Made on Dec 25, 2010
Authentic Mexican Marranitos (Molasses Gingerbread Pigs)
Moist and rich-tasting beneath a glossy, ever-so-slightly flaky top. Not quite cookie, not quite cake. Marranitos — or cochinos, or puerquitos, as they are called in some Mexican-American communities — are often called “Gingerbread Pigs,” although they don’t actually have ginger in them.
My mother remembered marranitos fondly from childhood when my great-grandmother baked them. She always had some for Christmas. I’m so glad that I made these cookies for us to enjoy last year. Seems my great-grandmother didn’t use as much baking soda, as my Mom’s memory was the cookies were not as fluffy as mine.
My Mom passed away in August 2011.
Spending time with family is so precious. Sure miss her and my mind keeps forgetting that I can’t pick up the phone to say hi or go for a visit.
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My great-grandparents & grandparents fled from Mexico to the US during Pancho Villa’s ‘Mexican Revolution’. Starting over from next to nothing, but with their lives, they pursued the American dream! Thankfully back in 1913 immigration was legally just a matter of taking a train ride across the border.
My Grandmother’s marranito handmade cookie cutter is now an heirloom antique and not used anymore to bake.
Ingredients:
Cookies
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup unsulphured molasses
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
6 cups all-purpose flour
Egg wash
1 egg
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together brown sugar, shortening, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla until the mixture forms a firm paste.
- Add, mixing after each addition until blended, the molasses, egg and milk.
- Gradually add the flour, mixing to form a dough; Roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thick; cut with a large pig-shaped cutter; Place each marranito on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- In a cup or small bowl, beat egg; Using a pastry brush, paint tops of marranitos lightly with beaten egg.
- Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until browned.
Found recipe at http://www.food.com
*This recipe is from Fort Worth, Texas baker Marco Rangel, and is used for the cookies he sells at his bakery, the Panaderia San Marcos. It uses the non-traditional addition of cinnamon.
Music: Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas)
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Iranian-Armenian flamenco guitarist and composer
Music: Mi Burrito Sabanero
Con Mi Burrito Sabanero (With my Grasslands Donkey) is a wonderful Spanish Christmas Carol (or Villancico).
Author: Hugo Blanco
adaptation by: XURAZU
ritmo adaptado: Huayno selvatico
Album: Navidad En Las Alturas (Christmas In The Heights)
Members: Luis Ricaldi Rosas, Abel Ricaldi Rosas
Hometown: La Oroya, Peru
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© 2008 La Oroya – Peru