Biscochitos

   Well, I do need to start putting some recipes on here from New Mexico, as well.  I do a good bit of New Mexican cooking, too. Recipes have been given to me, since I moved here, or sometimes I research and try to make them myself.  I was given this recipe by a friend I used to work with  a few years ago.  He said it was a recipe that his wife made all the time, and they ate them up around his house. I had tried biscochitos store bought, and a few homemade, so I had an idea of different tastes that they had. I tried the recipe and I loved it, and have been making them for a snack for some time, now.  They are really easy to make, too.
   Biscochitos, it is said, was introduced to Mexico around the 16th century by Spanish explorers. Biscochitos, also known as biscochos, have become a New Mexican tradition, as well. Everywhere you look over here, you can find biscochitos in every shape, form, and flavor, for sale. Lots of family owned New Mexican food restaurants sell them.  I go into Garcia's New Mexican restaurants and buy them all the time! They are everywhere! They taste so good, too!  They are considered a Christmas treat but traditionally they were also enjoyed at celebrations such as weddings, baptisms, and quinceaneras. In 1989 the bizcochito was declared as New Mexico’s state cookie,  making it the first state to have an official cookie. They have their own unique taste to them, but the closest I can describe them is something similar to a cross between a sugar cookie and a shortbread cookie~only Hispanic, and can come in different flavors.

Biscochitos
1 cup sugar
2 cups lard, or butter
3 tsp anisse seed, crushed
2 eggs
6 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup orange juice
1 cup milk
  * Topping:
           1/2 tsp cinnamon & 1 cup sugar

Mix sugar, lard and anisse, until creamed.  Fold in eggs.

In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients,  sifted flour, salt, sugar.  Pour into the sugar and
eggs mix. Add orange juice and milk to make the dough. Should be moist, after mixing,
and not sticky or dry.  If mix is sticky, add more flour. If mix is dry, add more orange
juice.  Refrigerate in a bowl covered with plastic wrap until mix hardens.

Take a small chunk of the mix out of the bowl, at a time and roll out on to a floured
surface.  With a rolling pin, roll into 1/4 to 1/2 thickness.  Cut into fancy shapes.

In another bowl, mix the topping with sugar and cinnamon, and dip one side of the
cookie shapes into it. Place on cookie sheet lined with ungreased parchment paper,
sugar side up
.
Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Makes between 3 & 4  dozen cookies.