


Gavina's King Ranch Pan de Polvo Recipe
Enjoy This Traditional Mexican Wedding Cookie. Made to Serve 100 People (Share with Family and Friends)
How to make one of our favorite Christmas foods, the traditional Mexican wedding cookie, Pan de Polvo. This recipe has been adapted from a conversation with Gavina, who was a chef at the King Ranch. For 100 people you make about 10 pounds of Pan de Polvo and that’s not too much to go around, but feel free to share them with friends, family, and co-workers.
INGREDIENTS:
6 pounds of Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour
3 pounds of Crisco Shortening
2 Cups of Granulated Sugar
2 Cups of Cinnamon (Anise) Tea*
Cinnamon/Sugar**
DIRECTIONS:
Makes 10 pounds (to share with family and friends)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream shortening and sugar. Gradually add to this mixture alternating amounts of tea* and flour, mixing after each addition.
Roll out to 1/4-inch thickness on lightly floured surface. Cut to desired shapes with small cookie cutters or with small juice glass with narrow lip. If using round shape, overlap the cuts to make half-moons and ovals. Bite size cookies are best.
Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. Carefully remove WARM cookies from sheet and roll gently in Cinnamon/Sugar mixture.**
*CINNAMON TEA:
Add several sticks of cinnamon to 3 cups of water. Bring to boil and turn to simmer for 20 minutes. Cool. Pour through sieve or strainer and reserve 2 cups of tea. (Some people add anise seed to both the tea and the cinnamon sugar.)
**CINNAMON/SUGAR
Coarsely grind 3-5 cinnamon sticks in blender (Mexican cinnamon sticks are very long, unlike the prepacked ones found in the small jars on traditional US grocery shelves).
In a medium-sized bowl, mix fresh cinnamon with 2-3 cups of granulated sugar. Add commercially ground cinnamon to mixture for added color and flavor. Toss warm cookies gently in mixture to completely cover.
Best eaten fresh, these Mexican Wedding Cookies keep for several weeks if refrigerated, but they often don’t last long enough to use refrigeration around here.

Hosting King Ranch Style
The King Ranch Cookbook:
Find 250 more regional recipes developed from over a century of ranching in the Wild Horse Desert in our King Ranch Cookbook.
Dining Essentials:
Find our selection of camp cookware and other dining essentials and be equipped for hosting during the holidays right here.
Trim the Tree and Stuff the Stockings:
with a little help from our Holiday Gift Guide. Make sure you have your gift list covered — and with plenty of time to get them wrapped and ready. A Saddle Shop gift will be handed down from generation to generation.
Celebrate with New Traditions:
Make a reservation at the King Ranch Texas Kitchen restaurant and take the family for an evening out. More information can be found here.

I have spent most of my day looking at the King Ranch. I had borrowed the two books on the King Ranch and was so hooked on the life of the people who inspire it.
Joan Fitzgerald
Dayton , Tx.