Biscochos + Video
Biscochos melt in your mouth – they are popular Christmas cookies in El Paso and New Mexico. Biscochos (or biscochitos) are delicate, anise flavored, dusted in cinnamon sugar, and totally addicting.
This is one of our family’s traditional Christmas cookies. My mom has been making these since she was 15 years old. Every year at Christmas, my grandma would ask my mom to make some because she loved the aroma of cinnamon during the holidays.
These fragile cookies melt in your mouth and contain the exotic addition of anise with a hint of cinnamon.
My mom also made these delicious cookies for many memorable occasions since then. They are a Mexican tradition for weddings, quinceñeras, and Navidad.
She used to make these cookies with me, my brother, and sister when we were little. She would roll out the dough and then we’d carefully cut the dough into diamond shapes using a paring knife.
Today she uses a cookie press which makes for a lighter cookie. Either way they are delicioso and just as beautiful to display as they are scrumptious.
She still makes them at Christmas for gift giving. It is a very popular cookie at Christmas time with Mexican Hot Chocolate or Champurrado.
The New Mexican state cookie
Did you know in 1989, the state of New Mexico adopted the biscochito (or bizcochito) as its official state cookie?
Lard
Lard is what really gives these anise-flavored Mexican sugar cookies their flaky texture, but you can use vegetable shortening in a pinch.
How to Grind Cinnamon Sticks
I highly recommend using freshly ground cinnamon for this recipe.
Place cinnamon sticks into a coffee grinder. If the sticks are too long, break them into smaller pieces by hand so the lid of the grinder can close. Start the grinder and run until the cinnamon has been completely pulverized.
What type of wine?
I recommend a semi-sweet white wine such as a Riesling, but orange juice can be substituted.
Cookie cutters
If you’ll be using cookie cutters, roll out dough in batches about 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick and cut with cookie cutters.
Cookie press
If you’ll be using a cookie press, add dough to press and shape cookies on prepared baking sheet.
How to store Biscochos?
These cookies can be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated for two weeks or frozen for up to three months.
Biscochos
Ingredients
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, freshly ground when possible
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- 1 pound lard or shortening
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup white wine, orange juice or water
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons anise seed
Sugar and Cinnamon Coating:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Sift flour with the next four (4) dry ingredients.
- Cream the lard or shortening until smooth. Add sugar, egg, vanilla, and liquid. Pour wet ingredients into flour mixture. Add anise seeds at this time and knead together. If mixture is too sticky add some flour.
- Roll out the dough onto a floured board or counter and cut out biscochos using a small-floured cookie cutter or you can put the dough into a cookie press using your favorite design. You will have to re-knead and roll out the dough several times until you have used all of the dough. Place the biscochos onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 8-10 minutes.
- While biscochos are baking, mix the sugar and cinnamon “coating” ingredients in a wide bowl. Set aside for coating baked biscochos. After baking, coat biscochos with the sugar and cinnamon mixture.
Video
Notes
Originally published: December 2010. This recipe is also published in the Muy Bueno cookbook.
77 Comments on “Biscochos + Video”
Do these bizcochos break easily and fragile resulting by melting in your mouth? This is the texture we are looking for; the elderly friend of the family passed away and she made delicious bizcochos cookies.
Hi Betty,
Yes, these cookies are delicate and fragile and melt in your mouth. I hope you make this recipe and keep me posted. Buen provecho.
gonna make a batch of these and see how they go…just from your ingredients I can tell they have to be amazing….I made some before and never found the recipe and tada! here it is! thank you for posting….i read up there in the comments you are from el paso….fellow west texan here…just up the road about 200 miles on I-10 : ) again thanks for recipe! time to bake!
Do you have to use ginger? anything I can substitute it for? dont have time to go and get ginger….would nutmeg work?
Griselda,
Sorry for the late reply. You can omit the ginger and the cookies should still taste fabulous.
Happy new year!
I’m so glad I found this recipe! My daughter just got engaged and of course wants biscochos at her wedding. I’m the cookie baker in the family so it’ll be up to me. I *love* these cookies but have never made them. Well, plenty of time for lots of practice, right…? 🙂
Congrats to your daughter Kathy and best wishes on the cookie making!
Thank you do much for this recipe, I have a recipe, but it is in one of three very unorganized boxes, this one sounds much like the one I used in my restaurant in Albuquerque. I will be using this one for our La Posada for our church in La Luz. Thank you so much for saving me the time of hunting through hundreds of recipes. I know these will be great…thank you
This recipe is almost exactly the one my family has passed down for generations. I would say the only difference is that our specifically uses port red wine. I love making them extra thin and crispy. Thank you so much for this recipe. I’m also originally from El Paso and this website reminds me of home.
How cool is that to see that someone else enjoys these, I make these for Xmas every year and my family and friends love them. Great Mexican tradition
Good biscohos, very much like the ones I grew up with, but not quite. My family is from Del Rio, Texas, so it fits that the recipe would be similar. However, there was something off that I couldn’t figure out the first day I made them, The general flavor was in the ballpark, but there was something missing that I figured out the next morning when I had them with my coffee–freshly ground cloves. Ground coarsely in a molcajete, the flavor compliments the anise and cinnamon, making for slightly spicier cookies. Yum! Thanks for posting this recipe.
I’m looking forward to making these as a cultural project for my Spanish course! I do have a question, though…can I freeze these?
Gracias!
Hi Elizabeth,
Oh how fun! Yes, you can totally freeze these cookies. We do that all the time!
Good luck!
Thank you for such a quick response! And I cant not wait to make these and enjoy them with the family 🙂
How many dozens does this make?
Hi Tina: this makes 300+ cookies so about 25 dozen. Enjoy 🙂
Was wondering if anyone had suggestions on what particular kind of wine to use?? I just recently turned 21 so do i just go to the liquoe store and say “hey, whats the sweetest white wine you have?” P.S. im making the cookies for my third grade classroom for a lesson on NM
Hi Brittany,
We usually suggest a white wine, as long as it is not sparkling you should be safe with any white wine option 😉 Keep us posted! Would love to hear what your students have to say!
I just wanted to let you know I’m *SO* happy that google had you guys on the top for this search. The best part is, you all are El Pasoans.. so I *know* the recipes are gonna taste like home just like how I remember. I live in NJ now, so finding a site like yours has truly made my year. Plus I get to share this special part of the holidays with my in-laws. Thank you SO much!
Monica, we are so happy to hear that you too love biscochos. Happy Holidays!
I am from El Paso and I have an old recipe but needed to know if could refrigerate at least a week. Thx to your blog found the answer . Also I will give your recipe a try tomorrow. Making some for sons engagement party, and a catch for mother of bride with gluten free flour. Is it possible to cut your recipe in half? Thx
They’re great! I kept half for my family and gave away the rest to neighbors and my son’s teachers. Thanks!
I’m excited to make these today. They look delicious! My great-grandmother’s recipe (which was sadly never written down) used red wine, giving them a pink color.
Sooooo, how did they turn out Nicole? I love the hint of pink idea 😉
What kind of wine do you use and how long do they keep fresh? Thanks!
Great question Judy. Our cookbook has those details, but our blog post does not 🙁 You should use WHITE wine 😉 Also you can refrigerate the cookies for a week, but we usually freeze them and pull them out as needed. They last for a LONG time in the freezer.
Feliz Navidad!
I have also been looking for a biscochos recipe! My tias both make them, but they don’t have time to write down the recipe….I will definitely give this recipe a try! I use to hope for a Quinceanera, wedding, or Christmas just so I could eat some….now I can make them whenever I want! Thank you so much for posting this recipe(:
Thank you so much for this recipe. Although I have eaten these all my life I’ve never made them. There really aren’t any bakers in my family except for me kinda and I’ve been wanting to make these forever. And these are the cookies that are served at weddings, quinceñeras, etc. serve. We all love these! I will use your recipe for my son’s first communion reception. Gracias!
Thanks for this Kick Ass recipe! DELECTABLE…..
My kinda compliment! Gracias Jamie! Feliz Navidad!
Se ven deliciosos!! Yumm…
My daughter used your recipe for her semester exams and the biscochos turned out so yummy!!! I’ve already had neighbors stop by to try them out for the first time! They were a big hit 🙂 I shared a link to your blog on my little blog.
Thanks again for sharing!
Gracias Celena! I’ll be sure to visit your blog and check out the cookies. Feliz Navidad to you and your familia. Thanks for sharing our blog.
I’ve searched & searched for the perfect recipe! This is it!! I’ve asked people I know who definitely know our hometown recipe but they aren’t willing to give away their secrets. Thanks so much for sharing! I can’t wait to start (or restart) new traditions with my kids!
Thank you TxNina! This is a very treasured recipe and we were planning to hold it for our cookbook, but with the spirit of Christmas we decided to share it after all. So happy you appreciate it. Best of luck sharing the tradition with your children.
These look good. can you use butter or margarine instead of lard or shortenening?
I’m not sure. We have ONLY used lard or shortening. I guess butter or margarine would work, but we’ve never tried. If you try them please keep us posted.
OMG! I love these cookies. They totally remind me of my maternal grandmother. She gone now, but she used to make tons of these in diamond or triangle shapes for Christmas. You definitley cannot have just one. I now make these during the holidays with a cookie press for my kids. Sniff, sniff…now I miss my Mama Luz. 😉
Now I am really missing home. Biscochos are one of my favorite cookies. They remind me of family weddings and the holidays. For those of you who have not tried these, Beware, you can not have just one. 🙂
Welcome Michelle! I’m so happy to see you comment on our blog! And I’m so sorry you are missing home!!! I might just have to deliver you a cookie gift for Christmas. Feliz Navidad amiga!