celebrating Cinco de Mayo … Bacon Fat Polvorónes

If you weren’t aware, I’m a fan of pork fat. Using lard rather than butter in some recipes, particularly baking recipes, changes the flavor and texture for the better. A pie crust made with lard, or my preference of a lard/butter combo, is like no other. Today, in honor of Cinco de Mayo, I had the idea to do some very traditional Mexican cookies from none other than Chicago’s own Chef Rick Bayless. And I was going make them with lard.

Chef Bayless had a helluva week. Over the weekend he celebrated the 30^th anniversary of his perennial favorite Mexican restaurant, Frontera Grill. Then, on Monday, his fine dining restaurant Topolabambo received the coveted James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant. Last night, I dined in his latest restaurant, Leña Brava. I’m certain that last one was a career high note for him but it was a helluva good week Chef, a helluva good week. If you haven’t noticed, Rick Bayless is pretty much killing it these days.

I found a very simple recipe for a delicious cookie known as polvorón on his website. It’s a sort of Mexican shortbread containing just a few ingredients and common throughout the country. The name comes from polvo, the Spanish word for powder or dust, referring to the texture. It’s delicate and sort of crumbly, a bit like a French sablé, which is the French word for sand. Though the recipe calls for butter, more commonplace in today’s American kitchen, these cookies are traditionally made with lard so I made that version and they were great. Lard does something to a simple cookie of this type that butter doesn’t. The texture is crispy yet yielding, crumbly in that wonderful sandy way with a delicious, faint flavor that is hard to place. Yep, pork fat in all its glory.

As I ate one after the other, I thought it would be pretty lame to post the recipe exactly as written, without any adaptations or changes. That’s just reposting a recipe where someone else did all the work. I changed the shape but only because I prefer these cookies as small rounds rather than discs but, as good as they were, it really wasn’t enough.

That’s when I spied the container of bacon fat sitting on my kitchen counter. Hmmm. I’d been saving bacon fat for the last few months, for reasons that were unclear to me at the time. “I’ll do something with this”, I thought. But I hadn’t; until now that is. What if I made these polvorónes with bacon fat instead of regular, snowy white lard? I’m not really for bacon in baked goods as it usually comes off gimmicky but this could be interesting. Bacon fat is really just a flavored pork fat, so why not? It could also be a disaster. I was open to both possibilities.

I’m going to say two words about these cookies: DO IT. While the lard version was delicious the bacon fat version was even better. The cookies had the same great texture but the flavor had a little something extra; a slight, faint smokiness that was hard to place. While both are quite good, side by side, the bacon fat version wins.

If, like me, you’re saving up bacon fat for no particular reason you now have one. In fact, you should start frying up bacon on the regular just to accumulate some fat specifically for these cookies.

STRESS THERAPY BAKING FACTOR: FELIZ 5 DE MAYO! Chances are good you’re probably going to a party or two in the next few days – Cinco de Mayo and the Kentucky Derby always fall near each other. And you’ll probably find the same old things at those parties – guacamole and pimento cheese, margaritas and mint juleps, flan and derby pie. So why not mix things up and bring something made with bacon fat? A cookie made with bacon fat. I can say, unequivocally, that they will be gone in no time. Do it.

Other bacon fat recipes: Smoky Ginger Bacon Cookies, Bacon Waffles
Other Cinco de Mayo recipes: Spicy Mango Lemonade, Mexican Hot Chocolate, Scallop Ceviche, Queso Fundito, Cotija Cumin Shortbread, Mexican Corn Salad, Posole Verde, Machaca Enchiladas, Chicken Sour Cream Enchiladas, Mexican Chocolate Cookies, Mexican Chocolate Crinkles, Chocolate Churros, Mexican Chocolate Poundcake, Mexican Chocolate Pudding Pops, Avocado Lime Tequila Popsicles, Horchata Strawberry Swirl Ice Cream, Chocolate Dulce de Leche Swirl Ice Cream
Eight years ago: Chino Farms Strawberries
Seven years ago: Homemade Saltines
Six years ago: Homemade Crème Eggs, Kentucky Derby Tarts
Five years ago: Homemade Cultured Butter, Buttermilk Biscuits
Four years ago: Wine Country Adventures
Three years ago: Guinness Crème Anglaise
Two years ago: Flourless Chocolate Cookies
Last year: Turtleback Cookies

BACON FAT POLVORÓNES – adapted from this recipe
Makes about 45 cookies
If you don’t have bacon fat, lard is also very delicious. And if you don’t have bacon fat or lard, you can use unsalted butter.

For the cookie dough:
8 Tablespoons bacon fat, at room temperature but not liquid (4 ounces)
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg yolk
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
to coat after baking:
½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. For the dough: In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine bacon fat (it should be soft, but not liquid) with the sugar, salt, cinnamon and baking soda.
2. Beat on medium until smooth, about 1 minute.
3. Add the egg yolk, and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape the bowl.
4. On low, add the flour in three additions, incorporating each addition before adding the next. Scrape the bowl.
5. Line a small pan or baking sheet with parchment paper.
6. Pinch off a Tablespoon piece of dough and roll into a ball.
7. Place on the prepared pan and continue with the remaining dough.
8. Freeze the dough balls until firm, at least 4 hours or overnight. (Can transfer to a Ziploc bag and freeze up to 3 months at this point.)
9. To bake: preheat the oven to 350ºF with a rack in the lower and upper thirds of the oven.
10. Arrange frozen dough balls on a parchment or silicon mat lined sheet pan, leaving 1” between cookies.
11. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until the cookies has small cracks and bottoms are lightly browned, about 14-15 minutes from frozen.
12. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet set on a wire rack to lukewarm, 4 minutes.
13. Into a medium bowl, sift together the powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon then sift the mixture back over the lukewarm cookies.
14. Let cool completely.
15. Transfer to an airtight container to store. Bake cookies will keep, tightly wrapped, for several days. Frozen cookie dough will keep, also tightly wrapped, up to 3 months.

 

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