Pan de Polvo, also known as Mexican shortbread cookies, are delicate, crumbly treats infused with cinnamon and anise. Popular in northern Mexico, especially during weddings and holidays, these traditional cookies are made with a simple dough and coated in a sweet layer of cinnamon sugar.
Pan de Polvo are super crumbly, like sweet little clouds that melt in your mouth, and they’ve been part of our Mexican traditions for generations.
I make the recipe now whenever I’m feeling nostalgic or want to share a piece of my heritage. The dough is simple, just flour, lard, sugar, and a fragrant cinnamon-anise tea—but the result is something special.
I love serving them with cafe de olla or giving them as a sweet little gift, just like my family used to.
Ingredients
- Flour: All-purpose works great, or use your go-to gluten-free blend.
- Cornstarch: Makes the pan de polvo cookies softer and keeps them from spreading too much.
- Lard: Traditionally made with pork lard. I skip shortening and go with butter if I don’t have lard.
- Sugar: Just regular granulated sugar.
- Cinnamon: You will need Mexican canela (cinnamon) for the tea and ground cinnamon for the coating. The cinnamon sticks can be found in many Mexican food stores or online and you can grind it in a molcajete or a coffee grinder, or you can substitute it with cinnamon powder too.
- Anise: Seeds or stars, whatever you’ve got on hand.
- Salt: Just a pinch to bring everything to life.
Pan de Polvo Recipe Step by Step
First, we’re gonna make a little cinnamon-anise tea. Just toss a stick of canela, a star of anise, and some water into a small pot.
Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for about 3 minutes. Set it aside and let it cool, don’t rush it, we don’t want hot tea cooking our dough!
Now in a big bowl (or your stand mixer if you’re feeling fancy), add flour, cornstarch, sugar, lard, and a pinch of salt.
Give it a quick mix, just until it’s crumbly and slightly combined.
Then pour in about ½ cup of that cooled tea and mix until it all comes together. The smell is already amazing.
Form the dough into a ball, wrap it up, and chill it in the fridge for 20 minutes, this helps it roll out nicely later.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 360°F (180°C), line a baking tray, and mix sugar with ground cinnamon for the coating.
Once the dough is chilled, lightly flour a working surface. Roll the dough ball into a sheet about ¼ inch thick.
Cut the shortbread cookies with a 1.5″/4cm rounded cookie cutter (or whatever you’ve got, honestly).
Then transfer them to the prepared baking trays, leaving about half an inch between each cookie so they don’t stick together while baking.
Bake them for 18–20 minutes until they’re just puffed and lightly golden.
Once they’re baked, gently lift the cookies with a spatula and roll them in the cinnamon sugar until they’re nicely coated on all sides.
Let your pan de polvo cool completely and try not to eat half the batch. They’re perfect with coffee, for gifting, or just because you’re craving something nostalgic and sweet.
Little Baking Notes & Tips
- Be extra gentle when taking the cookies off the tray, they’re super delicate and can break if you’re not careful.
- Coat them in cinnamon sugar while they’re still warm, that’s how it sticks best!
- Don’t forget to flour your rolling pin too, not just the counter, or the dough might fight back.
- Honestly, they taste even better the next day. The texture just gets perfect.
- With a small cookie cutter, you’ll get around 6½ dozen. Bigger cutters = fewer cookies and slightly longer baking time, so just keep an eye on them.
Recipe Variations
- Make them nutty: Toss in ½ cup of pecans, walnuts, or hazelnuts—just make sure they’re finely chopped, but leave a few chunky bits for that perfect little crunch in every bite.
- For chocolate lovers: Swap out ½ cup of the flour for about 1/3 cup of dark cocoa powder to make pan de polvo de chocolate. So good with coffee!
- Add vanilla: A little splash (about ½ teaspoon) of vanilla extract adds a soft, cozy aroma and flavor that pairs beautifully with the spices.
- Make them citrusy: Brighten things up with the zest of one lemon or a tablespoon of orange zest. It gives the cookies a lovely fresh twist that’s hard to resist.
Storing Like a Pro
If you’ve got leftovers, just pop your pan de polvo cookies in an airtight container and keep them at room temperature, they’ll stay fresh and tasty for up to a week.
In the fridge they’ll last about two weeks there, maybe a bit more.
Now, if you made a big batch or want to save some for later, freezing is super easy. You can lay them in a container with parchment paper between the layers so they don’t stick.
Or, just freeze them flat on a tray or plate for an hour or two, then toss them into a resealable bag or container.
They’ll keep perfectly for up to 4 months, and you’ll thank yourself later when the craving hits!
More Mexican Cookies Recipes
Pan de Polvo (Mexican shortbread cookies)
Equipment
- 1 round cookie cutter about 1.5″/4cm
Ingredients
- 1 lb all-purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch
- ½ lb pork lard (or butter)
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ tsp salt
For the tea
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 1 anise star
- 1 cup water
For coating
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Add water, the cinnamon stick, and anise star in a small saucepan.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes. Allow the cinnamon tea to cool completely.
- Place flour, cornstarch, lard, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Mix with the flat beater attached to the mixer (or with your hands) until the ingredients are loose combined.
- Add ½ cup of the cinnamon tea and knead until everything is combined into a dough.
- Transfer the dough to a floured surface and form a ball. Wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 360°F/180°C and line a large cookie tray with parchment paper.
- Lightly flour a working surface. Roll the dough ball into a sheet about ¼ inch thick.
- Cut the dough with a 1.5″/4cm rounded cookie cutter and then transfer the raw cookies to the prepared baking trays.
- Gather the dough scraps, roll them and cut out more cookies until all dough is used.
- Bake between 18 and 20 minutes or until the cookies are slightly golden and puffed.
- Carefully, remove the cookies with a spatula and coat them on all sides with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
- Place cookies on a wire rack and allow them to cool down completely before enjoying.
Notes
- Be extra gentle when removing the cookies from the baking sheets because they’re very delicate and can easily break if you’re not careful. Using a thin spatula helps a lot!
- Make sure to coat the cookies with the cinnamon sugar while they’re still hot. If you wait too long and they cool down, the sugar won’t stick as nicely.
- When rolling out the dough, don’t forget to flour your rolling pin as well as the surface. This keeps the dough from sticking and makes rolling much easier.
- I really recommend waiting until the next day to eat these cookies. That little extra time makes their texture softer and more crumbly, which is just perfect.
- You’ll get about 6½ dozen cookies if you use a small cookie cutter. If your cutter is bigger, you’ll have fewer cookies and the baking time might change a bit, so keep an eye on them while they bake!
Nutrition Information
Did you like my pan de polvo recipe? Then please don’t forget to rate it and leave us a comment below. For more inspiration, follow me on Pinterest, YouTube and TikTok!
Question:what happened to the other half of the cinnamon tea? Am I missing a step? Or do we only need to make 1/2c?
Sometimes the cinnamon tea reduces a bit as it simmers, but you don’t need to use it all. Start with 1/2 cup, then add a little more only if needed :)
These babies were super delicious😳💖
I made these and they didn’t have much of a taste. Needs more Anise and I used butter and probably should have stuck with lard.
Hello just a real quick ?Do you really need the anise seeds or can you just boil the cinnamon alone ?
Anise is only for flavor/aroma, if you don’t like it or don’t have it available just skip it and make the tea only with cinnamon. Enjoy your pan de polvo! :)
Excellent and well written.
For novices I would add:
1 Lb all purpose flour = 3-1/3 Cups
1/2 Lb butter = 2 sticks.
I’m from South Texas.
I’ve been making these for years in various ways. Lemon, Chocolate, Orange, Vanilla Stawberry, and Coffee are my most requested flavors.
This is wonderful, Frank, thank you. I’ll add a note in the post and recipe card with the conversion.
Question for Frank: I’ve never made pan de polvo and intend to do so. You mentioned you make them in various ways/flavors. Would you share how you do this, for example if you make Lemon or Chocolate, what do you add, how much added, and do you delete something from the recipe to accommodate the changes. Really appreciate your measurement tips (novice here!) Thank you :)
Lastly, question to anyone: Do you use lard or butter, which is better, the difference? Thank you
Hi Brenda! Pan de Polvo is such a beautiful cookie to start with, and I love that Frank shared his flavor variations. For your last question, traditionally these cookies were made with lard, which gives them that extra crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Butter, on the other hand, adds a richer flavor and is what most people use today since it’s easier to find. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with either, it just depends if you want that classic old-school texture (lard) or buttery taste (butter).
As for Frank’s flavor variations, maybe he’ll pop back in and share his tips, but in general you can add flavor by using citrus zest, extracts, or even swapping part of the liquid for strong coffee, depending on the taste you’re after. A little goes a long way with these cookies!
Hi Mari! I am from Monterrey but I live now in the Philippines, your pan de polvo recipe looks exactly as I remember and can’t wait to try it because it remind me of my abuelita when she used to buy it for me when I was a kid, thank you so much for the memories, I’ll be back to tell you how it was.
Gracias paisana!