I love a good shortbread cookie recipe. My kind of cookie is buttery, with a touch of almond, and tastes rich. That is why whenever I go to Puerto Rico, I return with a few bags of my favorite cookie of all time – polvorones!
Polvoron – the Spanish shortbread cookie
Whenever I eat a Spanish shortbread cookie I think of visiting Puerto Rico with my family and spending time with my godmother. She makes the most delicious desserts from flan to quesitos and, yes, polvorones, too! Everything she made was so good and I realize now she was a mother of six children who still found plenty of time to bake.
I’ll be honest I never really thought about the fact that those early memories of making desserts with my godmother is a big reason I still enjoy baking today. Shout out to my madrina <3
What’s a polvoron? You probably are not familiar but it is a Spanish shortbread cookie. The word “polvo” in Spanish means powder. As you can guess polvorones are a dry and crumbly – you take a bite and it’s everywhere. I love the crunch and almond taste, but I don’t bake these often enough!
Well the other day I finally did, and I’m sharing my recipe here with you.
Nothing compares to homemade polvorones, but you can actually order similar cookies on Amazon as a treat.
So let’s dive into that recipe!
What’s your favorite cookie ever? Tell me about it in the comments below!
Polvorones: The Spanish shortbread cookie
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup Crisco
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 2/3 cup flour
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- confectioners sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Combine Crisco and sugar until you make a paste.
- Beat and add egg, almond extract and mix until combined.
- Add salt. Then flour, little by little, mixing until all incorporated. Note, this cookie dough tends to be crumbly but as long as you keep mixing it should work its way to be shapeable.
- Place cookie dough onto a strip of parchment paper, then add a second parchment paper on top and roll dough flat to be about 1/2 inch thick.
- Cut cookies so they are 1-2 inches in diameter.
- Bake for about 20 minutes. Then sift some powdered sugar over the cookies.
- Cool, and keep these shortbread cookies in Tupperware for up to a week.
Hi. In the procedure you say to mix the flour and baking powder… but, in the ingredients there’s no mention of the baking powder. Can you correct that, please? Would love to bake these. Thanks!
Paul – thanks so much for letting me know about this error. Baking powder actually is NOT part of the recipe 🙂 I’ve made the correction in the procedure now. I hope you enjoy them!
Thank you! I’ll let you know how they turned out!
Can I freeze them? If yes, for how long?
Hey Stella, shortbread cookies typically can be frozen for up to 3 months, but you have to be careful with them since they are a crumbly cookie. I would freeze them in single layers for a couple of hours and then place them in an airtight freezer bag afterwards. When you’re ready to use them, defrost them in a single layer until they come to room temperature before serving.