Orange Spice Pan de Polvo

Orange Spice Pan de Polvo is a new variation on the ubiquitous pan de polvo recipe that every in South Texas cherishes. We can’t have a holiday gathering, wedding or baptism without our favorite local cookie, but I thought it would be fun to try a new flavor. As we have so much citrus that we harvest around the holidays, spicy orange flavored pan de polvo seemed like a natural!

Orange Spice Pan de Polvo is a New Tradition

It took several tries to get the flavor just right, but I think this version of Orange Spice Pan de Polvo has just the right amount of orange zing. I love the crunchy anise seeds also, which is reminiscent of Santa fe style bizcocho cookies. If I were to personalize this recipe, I would probably add a full teaspoon of anise seeds, while other people may opt to leave out the anise seeds all together. However, I think this recipe has the right amount – not too much anise, but enough to enhance the orange flavor.

Also, traditional pan de polvo is all about the cinnamon, which I dialed back so that the orange flavor shined in these Orange Spice Pan de Polvo. Even the dusting sugar is unadorned with cinnamon, resulting in a crispier, lighter cookie.

Use More Flour to Keep Dough from Sticking

One piece of advice when rolling out your pan de polvo is to make sure you have enough flour to keep the rolling surfaces from sticking. Flour your rolling pin and surface, and knead a little extra flour into the dough to give the dough more body. It’s hard to give an exact amount of how much extra flour to work in, as humidity in the flour changes from region to region. As long as the dough is pliable and doesn’t stick to your rolling surfaces, the resulting cookies will be fine. Also, if your cookies are too delicate to handle when transfering from your rolling surface to your baking pan, you can knead in a bit more to give the dough more resilience.

I am very interested to hear if you like this variation on traditional pan de polvo, also known as polvorones or hojarascas. Please send me your comments! I will be making this recipe again and again as we became quite hooked over the holidays. Orange Spice Pan de Polvo is our newest holiday tradition!