Feliz Cumpleaños Nuevo México

On a recent Friday while I was still sick (pretty sure it was the plague), New Mexico celebrated its 100^th birthday. I had originally planned to track down a Mexican grocery store and make tamales and biscochitos. In the end I honestly can’t remember how I spent the day, but I think it involved drinking ten cups of tea and copious amounts of sleep. Now I am finally feeling better and felt like giving New Mexico a belated birthday party. After scouring the internet for the best biscochitos recipe, I chose one from a true New Mexican blog, Gabriela's Kitchen, and got started. What my cough syrup addled brain failed to realize was that when you combine one pound of lard with six cups of flour, you are making a LOT of cookies. Hours of rolling and cutting later and I have two huge plates of cookies. My best guess is that I made over 150 cookies today. They are flaky, sweet, and oh so delicious, and gave me an excuse to share the love with my friends. Happy birthday New Mexico!

Gabriela's Kitchen Biscochitos

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups lard (1 pound box)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 teaspoons anise seed
6 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sweet white wine (plus 1/4 extra if needed)
1/2 cup sugar + 1 Tablespoon cinnamon

• Cream together the lard and 1 1/2 cups sugar. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and anise, add to the lard/sugar mixture. Mix well.
• In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add this dry mixture to the wet mixture. Knead well with your hands until dough sticks together, it should be slightly sticky but able to form a firm dough ball. If the dough is too dry add more wine a teaspoon at a time, if it is too sticky add more flour a teaspoon at a time.
• Divide the dough into three large balls and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight so the dough becomes firm and manegable.
• The next day preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough with a liberally floured rolling pin on a liberally floured surface 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Dip one side of each cookie into cinnamon-sugar mixture and place on cookie sheet sugar side up. To ensure all cookies bake evenly, bake each shape cookie in batches of alike shapes and sizes. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the bottom of the cookies are brown and the tops are golden.
• Remove from oven, and immediately dip in cinnamon-sugar again, dipping them while they are warm is key to getting the cinnamon sugar to stick. Store in a cool-dry place or freeze for up to six months.