The New Mexico state cookie, an anise- and cinnamon-scented delight, is served at every December gathering short of a fast-food breakfast. Lori Delgado shares this scrumptious recipe, which began with Agnes Trujillo, a friend of her mother-in-law, Angie’s. Whether you spell it biscochito or bizcochito, you’ll call these cookies wonderful.

Ingredients

5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 pound lard, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1½ tablespoons ground anise seeds

½ cup orange juice, fresh or from concentrate

1 ounce (2 tablespoons) whiskey

Topping

¼ cup granulated sugar

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Makes about 6 dozen medium-size cookies

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425° F.
  2. Sift together 5 cups flour, baking powder, and salt.
  3. Beat lard in electric mixer, gradually adding sugar until extremely light and fluffy; about 8 minutes. Stop mixer every couple minutes to scrape down sides of mixing bowl.
  4. Add eggs singly, beating in each one before adding the next.
  5. Mix in dry ingredients, beating only until incorporated.
  6. Add anise seeds, whiskey, and orange juice. A stiff, pie-crust–like dough is what you’re after.
  7. Add some or all of remaining flour, as needed, to get proper consistency.
  8. Spoon dough into cookie press, if you wish. Push out dough into shaped cookies on ungreased cookie sheets. If you don’t have a cookie press or prefer to make them with cookie cutters, the dough can be rolled out ¼ inch thick on floured work surface and cut into favorite shapes, then arranged on cookie sheets. In either case, avoid handling the dough more than necessary.
  9. Bake cookies 12 to 15 minutes.

For the topping

  1. While cookies bake, stir together topping ingredients.

Assembly

  1. Transfer cookies to baking racks to cool.
  2. Gently roll cookies in topping mixture. If not eaten sooner, cookies will keep a week.