Corico of My Dreams / Corico de Mis Sueños

I got home late from work last night. I was tired and although I was not too hungry, I had a huge craving for coricos, a Mexican cookie, so my plan was to make some coricos for dinner. The recipe I wanted to follow said to weigh some of the ingredients but I do not have a scale. I tried to make the conversions from kilograms to pounds and then to cups but I was not successful. Frustrated, I abandoned my plan and went to bed.

Last night I was so depressed because I couldn't make coricos that I had a dream about them. So I got up this morning with one thing in mind - I was going to make coricos even if I didn't own a scale! I played with the measurements from the recipe and the results were delicious!

When I was growing up our dinner was usually a glass of milk or a cup of hot chocolate accompanied with Mexican sweet bread. We used to fight among ourselves for coricos. My knitting and cooking club is meeting tomorrow at my house so I have prepared a big quantity of coricos and I'm going to surprise my sisters with them. There will be enough for everyone so no fighting will be necessary. :-)

Coricos are cookies made with corn flour and are traditionally made in the Northeast of México (Sonora and Sinaloa).

Here is my adaptation of a recipe taken from Mi Recetario, a Spanish language food web page.

Recipe for Coricos (about 36)

1 c vegetable shortening

1 c sugar

2 eggs

2 c corn flour (Maseca brand is what I like)

1 t baking powder

1 t vanilla

1/2 t salt

1/2 c warm water or orange juice (optional)

1/4 c whole wheat flour (divided)

In a big bowl cream vegetable shortening and sugar with an electric mixer until well blended; add eggs and continue beating until incorporated. Add the corn flour, baking powder, vanilla and salt and continue beating, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula. All ingredients must be well mixed. If desired you can add warm water or orange juice and a tablespoon of whole wheat flour, to better handle the dough.

After mixing all ingredients take a small portion of dough roll it between your hands to form a log the width of your index finger, forming a ring with the desired diameter (usually about 3 inches in diameter.) If the dough is soft and sticky use the remainder of whole wheat flour to dust your board and hands. Place the rings on a cookie sheet dusted with flour and bake in a 375°F oven for approximately 18 minutes. Start checking after 10 minutes and remove when they start to change color (take care not to burn, as they cook very quickly).

¡Buen provecho!