about the recipe, as the cookies are fairly standard in their ingredient list, but where it calls for lard, I used shortening. Mostly this was because I could not find lard at my local grocery store, although I must admit I did not look very hard.
Ingredients
- 2 c. shortening (or lard)
- 1 c. sugar
- 1 tsp anise seed
- 2 eggs
- 6 c. all-purpose flour, sifted
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 c. white wine
- 1/2 c. sugar + 1 tsp cinnamon for topping
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 F. In a bowl, beat the shortening until well-creamed, and smooth. Add the sugar, anise seed, and eggs, and beat until light and fluffy (about 5-10 minutes). In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to your shortening mix, and add the wine. Mix until a dough forms, then knead until well-mixed. The dough will be short (crumbly), but will hold together when pressed. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into shapes, or use a biscuit cutter to make round cookies. Mix the cinnamon and sugar, and sprinkle on top of the cookies before baking. Bake until light golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.
Makes 4-6 dozen
A little helpful hint: line your cookie sheets with parchment paper to speed up rounds in the oven. You can put cut out cookies on the paper while the pan cools between bakes.
My kitchen is now smelling like a New Mexico Christmas, although I need some tamales and empanaditas and posole and…oh man, I have a lot of cooking to do if I want to really satisfy my cravings. For now, I have four dozen delicious biscochito cookies. (Not all for me, I swear!)
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