The tender, crunchy, and beautiful tri-color Mexican sugar cookies known as polvorones are a family favorite, especially around the holidays.

My simple polvoron recipe requires just 10 ingredients and 15 minutes of active time to make, meaning you can easily bring the delicious scents and flavors of your favorite panaderia home!

What are Polvorones?

Polvorón is Spanish for “powder” or “dust,” which is meant as a descriptor of how these tasty shortbread cookies crumble as you eat them. Polvoron is also the singular of polvorones.

While they originated in Spain in the 1400s and are often classified as a type of mantecado cookie (which means they are made with lard, a.k.a. manteca), dozens of varieties of polvorones have since emerged across Latin America and the Philippines. It shouldn’t be surprising; this cookie dough is so versatile!

Using the same recipe, you can make a variety of shapes and colors, then cover it with your choice of toppings. They can be flat or domed. Sometimes they are served with a dollop of jam or jelly in the center, similar to thumbprint cookies.

Traditional Mexican polvorones cookies are large, and triangular, and feature pink, yellow, and brown (chocolate) colors. You can easily swap out the shapes and hues to fit your preferences. You can also add different flavorings to make your own flavor combinations; citrus zest, nuts, and extracts are all easy additions.

I dusted my mini polvorones with granulated sugar after baking to give them a sparkly exterior, but feel free to experiment and brush yours with an egg wash and then bake them with colorful sprinkles. You could also dust them with powdered sugar once they are fully baked and have cooled for more of a “snowball” appearance that is consistent with Mexican wedding cookies.

These tri-color Mexican cookies are perfect for Christmas gift-giving or to enjoy all to yourself with a cup of Café de Olla. They’re also an excellent dinner party dessert served alongside Ponche Navideño (Mexican Christmas Fruit Punch), Mexican Hot Chocolate, or my Easy Spiced Mulled Wine.

Ingredients & Substitutions

As promised, you only need 10 simple ingredients to make this polvorones recipe. Here’s what to grab:

• Unsalted Butter & Butter-Flavored Shortening – Cookies made with shortening rise better and are more tender, but those made with butter are more flavorful, delicious and rich. Using a combination means you get the best of both worlds! Feel free to swap in salted butter if that’s what you have on hand. You can also use regular shortening and add 1/2 teaspoon of imitation butter flavor.
• Powdered Sugar – Also known as confectioner’s sugar, this powdery sweetener is essential to getting the proper melt-in-your-mouth consistency. If you don’t have any on hand, you can easily make your own using sugar, cornstarch, and a food processor.
• Baking Powder – Not to be confused with baking soda, this is used for leavening. Don’t try to make the swap; it won’t work.
• Egg – Let it come to room temperature to make it easier to work into the dough.
• Vanilla Extract – For richness.
• Wheat Flour – Using wheat flour in this recipe creates denser, heavier cookies that hold their shape during baking and gives these cookies a nuttier, heartier flavor.
• Cocoa Powder – For flavor and color. I typically use Dutch-process cocoa because it is less bitter, but feel free to swap in regular cocoa, black cocoa for even darker color, or cacao powder instead.
• Food Coloring – I used red and yellow to make the traditional tri-color cookies (alongside the part that is colored with cocoa powder), but you can easily swap in your own favorites.
• Granulated Sugar – While this is optional, I love adding a bit of sparkle to my polvorones. Feel free to swap in different colors of sanding sugar to match your color palate. You can also brush the cookies with an egg wash and add different colors of sprinkles or non-pareils before baking, or wait until the cookies are cooled entirely and coat them in powdered sugar instead.

How To Make Polvorones Mexicanos

Since these are shaped shortbread cookies, there are a few more steps than what you’d find in a drop cookie recipe. Rest assured, none of them are difficult! Here’s how to make these delightful Mexican sugar cookies:

Step 1: Cream the butter, shortening, and powdered sugar together until smooth.

Step 2: Add in the egg, vanilla, and baking powder. Gradually, add in wheat flour, mixing to combine after each addition. 

Step 3: Knead the dough with your hands on a flour-dusted work surface.

Step 4: Add Color. Divide the dough into three equal parts and place them in separate bowls. Add pink or red food coloring into one portion of dough and knead until it reaches the desired color; add yellow food coloring to the second bowl and knead until it reaches the desired color. Add cocoa powder to the last dough ball and knead until thoroughly combined.

NOTE: If you want to add different flavors for the yellow and pink colors, this is the time to do it. Consider adding citrus zest and/or lemon extract to the yellow dough, and/or try almond extract or pulverized freeze-dried strawberries to the pink dough.

Step 5: Chill. Cover the containers of dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Step 6: Shape. On a lightly floured surface, roll each color into a cylinder with a diameter of about 2-inches and 16 to 18-inches long (for mini cookies). Place the three colors side by side on a large sheet of plastic wrap. Cover tightly with plastic and roll gently to fuse the three colors together.

NOTES: I shaped the cookie dough roll into a square, but feel free to adjust for round cookies, or place two rolls of cookie dough on the bottom and one on the top to form a triangle. You can also feel free to pause after shaping and freezing the dough; it will keep in the freezer for up to 2 months!

Step 7: Prep. Freeze shaped dough for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Step 8: Cut. Take the dough out of the freezer, remove the plastic wrap, and cut the cylinder of dough into 1/4-inch thick pieces. Place cookies onto the prepared baking sheet.

Step 9: Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly golden. 

Step 10: Dust with granulated sugar while warm. Allow to cool, then enjoy!

Optional Variations

While I love making these tri-colored Mexican shortbread cookies to look and taste like my childhood favorites, there’s plenty of room to customize them to your liking.

• Mexican Wedding Cookies – Omit the cocoa and food coloring. Add about 1/2 cup of chopped, roasted nuts to the dough and skip the shaping step. These should be formed into a slight dome shape, so use a cookie scooper to assist you. Bake as directed, then cool entirely before sprinkling liberally with powdered sugar.
• Polvorones de Canela – These are essentially the Mexican version of snickerdoodles. Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough, omitting the cocoa and food coloring. Roll into a single log, then slice and bake as directed. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar while still warm.
• Different Colors – Pink, yellow, and brown triangles are the polvorones I grew up with, but since then I’ve taken to making them in different colorways to suit different needs. Consider making a batch with your school colors for the annual PTA bake sale, go red, white and green for Christmas, etc.
• Mix-Ins – Citrus zest, flavor extracts, warming spices, and finely chopped nuts are all fair game. You can also add a dab of jam, jelly, or cajeta in the center of larger cookies or use the preserves to sandwich two cookies together.

Do you have a favorite iteration of polvorones that the world should know about? Let me know in the comments.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Mexican Cookie (Galletas) Recipes

• Alfajores (Dulce de Leche Shortbread Cookies) + Video
• Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies
• Cajeta Thumbprint Cookies
• A Primer on Mexican Pan Dulce

Photography by Jenna Sparks 
Originally published: December 2019