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Ethnic: Orange-Anise Bizcochitos

Source of Recipe

Mary Castañeda Balzer


Recipe Introduction

"These crisp sugar cookies are Mary Castañeda Balzer's version of ones her mother made every Christmas in New Mexico. Lightly crush the anise seeds with a mortar and pestle or chop roughly with a knife. Use 2- to 2 1/2-inch cookie cutters."

List of Ingredients

3/4 cup solid vegetable shortening, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1/4 cup orange juice
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons anise seeds, crushed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon




Recipe

1. In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat shortening and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth. Add egg, orange peel, and orange juice and beat just until combined.

2. In a medium bowl, mix 2 1/2 cups flour, anise seeds, baking powder, and salt. Add to shortening mixture, stir to mix, then beat until well blended. Divide dough in half and flatten each half into a disk. Wrap each disk tightly in plastic wrap and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.

3. Unwrap dough. On a lightly floured surface, with a floured rolling pin, roll one disk at a time to about 1/8 inch thick. With floured cookie cutters, cut dough into shapes and place about 1 inch apart on buttered 12- by 15-inch baking sheets. Gather excess dough into a ball, reroll, and cut out remaining cookies.

4. In a small bowl, mix remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Sprinkle about 1/8 teaspoon of the mixture over each cookie; save any remaining cinnamon sugar for other uses.

5. Bake cookies in a 350° regular or convection oven just until edges are golden, 10 to 12 minutes; if baking two sheets at once in one oven, switch their positions halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide spatula to transfer to racks to cool completely.

YIELD: 7-8 Dozen
Per cookie: 37 cal., 41% (15 cal.) from fat; 0.4 g protein; 1.7 g fat (0.4 g sat.); 4.8 g carbo (0.1 g fiber); 12 mg sodium; 2.3 mg chol.