Mexican Little Piggy Cookies
Written from México City by Norma Ruiz of La Cocina de Norma These are the famous Marranitos de Piloncillo, one of my country’s most traditional recipes. There are two types, the ones that are soft like the ones here, and the crunchy type. Both of them are equally delicious, but for now, I’ll give you the recipe for the soft ones. They are also known by other names or synonyms of little pig, like: marranitos, puerquitos, and in some towns in the Gulf of Mexico they are called chichimbres, which is believed to be a deviation of the English word gingerbread since the taste and texture resemble the latter.
Just to be clear, this is not the traditional recipe. I don’t have that one, as the people that do have it and sell the cookies in the streets of Mexico are very protective of their recipes and don’t share them, but I actually love this recipe and didn’t ask the street vendors for anything. I even think that these are better; the ones that they have are a lot darker, probably because they add molasses and that’s what makes them darker.
How to make Mexican Little Piggy Cookies
Directions:
- Break apart the piloncillo into smaller pieces and place in a small casserole. Add the water, cinnamon, cloves, and anise. (Please check the ingredients list below)
- Place on medium heat until the piloncillo completely dissolves and has been reduced to syrup. Set aside to cool. Once cooled, strain and save for later.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and vegetable shortening and mix well.
- Add the two (2) eggs and mix thoroughly.
- Add the syrup to the dough and mix evenly.
- Now, knead the dough a bit by hand (you will probably have to add some extra flour).
- Store in a plastic bag and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
These are the cookie-cutters that we will be using for the puerquitos; they are easy to find in Mexico, but if they’re not available in your country you can draw the pattern on a piece of cardboard and use that as a guide to cutting them instead.
- Once the dough has been refrigerated, it is time to cut the little piggies. There are two options for doing this:
- A. First Option: On a cookie sheet that has been greased with butter (or in my case covered with wax paper), spread out and flatten the dough with the rolling pin. Now cut the little piggies with the cookie cutter and remove the excess dough from the cookie sheet, leaving only the cookies.
- B. Second Option: Spread out and flatten the dough on another surface (I cut the plastic bag in half and use that); cut the puerquitos out with the cookie cutter and carefully transfer them onto the cookie sheet. Transferring the cookies isn’t that hard (it’s kind of like making tortillas by hand) but you must remember to be gentle since the dough is very soft.
- Continue like this until you’ve used up all of the dough. (I like the second option better).
- When you have finished cutting out all of the cookies, brush them with some of the lightly beaten egg.
- Place them in a 350°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes. (Remember to check them right after the 15 minutes since not all ovens are the same. The edges will look a little golden when the cookie is done). Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack.
- 125 grams of grated piloncillo
- 1/2 cup of water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 whole cloves
- 1 whole star anise
- 1 whole allspice berry
- 300 grams of all-purpose flour 2 cups plus extra to work the dough
- ¾ teaspoon of baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- 80 grams of vegetable shortening 5 tablespoons
- 2 eggs for dough + 1 for glaze
- 1 piggy cookie cutter
-
Break apart the piloncillo into smaller pieces and place in a small casserole. Add the water, cinnamon, cloves, and anise.
-
Place on medium heat until the piloncillo completely dissolves and has been reduced to syrup. Set aside to cool. Once cooled, strain and save for later.
-
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and vegetable shortening and mix well.
-
Add the two (2) eggs and mix thoroughly.
-
Add the syrup to the dough and mix evenly.
-
Now, knead the dough a bit by hand (you will probably have to add some extra flour).
-
Store in a plastic bag and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
-
These are the cookie-cutters that we will be using for the puerquitos; they are easy to find in Mexico, but if they’re not available in your country you can draw the pattern on a piece of cardboard and use that as a guide to cutting them instead.
-
Once the dough has been refrigerated, it is time to cut the little piggies. There are two options for doing this:
-
8A. First Option: On a cookie sheet that has been greased with butter (or in my case covered with wax paper), spread out and flatten the dough with the rolling pin. Now cut the little piggies with the cookie cutter and remove the excess dough from the cookie sheet, leaving only the cookies.
-
8B. Second Option: Spread out and flatten the dough on another surface (I cut the plastic bag in half and use that); cut the puerquitos out with the cookie cutter and carefully transfer them onto the cookie sheet. Transferring the cookies isn’t that hard (it’s kind of like making tortillas by hand) but you must remember to be gentle since the dough is vey soft.
-
Continue like this until you’ve used up all of the dough. (I like the second option better).
-
When you have finished cutting out all of the cookies, brush them with some of the lightly beaten egg.
-
Place them in a 350°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes. (Remember to check them right after the 15 minutes since not all ovens are the same. The edges will look a little golden when the cookie is done). Remove from oven and place in a cooling rack.
* As I mentioned above, this is NOT the original recipe.
** The dough is a very soft dough and you will need to add extra flour while you knead it to give it the consistency of a dough for soft breads.
Buen Provecho!
Mely,
I hope you enjoy them… they taste great!
More recipes:
Mango Mousse Recipe
Cassava Fritters
Woooooooooo se me puso la piel chinitaaaa de emoción que linda entrada amiga, gracias por invitarme, que dios te bendiga besitos con muchooooooo cariño.
Al contrario Norma, gracias a ti por todo el trabajo que haces al compartir tus recetas paso a paso.
Besos.
I always learn something new about mexican food when I visit you here 🙂
Que delicia Mely! I been craving cochitos! va estar dificil encontror the cookie cutter.
Hola Dora,
Puedes comprar el cortador con forma de cochinito en el enlace que aparece arriba en la lista de ingredientes.
Saludos guapa!
Go to “all things sweet” i believe they’re nationwide. They have tons of cookie cutters
They are so cute!!
Mely y Norma, tengo una receta de una tía, que solo pide canela como aromático y el color más obscuro es por el piloncillo. Aquí hay rubio y otro obscuro que es el que usan. Otra receta lleva manteca de puerco. Yo no los he hecho.
Besos
Hi, I was curious about the quantity of cinnamon… It's not listed in the ingredients.
Hello Dos Gatos,
Thank you for letting us know about the missing ingredients. That was my mistake, me while doing the translation.
Recipe has been updated.
Happy baking!
Thank you! I hope to try this soon.
Thank u so much I always wanted to make cochinitos. Gracias
It says 1 all spice.1 what? Teaspoon, tablespoon?
Hello,
One kernel, just one Allspice kernel.
What does it mean by cloves?
Hello,
You can see a picture on this link. In Spanish we call them "Clavos de olor" http://amzn.to/2ov8jVN
Y de los doraditos no tienen la receta?
Esos me gustaban más de niño, puro nostalgia.
Hi Mely,
I am about to try your recipe as my boyfriend is Mexican and loves them.
But how many cups is 125 gram of grated piloncillo?
And do I grate the piloncillo all the way at the beginning already at step 1. when you advice to break it into smaller pieces?
Or do I wait to grate till step 5.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Hello Patricia,
I always weight the piloncillo in pieces, then you grate it. It would render about 2/3 of a cup of grated piloncillo loosely placed into the cup. Happy baking. Just to be sure, taste the dough, it has to be sweet.