Monday, December 20

Pan de Polvo


For several years now, Sam & I have made a batch of Pan de Polvo cookies every Christmas. His Tita, which is really his Abuela, has made them every year & when we couldn't get down to Kingsville to get a batch from her, we decided it was time to take matters into our own hands!! Because you should never let a Christmas pass without enjoying lots & lots of Pan de Polvo!! Luckily, we have been able to find all the ingredients overseas & make them in the Philippines as well. And, I guarantee you, this is THE BEST Pan de Polve recipe you will ever find! So, please take the time to make them right & enjoy...

5 lbs. flour
3 lbs. shortening
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 cup anise tea (Boil a packet of anise tea, plus a couple of cinnamon sticks in water, according to the directions on the anise tea package. If you can't find anise tea, use whole star anise.)

Put all shortening in a very large mixing bowl. Add sugar and mix well. Add salt and baking powder; mix well. Add tea and mix well. Then, add flour, about 1/4 at a time and mix well. If it's too hard, add a little of the tea and mix well into the dough. Roll out the dough between two sheets of wax paper to about 1/4" to 1/2" thick. Cut with small cookie cutters. (You don't want large cookies, because they are very delicate & will break easily if they are cut too big.) Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.

Cinnamon-Sugar Coating:
anise seed (can get from the tea bags, if needed)
cinnamon
sugar

Grind together to form a powder, adding more or less of each ingredient to your own taste. (You want them to have a distinct anise taste, so don't skimp on that!) Then, dust the warm cookies with this mixture.

There it is! It will make a gazillion cookies, so you will have plenty to give as gifts & share with family! Enjoy!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love pan de polvo and your right it always makes tons of cookies. I can never eat just one....Hope y'all are enjoying your New Year celebration!!

Ruthie:)

Philippines Business Consulting said...

don't give away all our Filipino secret receipies.

Happy cookie baking.

Anonymous said...

"Pulboron" is the Philippine variant, and quite different in taste and texture from the above recipe.

Anonymous said...

It's been so long since you posted, these are now stale and would be moldy soon, please post a new one, your readers miss you!

Anonymous said...

I'm from Kingsville! Yay!

Unknown said...

It's great to see that the tradition lives on! I grew up with these wonderful cookies baked by both of my grandmothers...I too, am trying to continue the tradition.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Turkey Tours said...

Looks very delicious, I am gonna try this at home.

joe said...

Dear Amber

My name is Joe Pinzone and I'm casting an international travel show about expats moving abroad. We'd love to film in Philippines and wanted to know if you could help us find expats who have moved there within the last 15 months or have been there for 3-4 years, but recently moved into a new home. The show documents their move to a new country and will place the country in fabulous light. The contributors on the show would also receive monetary compensation if they are filmed. If you'd like more information, please give me a call at 212-231-7716 or skype me at joefromnyc. You can also email me at joepinzone@leopardusa.com. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Joe Pinzone
Casting Producer
P: 212-231-7716
Skype: Joefromnyc