Mexican Cookies (Biscochitos)
Authentic Biscochitos (Mexican Cookie Recipe) – These sweet spiced Mexican cookies include cinnamon in the soft dough and a cinnamon sugar coating for bold, delicious, and irresistibly cinnamon-y flavor in every bite!
Why We Love This Mexican Cookies Recipe
These glorious Mexican Cookies are similar to Mexican Polvorones de Canele or Galletas de Canela, and New Mexican Biscochitos. However, they are less crumbly than the Mexican shortbread cookie version, and less work than the traditional New Mexican rollout cookies.
The simple Mexican Cinnamon Cookies – AKA biscochitos – are kind of like Snickerdoodles or an American sugar cookie, but they have less tang and more cinnamon spice flavor due to the fact that the cinnamon is in both the dough and the sugar coating.
The cookies come out of the oven soft and fluffy and, within a few minutes, become crisp yet with a delicate interior texture. Between the incredible flavor and texture, this easy biscochitos recipe may become your new favorite!
Ingredients You Need
For the Cookie Dough –
- All-purpose flour – or your fave gluten-free substitute
- Baking soda and baking powder – to make the cookies both fluffy and tender
- Salt – to balance the sweet and spicy flavors in the dough
- Cinnamon – use high-quality cinnamon for the best taste
- Granulated sugar – either white sugar or coconut sugar, if you prefer
- Vegetable shortening – or lard
- Eggs – at room temperature
- Mexican vanilla extract – the “real stuff” has a deep flavor that tastes cozy and warm
For the Cinnamon Coating –
- Granulated sugar
- Cinnamon
How to Make This Authentic Biscochitos Recipe
- Preheat the oven and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Add the granulated sugar and vegetable shortening to the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream the shortening and sugar together on high speed for a few minutes, until it is light and fluffy.
- Meanwhile, combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
- Once the sugar and fat mixture looks light and fluffy, beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. Turn off the mixer and scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Turn the mixer back on low speed. Slowly, bit by bit add the dry mixture to the wet mixture.
- Then turn off the mixer as soon as the flour is incorporated and the dough looks smooth. It is very important to not overbeat the dough!
- Combine the additional sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl to make the coating.
- Use a cookie scoop to portion out the dough. Roll the balls tight in your hands, then shake them in the cinnamon mixture. Place the coated dough balls onto the cookie sheets. Keep them at least 2 inches apart so the biscochitos are able to spread out a bit.
- Bake cookies until the edges look just barely golden brown. The centers will look slightly underbaked, and that’s ok!
Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheets for at least 10 minutes, so they finish cooking in the center. I know, it’s hard to wait! But trust me, it’s totally worth it.
Get the Complete (Printable) Mexican Cookies Recipe + Video Below. Enjoy!
Recipe Variations
- Gluten free – Use your preferred GF all-purpose flour replacement and NOT a gluten-free baking mix.
- Shortening vs butter – As with most Mexican cookie recipes, vegetable shortening (or lard) is used in place of butter. This creates a unique crinkly texture you will absolutely love. I don’t suggest trying to swap out shortening for butter in this recipe… Those will turn out more like crumbly polvorones when this recipe makes soft cookies. However, you can use butter-flavored shortening for additional flavor if you like.
- Vanilla extract—We like to use traditional Mexican vanilla to make this a true biscochitos recipe. It is ultra-concentrated in flavor but still smooth. But you can certainly use what we know as “regular” vanilla extract.
- Batch size – As-is this recipe makes approximately 36 small-to-medium sized cookies. Halve the ingredients to make a batch of 18 or so cookies. Or double the recipe to bake 72 Mexican cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cool them completely. Then, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Yes, biscochitos freeze very well! Place them in a plastic freezer bag – I recommend adding a small piece of parchment paper between the cookies if stacking. Squeeze out any excess air and freeze them for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for about 15 minutes before enjoying.
Crumbly dough, like what is used to make polvorones, is usually due to there not being enough moisture and/or the dough having too much flour. Be sure to use a spoon to evenly scoop the flour into a measuring cup, and level it off with a knife.
To fix too dry dough you can place it in a large bowl and gently mix in 1-2 tablespoons of water. But take care to not over mix the dough, or it can get even drier.
Looking for More Sweet Cookie Recipes? Be Sure to Try:
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Cake Mix Cookies (4 Ingredients!)
- Cinnamon Roll Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
- Compost Cookies
Get the Complete (Printable!) Mexican Cookies Recipe Below. Enjoy!
Mexican Cookies Recipe (Biscochitos)
Ingredients
For the Cookie Dough –
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup vegetable shortening regular or butter flavored
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons Mexican vanilla extract
For the Cinnamon Coating –
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lay out several baking sheets and line them with parchment paper.
- Set out a large stand mixer. Add the granulated sugar and vegetable shortening to the mixing bowl. Turn on medium-high speed and cream the shortening and sugar together for 3-5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, set out a separate mixing bowl. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. Mix well.
- Once the sugar and fat mixture look light and fluffy, beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. Turn off the mixer and scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Turn the mixer back on low speed, and slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture.
- Once the flour mixture is all incorporated and the cookie dough looks smooth and consistent, turn off the mixer so as to not overbeat the dough.
- Set out a small bowl for the cinnamon coating. Combine the additional sugar and cinnamon. Mix well.
- Using a 1 ½-tablespoon cookie scoop, portion out the dough into even balls. Roll the balls tight in your hands. Then shake them in the cinnamon mixture. Move the sugar coated dough balls onto the cookie sheets, at least 2 inches apart.
- Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the edges look just barely golden and the centers look slightly underbaked. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheets so they finish cooking in the center.
We love these cookies! I love the gluten free version in the recipe. These were gone in seconds!!
These cookies were so flavorful and easy to make. My whole family loved them. Cannot wait to make these again!
We’ve made these just a couple times, but they really are so good!! I love anything with cinnamon and they have the perfect amount! Time to make them again!
Hi Sommer,
May I use butter instead of shortening?