Paola Velez’s mantecaditos are flavorful and colorful.
“No matter how often I bake these butter cookies for my mom — or how many I bring — they vanish almost immediately,” baker and author Paola Velez writes in her cookbook, Bodega Bakes: Recipes for Sweets and Treats Inspired by My Corner Store.” “Lucky for me,” Velez continues, “I can keep up, since they’re so easy to prepare. In between visits, I just make batches of the dough, pop them in the freezer, and wait for the inevitable phone call.” Easy to prepare, freeze, and eat? Sign us up.
Velez’s mantecaditos — butter cookies with icing — call for a cup of butter along with a cup of powdered sugar, which means you’re in for a good time. A touch of nutmeg adds a hint of nutty flavoring that is just subtle enough to give an impression of warmth without overpowering the dessert. But our favorite part (besides all that butter) is the finishing touch: icing made with whatever fruit juice you have around the house.
According to Velez, you can use grape juice, orange juice, cranberry juice, or fruit punch — and if you want to get really experimental, she says, “if you have V8 Splash and want to make a V8 Splash cookie, I’m here to make that happen for you.” This is the kind of culinary experimentation where there are no wrong answers.
Paola Velez’s Recipe for Lala’s Mantecaditos
Makes 18 cookies
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1 cup (2 sticks/225 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (125 g) unsifted powdered sugar, plus more as needed
- 2¼ cups (315 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Icing:
- ¾ cup (95 g) powdered sugar
- 1 to 2 tablespoons fruit juice (as mentioned above, take your pick!)
- Pinch of citric acid
- Pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
Make the dough: Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and powdered sugar. Pulse the mixer on and off a few times to start incorporating the sugar so it doesn’t fly all over the place, then mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until fluffy and pale.
In a medium bowl, lightly whisk together the flour, salt, and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl with the butter mixture and pulse the mixer on and off, almost like you’re trying to jumpstart a car, so the flour gets gradually incorporated. When the flour is mostly combined, mix on medium-low for about 5 minutes, until the dough is sticky and a little glossy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to catch any flour that didn’t get mixed in.
Set a very large piece of parchment paper on the countertop, then use a spatula to transfer the dough to the parchment. Use your hands to form the dough into a rough log shape, then wrap the log in the parchment. Using a ruler, your bench scraper, or a butter knife, shape the dough (working through the parchment to avoid sticking) into a more symmetrical log that is 18 inches in length and 1½ to 2 inches in diameter. Refrigerate the dough for 10 to 20 minutes to get it firm enough to cut.
Unwrap the dough and slice it into 1-inch-thick rounds. This next step is optional, but I like to shape the rounds so they’re more like little mounds with shallow divots than flat discs. To do this, I grab the rounds in between my index finger and my thumb and gently squeeze so that the dough rises up a bit. Then I make a little dip in the middle with my thumb. It should look like a short mountain with a little crater in the middle.
Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least ½ inch between the cookies and ½ inch between the cookies and the edges of the pan.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until slightly golden on the bottom. (If the bottom is very dark, the cookies are overbaked. Note that this cookie will remain pale on top.) Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the Icing: Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl and create a well at the center. Add the fruit juice, citric acid, and salt to the well and whisk until all the ingredients are incorporated and the icing is fluid enough to slowly run off your whisk.
Transfer the icing to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip (alternatively, just use a fork or spoon to drizzle the icing). Freeform drizzle the icing over the mantecaditos in the pattern of your choice.
