As a young girl my grandmother Ita would make Mantecaditos for me every time she came to visit from Ponce, the southern part of the island. I learned to make her recipe, a variation of Carmen Aboy Valdejully’s cookbook Cocina Criolla. Ita would alter the recipe and substitute vanilla for the almond extract and place guava paste pieces on top of the Mantecaditos instead of maraschino cherries.
This is a recipe that everyone in Puerto Rico should have. Mantecaditos are a constant at birthday parties and served as a snack or to accompany coffee or tea. They are the equivalent of the Italian Wedding Cookies, shortbread, thumbprints cookies and polvorones in other parts of the world. It took me a while to come up with this recipe, but now I have perfected it and people love my Mantecaditos. I make them for school activities, gifts, birthday parties and my family is crazy about them. It is easy to make and my children help me in the process. You may also divide the dough and add a little food coloring if you want to make them in different colors. Important to remember not to let butter become too soft or over knead the dough with your hands because the Almond Mantecaditos will turn out flat. You gotta be quick! Once I place the mantecaditos on the baking sheet, I place them in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes so they are a bit cold when I put them in the oven.
(Disclaimer for all the mantecadito purists out there: This is NOT the traditional recipe of mantecaditos.)
Enjoy!
Mantecaditos
Ingredients
makes 40 units
1/3 cup almonds (finely grounded in food processor), you can also use almond meal/flour
1/2 cup (8 tbsp) vegetable shortening (cold)
1/4 pound salted butter (one stick, cold)
3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp pure almond extract
selection of toppings: multicolor nonpareils (grajeas de colores), cinnamon sugar, colored sugar crystals, guava paste or maraschino cherries (halved). Also, you may dredge in super fine sugar (10×10) while still hot to make a sugar coating.
Procedure
1. Preheat oven 350ºF.
2. Place almonds in a food processor an pulse until finely grounded.
3. Add butter, vegetable shortening, sugar, pure almond extract and flour to finely chopped almonds in food processor and pulse until all ingredients are incorporated. Finish kneading mixture by hand in a bowl.
4. Measure a scant tablespoon and start making tiny balls with your hands (about the size of cherry tomatoes) and place in baking pan about 1 inch apart (I use a 12×17 inch jelly roll pan).
5. Once you have finished making the balls, make a “dent” in the middle of each ball gently (like thumbprint cookies, just that I don’t use my thumb I use my middle finger, but use whatever finger makes you happy.) Use your other hand to hold the dough so that you don’t make too many cracks in the sides while pressing down.
6. Fill “dent” with nonpareils or the toping you wish to use. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes before baking.
7. Bake for 20 minutes at 350º F. Remove from oven and leave in the pan for about 15 minutes to cool down. Store in air tight container.
These look fantastic.. Very nice blog too.. 😉 I will bring some feedback when I make them.
Thank you
thank you bobby. i took a look at yours and loved it. let me know how the mantecaditos turn out!
Hi Foodielady, its Alex, your new orlando florida friend….just wanted to inform you that while i was making my 2nd entry on your picadillo recipe, i decided to rush to the store and buy the stuff for my wife to make the mantecaditos…… like the picadillo, it was darn goooooddddd!!!! we had issues were we started making them to big, then we cut size in 1/2, but ended up with 72 total count, instead of the 40 total count you stated, so next them will make a bit bigger, the cost was inexpensive, our food processor worked beautifully, no need to buy the kitchen aid $245 blender as we were thinking. oh, and had to keep in over for an additional 5 minutes until they started browning a bit, so 25 min total – this was definitely a winner – keep up the great work!!!
congratulations! i mention in the recipes the kitchen aid machine I have but the mantecaditos dough can even be made with a wooden spoon and your bare hands. thank you for your detailed description for the benefit of other readers! i take them out of the oven as soon as i see the bottom brown a bit. that way the texture is crumbly and soft instead of hard. i recommend not to let brown the top and leave them as light as you can. Don’t go too far from the kitchen while you bake this recipe because one extra minute can spoil the mantecaditos! i’ll keep an eye out for the cocina criolla book and will let you know.
OMG, I was looking for a Mantecadito’s recipe, I’m going to try this one. I’m sure they are Deliciosos!
arlene: my recipe is a bit different from traditional mantecaditos because i include almonds besides the almond extract, but they are truly fantastic. don’t let them brown on top. buen provecho!
I just made a batch of Mantecaditos, they taste like Heaven!
To emphasize the almond flavor I roasted the raw almonds in the oven to bring out more of the almond flavor, let them cool and then chop in the food processor. I also found a very fragrant pure almond extract from Sonoma Syrup Co.
Both of these elements made the flavor POP! Yummy. So far I have enjoyed your recipes very much. Thank You and keep sharing.
great arlene! thank you for sharing your baking tips with us. i find most people share a universal love for delicious mantecaditos, don’t you think? je! it is very exciting to hear my reader’s comments and how they have improved my recipes. thank you for visiting my blog.
Gracias por esta receta tan deliciosa! he tratado muchas recetas la cual esta es la unica que esta buena y me quedare ciob esta,Saben riquisimos y un sabor divino!
Gracias por compartir con nosotros..
The Best Recipe!!
Aleida me encantas tus recetas y fotos! Hice los mantecaditos para el bake sale de mi hija y fueron un éxito!!!
Love your blog 😉
Cariños!!!
ana: me encanta escuchar success stories! gracias
Aleidita, estoy siguiendo tu blog y me encanta. Voy a tratar tu receta de mantecaditos.Thanks!!!!
nylsa: que bueno lo disfrutas! acuerdate de hornearlos frios para que retengan la forma! si se amasan mucho y se hornean temperatura ambiente pueden aplastarse o quedar como galletas. saludos!