There is a time of the year, long before the streets are illuminated with Christmas lights, when the tables in supermarkets and food stores are filled with polvorones, mantecados and nougats. That is the moment we all know Christmas is here!
Polvorones are the Christmas announcers and one of its protagonists. Nowadays, polvorones have different flavours: typical lemon or orange flavours, chocolate, cinnamon, pistachio or walnuts, or more exotic ones like coconut or coffee…
But have you ever wondered where they come from? What is their origin?
Polvorones have a humble origins since they are made from only four ingredients: wheat flour, pig lard, sugar and almonds. But, although they have humble origins, the result is almost perfect!
There are many flavours, but the base recipe has remained practically the same for hundreds of years.
Photo by: @aniolvisuals
Polvorones recipe has remained practically the same for hundreds of years: wheat flour, pig lard, sugar and almonds.
The origin dates back to the 16th century (like Saint James tart) and the first recipe is attributed to the nuns of the order of Saint Claire of the Convent of Saint Claire, located in the town of Estepa, in the province of Seville (Andalusia). This convent was founded in 1.599 by the Marquis of Estepa so that his daughter could enter as a nun.
The nuns of the convent of Saint Claire (Estepa) were the first to make sweets very similar to what we know as “polvorones”, using lard from pig slaughter and surplus from wheat harvest.
The archives of this convent preserve a document from 1.780 with budget allocations in which the nuns commissioned a neighbour, on his trip to Cadiz, to buy them “several arrobas of sugar, bushels of cocoa, and pounds of cinnamon“, typical ingredients for making polvorones.
But in reality, today we know the polvorones thanks to Micaela Ruíz Téllez (affectionately nicknamed La Colchona): Micaela, during the winter months, slaughtered the pigs in the most stately houses of Estepa, using the leftover lard to make the well-known “mantecate” (similar to today´s mantecados).
Photo by: @aniolvisuals
These “mantecates” did not last very long and hardener very quickly. To avoid that, Micaela decided to dry out the flour heating it, and removing the moisture. With this process, they were preserved for longer (the product was firm on the outside and tender on the inside) and resisted transportation and storage.
Due to this, her husband, who was a trader (cosario in Spanish), transporting goods between Estepa and Córdoba, began around 1.855 to take some of these products to sell on his travels.
Photo by: @aniolvisuals
Cosario (trader in Spanish) was the person who was dedicated to carrying other people or things from other town to another.
The clientele kept increasing until around 1.870, and Micaela decided to open a bakery to produce these products in larger quantities.
This bakery is still in operation today, managed by her descendants under the brand “La Colchona”, and it is considered the oldest polvorones and mantecados factory in Estepa.
Although in this post I have only made regular, chocolate and lemon polvorones, with this recipe you can make homemade polvorones of any flavour you like. You will only have to change the chocolate or lemon for the flavour you like the most!
Let´s go with this delicious Christmas recipe!
Difficulty: MEDIUM
Preparation time: 2 hours
Baking time: 20 minutes (flour) y 20 minutes (polvorones)
POLVORONES
INGREDIENTS (For 20 – 30 polvorones)
Dough
- 300 g flour
- 150 g pig lard
- 150 g icing sugar
- 100 g ground almond
Flavours
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1/2 lemon zest
PREPARATION
Firstly, heat the oven to 130 ºC / 266 ºF. Toast the flour for 20 – 30 minutes.
Stir ocassionally to avoid burning the flour. Let it cool.
Mix the flour with the almond, sugar and softener lard, and mix well until all the ingredients are integrated. Split the dough into three parts.
Add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder to one part. Add 1/2 lemon zest to another part and leave the third part with a neutral flavour.
Put the doughs in the fridge for 30 minutes.
On a floured surface, roll the doughs and cut them with a biscuit cutter.
Place the polvorones on a baking tray and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Bake at 180 ºC / 356 ºF for 20 minutes until the polvorones are toasted.
Let them cool and wrap them with polvorones paper. I have made them thin and, in each wrapper, I put two polvorones. By doing that, you can place different flavours in the same wrapper. However, the normal thing to do is to make them twice as thick and place one polvorón per wrapper.
POLVORONES
20 - 30
polvorones2
hours20
minutesIngredients
- Dough
300 g flour
150 g pig lard
150 g icing sugar
100 g ground almond
- Flavours
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 lemon zest
Preparation
- Heat the oven to 130 ºC / 266 ºF. Toast the flour for 20 - 30 minutes
- Stir ocassionally to avoid burning it. Let the flour cool
- Mix the flour with the almond, sugar and softener lard and mix well until all the ingredients are integrated. Split the dough in three parts
- Add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder to 1 part. Add 1/2 lemon zest to another part and leave the third part with neutral flavour
- Put the doughs in the fridge for 30 minutes
- On a floured surface, roll the doughs and cut them with a cookie cutter
- Place the "polvorones" on a baking tray and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge
- Bake at 180 ºC / 356 ºF until the "polvorones" are toasted
- Let them cool and wrap them with polvorones paper
Did you like this Christmas recipe? Go ahead and do it!
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