Polvorones (Mexican wedding cookies) (1941)

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Also sold at the local Wal-Mart here in Texas are "Polvorone cookies."  This 
free wireless internet is slow and not worth the money, and I don't have  
access to the Dallas Morning News and Austin newspapers yet, so I'll end this  
post here. "Polvorones"/"Polvoron" is not in OED (miserable on food). Any DARE  
entry (packed; my things come some time in the next year or so)?
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_http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/vol16/issue47/food.rvw.elazteca.html_ 
(http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/vol16/issue47/food.rvw.elazteca.html) 
 
El Azteca Restaurant  
2600 E. Seventh, 477-4701
Mon-Thu, 11am-9pm
Fri &  Sat, 11am-midnight 
A friend and I had lunch at El Azteca for old times' sake the other day. We'd 
 both been customers of the Eastside landmark since our college days, 
witnessed a  Democratic political meeting or two there over the years, and displayed 
our  share of the distinctive Aztec calendars for which they are justifiably 
famous.  Somehow, we'd just gotten out of the habit of regular visits and it 
was time to  correct the oversight. George Guerra welcomed us personally. He's 
taken over the  day-to-day operation from his parents and he learned his 
hospitality lessons  very well from the masters. 
Reading El Azteca's placemat menus is a Tex-Mex restaurant history lesson in  
itself. There is still a small section of American food (burgers, chicken,  
shrimp, steak, chicken-fried) and a section of numbered combination dinners 
from  the days when those were necessities. They were one of the first Mexican  
eateries to add a large section "for our vegetarian customers and friends,"  
circa the early Seventies. The elder Guerra added cabrito (kid goat) to  the 
menu and even took a stab at raising goats commercially for a few years  during 
the Eighties. As local restaurant patrons became more sophisticated, the  
Guerras added a few Interior Mexican dishes to the basic Tex-Mex fare. However,  
each dinner still includes a small, comforting scoop of sherbet or  
cinnamon-scented polvorone cookie, for years the standard traditional  sweet finale to any 
spicy Tex-Mex meal. 
With all those choices, I was still drawn back to my standard El Azteca meal, 
 one that I've enjoyed hundreds of times over the years. It's every bit as 
good  as I remembered. It begins with hot chips and Chile con Queso ($3.25 
small,  $4.95 large), which is of the traditional Tex-Mex variety: a thick sauce of 
 melted American cheese mixed with the house hot sauce. Once we'd polished 
that  off, it was on to entrées. El Azteca is one of the few local restaurants 
in town  to serve cabrito and the only place I've ever found Cabrito Flautas  
($5.95), flutes of corn tortilla filled with tender pieces of goat meat,  
delicately fried and napped with a fiery fresh ranchero sauce. The flautas come  
with savory Spanish rice and hearty refried pinto beans. My friend opted for her 
 favorite, the three Cheese Enchiladas with Salsa Verde ($6.50), rice, and 
beans.  She assured me that it, too, has stood the test of time. Plates clean, 
appetites  satisfied, we ended the meal with soft, sandy Mexican wedding 
cookies,  polvorones. Fresh from the oven, they were so delightful I had to have a  
bag to take home. They'll remind me not to wait so long before visiting El  
Azteca again. 
-- Virginia B. Wood  
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_http://experts.about.com/q/Bread-Pastries-746/cookies-2.htm_ 
(http://experts.about.com/q/Bread-Pastries-746/cookies-2.htm)  
Expert: Beth Milakovic
Date: 3/28/2005
Subject: cookies

Question
I want to  make Polvoron cookies ( mexican shortbread ) The recipe I have 
gives me cookies  that are hollow in the midle and also they don't spread much. 
The recipe is  very simple: 1 portion sugar,     1 portion shortening, 2  
portions flour and small portions of egg, baking powder and baking soda.
Can  you help me to improve them?
Thanks  
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(NEWSPAPERARCHIVE) 
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_Herald Press, The_ 
(http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Viewer.aspx?img=NuHyyu1GcYSKID/6NLMW2qjpEHJCnbBL68HmUqB+xttZIVxqICXOJw==)  _Saturday, December 17, 
1955_ 
(http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=polvoron+AND+date:1955-12-17)  _Saint Joseph,_ 
(http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=polvoron+AND+cityid:25538+AND+stateid:52)  _Michigan_ 
(http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=polvoron+AND+stateid:52)   POLVORON  as made in the 
Philip- pines is a sweet that children especially can  POLVORON 1 cup 
all-purpose flour. 'i cup sugar. 3- cup dried milk.  Vi cup butter 
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(PROQUEST)
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    1. _Front  Views and Profiles; 1941 Note. _ 
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=
467531922&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1159632277&clientId=65882) 
June  Provines. Chicago Daily Tribune  (1872-1963). Chicago, Ill.: Jul 24, 
1941. p. 11 (1 page)  
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_Polvorones._
Chicagoans invited to meet Carlos Chavez at a reception in McKinlock court  
at the Art institute this afternoon will eat Mexican cakes called "polvorones"  
with their punch. The word comes from _polvo_--Spanish for dust, so-called  
because there is so much shortening in the cookies they pulverize in the mouth. 
 A Polk street Mexican baker made them specially for the Pan-American Council 
 which, with the Ravinia festival committee is giving the patio tea. In 
Mexico  the cakes are eaten at fiesta time, says the baker, Manuel Quintanilla. You 
eat  a polvorone, then take a drink of hot chocolate and the polvorone melts  
immediately.
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    3. _The  Fiesta Begins With Gay Decor, Spicy Food_ 
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=2&did=883373712&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQ
T=309&VName=HNP&TS=1159631827&clientId=65882) 
Chicago  Daily Defender (Daily Edition) (1960-1973). Chicago, Ill.: Jun 15,  
1961. p. 18 (1 page) 
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    4.  
_Mexican  Cookbook For All Gringos; GRINGO COOKBOOK _ 
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=3&did=511546972&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT
=309&VName=HNP&TS=1159631827&clientId=65882) 
CECIL  FLEMING. Los Angeles Times (1886-Current  File). Los Angeles, Calif.: 
Nov 16, 1967. p. G1 (2 pages) 
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    5. _A  Tasty Adventure in a Mexican Bakery_ 
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=4&did=597262512&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQ
D&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1159631827&clientId=65882) 
MARY  DANIELS. Chicago Tribune (1963-Current  file). Chicago, Ill.: Jul 1, 
1971. p. B6 (1 page)  

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