Mazapanes Sevillanos

Makes 50

Between a biscuit and a shortbread, Mazapanes Sevillianos are the perfect companion to coffee or hot chocolate, perfect for the holidays.

In addition, these cookies can be prepared with different ingredients to the nut flavor of your choice such as walnuts, almonds, peanuts, or pine nuts.

Ingredients:

35 oz. AP toasted flour

9 oz. AP raw flour

14 oz. powder sugar

9 oz. pecans, almonds, or the nut of your choice

14 oz. pork lard

2 oz. butter

1 tablespoon of rum

Directions:

The first 35 oz. of flour should be toasted.

How to toast the flour; in a large skillet put the AP flour on low heat for about 15-20 minutes. It must be stirred continuously without stopping to prevent the flour from burning. This process is carried out until it has acquired a golden shade. Allow the flour to cool for about 10 minutes.

Sift the flour to remove any lumps that may form when toasting it. This step is essential since these lumps are quite hard and it would be impossible to break them when kneading the mixture.

Preheat your oven to 350ºF

Mix the toasted flour with the raw flour and powdered sugar.

Finely chop the nuts of your choice and mix them with your flour mix.

On a working bench mix the soft butter and the pork lard and work it with your hands with the dry sifted flour mix and nuts until all becomes together, add the rum, little bits at the time.

Once it all is well combined and a loose dough has formed, mold the cookies and place them on a sheet pan to bake 20 to 25 minutes until they begin to brown around the edges.