Kitchen project

Roscos de vino

Ingredients

1¾ cups + 2 tbsp (300 g) all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons (40 g) toasted sesame seeds
1/3cup (70 g) ground sugar or icing sugar
1/2 cup (100 g) butter
1 teaspoon of anise granites
1/2 (120 g) sweet wine
Zest of 1 orange
Icing sugar to decorate

1. To start with this easy dessert recipe, put the flour in a large frying pan on the stove. With a wooden spoon, stir to toast the flour. Stir it constantly to prevent it from burning. This step will take us about 10-15 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat and let it cool down.
2. You can toast the sesame seeds, or buy them toasted. If you bought the regular ones, toast until golden for about 5 minutes at medium temperature, if you bought the toasted ones just skip this step.
3. Once the flour is cold, sift it and put it in a bowl. Add the sugar, anise and orange zest. Mix to integrate the ingredients. Add the lard that must be at room temperature and soft so you can work with it and the wine. 
4. With a fork, incorporate the ingredients until you get a few wet crumbs. With the hand, form a compact dough ball. Place the dough on parchment paper on the work surface and flatten it. 
5. Cover with a new parchment paper and, with a rolling pin, stretch until it is 1 to 1.5 cm thick. It is a dough with a rather sandy texture, so you must compact the dough around the edges to tighten it, as you stretch it with the pin. 
6. With a large and a small cookie cutter, form the roscos de vino, as you would do with a doughnut. Place them on the baking dish.
7. Preheat the oven to 180º C for 10 minutes before baking the roscos.
8. Bake them (without the fan function), for about 12 to 15 minutes. It depends on your oven, so check them from time to time. 
9. Carefully transfer them to a rack, once they are baked and when they are still warm, coat them in icing sugar or ground sugar. This icing sugar is what gives them that characteristic snowy look. And that’s it, your classic Christmas cookies are ready.