Marranitos or Mexican Gingerbread Pigs are a pan dulce, a sweet bread flavored with molasses. These thick cookies are sometimes called cochinos, or puerquitos because of the traditional pig shape. Marranitos are commonly found in Mexican Bakeries.
Natalia Del Pino and her family are members of Belmont United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Natalia learned to bake Mexican sweet breads with her grandmother. Some of these family recipes are over 100 years old.
Marranitos
Mix 1 1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 cup melted shortening
1 egg
1/4 cup water or cinnamon tea with anise
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla, mix everything together.
Add 3 1/2 cups flour (add 1 cup at a time)
1 cup unsulfured molasses
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Mix everything and refrigerate for 1 hour. Cut dough in half and roll each half in wax paper or clear wrap. Roll it about 1/2 inch thick and then use the cookie cutter to cut the cookie out. Put on a parchment or spray the cookie sheet with baking spray. Should make about 18 cookies.
Before baking, mix in a small bowl 1 egg and about 1 tablespoon of water, mix. This is called eggwash. Get a cooking brush and put some eggwash over each cookie before baking. This is optional.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes in the middle rack, now move the cookies to the top rack for another 5 minutes for a total baking time of 20 minutes.
Enjoy!
For more favorite Methodist recipes, visit UMC.org/OurUMTable or our page on Pinterest.
This video was produced by United Methodist Communications in Nashville, TN. Contact is Joe Iovino.
This video was first posted on November 24, 2020.
