Christmas is 3 days away, or two if your celebrations happen to take place during Nochebuena, as they do in my family.
Our Christmas Eve celebrations were always filled with dozens and dozens of tamales, warm atole, ponche, and my mom’s ambroisa fruit salad. Everyone would always sit around the living room eating tamales and drinking atole, as a movie about the story of baby Jesus played on Univision, and the tradition never really changed.
This is my first year not hosting Christmas, which means I get to bring dessert! I thought about bringing over my Horchata tiramisu, or maybe even my café de olla chocoflan, but I settled on baking cookies and bringing over marranitos, polvorones, and these Mexican sprinkle cookies (which also happen to be called polvorones!) that everyone can enjoy along with their atole or coffee.
These cookies are known by so many different names; galletas con chochitos, polvorones Mexicanos, galletas grageas, it all depends on who you ask. They’re essentially a sugar cookie, crispy on the outside but soft and cakey on the inside, and they are covered in rainbow sprinkles. You can find them at most panaderías, and they are extremely easy to replicate at home, making them a good baking project to do with your family or kids!
I’ve got one more recipe to share before the year is over, and I promise it’ll be a savory one. I hope you have a wonderful Holiday season with your loved ones, y nos vemos pronto!
- How to Make a Traditional Mexican Rosca de ReyesFeliz Año Nuevo, today we’re making a traditional Rosca de Reyes from scratch! What is a Rosca de Reyes? Rosca de Reyes, or King’s Cake, is a traditional cake that we enjoy on January 6 (and in the days leading up to it), to celebrate Día de los Reyes Magos, or Three Kings’ Day. This is a yeasted cake in the shape of a round or oval ring. It is adorned with strips of a sweet streusel topping and dried fruits meant to represent the jewels of a crown. If you’ve never had it before, beware! There’s usually a plastic doll representing baby Jesus hidden somewhere in the rosca de reyes. According to tradition, if you happen to get the slice with the baby in it, you have to host a get together and make tamales on February 2 for Día de la Candelaria!
- How to Make Sweet Pineapple Tamales (Tamales de Piña)Today I’m sharing a recipe for sweet pineapple tamales, from the Chicano Bakes cookbook! If you are looking for more tamal recipes, make sure to pick up a copy of Chicano Bakes. It is currently on sale for about $15 over on Amazon, and the book has many recipes for tamales, including sweet strawberry tamales, sweet corn tamales, as well as red beef and green chicken tamales, and tamales de rajas con queso. I made sure there was something for everyone! What are tamales? Tamales are a traditional Mexican dish typically comprised of a corn dough, or masa, made from nixtamalized corn flour, as well a filling, either chicken, pork, beef, fish or vegetables, wrapped in a corn husk or banana leaf, which is then steamed. What are sweet tamales? On the other hand, sweet tamales, incorporate a sweet fruit puree into the dough, and sometimes will fold in fruit as well. Popular sweet tamal flavors include strawberry, sweet corn, pumpkin, and pineapple, which is what we’re making today.
- Blackberry Margaritas + Blackberry Simple Syrup RecipesWe’re making a blackberry simple syrup and blackberry margaritas today! Temperatures are reaching over 110° this week here in Fresno, which means these blackberry margaritas are going to be a delicious way to keep cool. For the past couple of weeks, my backyard has been bursting with boysenberries and blackberries, and consequently, I’ve been using them for aguas frescas, paletas, and the margaritas we’re making today. Additionally, I’ve got passion fruit on the vines that are in the process of ripening. If you have any suggestions for recipes you’d like to see them in, let me know below!
- How to Make Traditional Mexican Shrimp CevicheHola Hola! Today we’re making traditional Mexican shrimp ceviche! Now that it is beginning to feel like Summer, I’m starting to crave more seafood, and shrimp ceviche is one of my favorite ways to enjoy seafood. It’s simple, it’s so fresh, and it’s also an easy way to load up on veggies. The recipe we’re making today actually comes from my first cookbook, Chicano Eats: Recipes from my Mexican-American Kitchen.
- How to Make a Refreshing Pineapple Mango Agua FrescaToday we’re making a refreshing pineapple mango agua fresca! Last week I dusted off the grill for some carne asada and made this agua fresca to go along with our tacos, and didn’t realize I hadn’t shared the recipe yet. So, I’m sharing it with you today! It’s light, it’s refreshing, and perfect for the hot weather we have coming up. Although we’re making an agua fresca today, this recipe would also work great for paletas. Simply omit 1 1/2 cups of water, add extra sugar, and pour into your favorite paleta molds.
Find an updated recipe for Galletas Grageas
in my new book, Chicano Bakes!
Galletas Grageas, Polvorones con Chochitos (Mexican Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles)
Ingredients
- For the Cookies:
- 2 1/4 cups All-Purpose flour (281 g)
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 3/4 cups Butter room temp (170 g)
- 3/4 cups Sugar (150 g)
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 1 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 oz Rainbow Nonpareils or Rainbow Sprinkles
- For the Egg Wash:
- 1 Egg whisked
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt, then set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla for 2 minutes on medium speed, until fluffy and pale in color. Reduce the speed to low and add the egg yolks one at a time, waiting until the first one has been fully incorporated before adding the second. Then gradually add the flour mixture, one cup at a time, until it’s all fully combined.
- If you'd like to use a cookie scoop, use a small cookie scoop to scoop out 20 balls of dough. Pour the sprinkles into a bowl, and bounce the balls of dough into the sprinkles to help them stick. Evenly space out on a large baking sheet lined with parchment, then bake at 350° degrees for 22-26 minutes, until the cookies are lightly golden in color. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving
- If you are using a cookie cutter, Divide your cookie dough into 4 equal sized portions of dough. And let them chill in the fridge for 15 minutes, then preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll the chilled dough out to ¼ to ⅓ of an inch on a well floured surface.
- Use your cookie cutter to cut out the cookies, then evenly space them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. (You should be able to get about 4 cookies per ball of dough with a 4-inch cookie cutter).
- Once you have your cookies on your cookie sheet, brush on the egg wash, add sprinkles on top and then bake for 9-10 minutes. Place your cookies on a cooling rack and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
3 Comments
Rosa
May 4, 2020 at 1:03 pmMade them, tasted excellent but it was really falling apart after I let the dough sit in the fridge for that hour. I had to make them quick before the fell apart when placing them on the cookie sheets. So edges were thin but middle of cookie was the right thickness. Any suggestions? Would make them again.
Sydney
May 9, 2020 at 12:24 pmI made this recipe with gluten free almond flower. They came out AMAZING!!!! If you want thicker cookies make a double batch. I left dough in the fridge a little longer than an hour.
Blanca Aguilar
May 13, 2020 at 12:15 pmDeliciosas” Las prepare y salieron muy bien, cuando las probé guauuu viaje en el tiempo y me llevaron a mi infancia en Mexico. Muchas gracia.