Sevillian homemade polvorones

Homemade polvorones . If we ask all our followers which of the Christmas sweets that we have in our dessert recipes   is the one that they like the most, I am sure that the vast majority, those who do not answer the nougat, will say the almond polvorones . I think there will be few houses where, on these dates, they do not have among a host of desserts, the obligatory polvorones .

But if we start talking about polvorones in Spain , we cannot fail to mention the polvorones of the Steppe, in the province of Seville, one of the cradles of this sweet that has, since July 2014, Protected Geographical Indication IGP Mantecados and Estepa polvorones , which guarantees and regulates its quality. Polvorón is actually a specialty that we can include in mantecados . In particular, the Sevillian polvorones , of which I leave you the recipe today, have as their main difference with the mantecado that does not use sesame or sesame among its ingredients and that the flour is always toasted before using it. They also have a part of ground almond that gives them that unmistakable flavor.

In summary, its main ingredients are lard, flour, sugar and almonds, as well as a pinch of cinnamon. As you can see easy to find and simple ingredients that will create a delicious sweet that you can perfectly prepare at home. If you want to surprise your friends, do not hesitate, get down to work to prepare this traditional Christmas sweet, I promise you will be surprised.

Preparation of Sevillian polvorones

1. We start by roasting the flour and for this we only have to incorporate it into a large frying pan and put it on the fire, stirring constantly until it has acquired a shade of coffee with milk.
2. It is very important that we regulate the temperature and stir without stopping to avoid that the one in contact with the pan does not burn us. This step can take between 15 and 20 minutes. We remove the pan from the heat and let the flour cool down before using it.
3. Once the flour is cold, we sift it to eliminate the lumps that have formed when toasting it. This step is essential since these lumps are quite hard and it would be impossible to undo them simply by kneading the mixture.
4. In a bowl, mix the toasted and sifted flour with the ground almonds, cinnamon and sugar. We stir well so that all the ingredients are mixed. The theme of ground almonds has its crux. In my experience, if we use a ground almond at home, which is what I have done, it will have much more moisture than what we can buy packaged. This will totally influence the final result, especially for this type of preparation. Keep this in mind when regulating the amount of lard or flour, to compensate for the total humidity.
5. We incorporate the lard and with a fork we begin to incorporate it with the rest of the ingredients. It is essential that the butter is at room temperature, soft to be able to work it. We are going to have a sandy mix.
6. We pour the mixture on a baking paper on the worktop. With your hands we compact the dough until it forms a surface about 1 or 1.5 cm thick. The consistency of the dough is that you can have a beach sand ball when we use only wet sand. If we press it it will fall apart but if we work it carefully it will stay perfect.
7. With a round cutter we make the portions of the polvorones and place them on a baking tray. We collect the cuttings and repeat the operation of compacting and smoothing to continue making the polvorones. We keep the polvorones in the fridge for a few minutes until they are hard.
8. With the oven previously heated to 180ºC, with heat up and down and without a fan, we bake the polvorones for 13 or 14 minutes, until we see that they begin to brown on the edges. We remove the polvorones from the tray with great care and place them on a rack until they cool. The moment of removing the polvorones from the oven source is very delicate, since they are still hot they can be broken very easily. So we must go slowly and calmly. Once cold they will acquire hardness.
9. When the polvorones have cooled, sprinkle them with powdered sugar and we will have them ready.

We can enjoy them like this, without more or prepare them to make a great gift for these dates. A nice box and a dozen Sevillian polvorones carefully wrapped in tissue paper will be a gift of category, don’t you think?

You can see all the photos of the recipe step by step in this photo album.