Polvorón

This bite-sized confection dissolves like powder in the mouth. Polvorón is a Spanish confection made by combining wheat flour, fat, sugar and other ingredients and baking them to a crumbly texture. Versions made with almonds are well known, and they also appear in Christmas assortments. To deliver this fragile confection far afield without it breaking, care is taken at every step, from heating before the flour is mixed, to cooling after baking, to individual wrapping.

A name derived from its powdery, crumbling texture

The Spanish word polvo means powder or dust. The Royal Spanish Academy’s dictionary explains the name as a combination of pólvora, referring to a solid substance reduced to fine particles, and a suffix. Today pólvora also means gunpowder, but in the confection’s name it relates to the dough’s tendency to dissolve into powder. The name does not refer only to the white powdered sugar dusted on top.

Heating the flour and almonds before mixing

A distinctive feature of the Estepa method is how the flour is handled before the ingredients are combined. The wheat flour is heated beforehand as if to dry it, bringing its moisture to a suitable state. The almonds are also roasted first and chopped as needed, and the sugar is ground into powdered sugar.

Lard, powdered sugar, cinnamon, flavorings and so on are combined, and the flour is added last and mixed until the color and texture are uniform. The aroma and dryness of the flour and nuts are adjusted by heating them before mixing. In the Estepa method, rather than adding water and kneading, fat is worked into the dry flour. When wheat proteins absorb water and are kneaded, they form gluten networks, but when fat is distributed through flour with little water, strong networks are less likely to form. The low moisture and the action of the fat create a mouthfeel that dissolves like powder, unlike a supple, stretchy dough.

Shaping is done by hand or by machine. Each piece is formed in a mold and baked, so that the color and texture are even all the way through. Fine cracks form on the surface, and the finished piece holds together on the outside while crumbling softly inside.

The shape and formula set for Estepa’s certified products

Andalusia’s “Polvorones de Estepa” is a protected geographical indication that includes the place name, and it was registered in the EU in 2016. The specification published by the regional government defines it as a baked confection using wheat flour, lard, powdered sugar, almonds, cinnamon, and flavorings such as lemon and vanilla, and it also sets upper limits on the product’s moisture and pH as control values.

Under the same specification, the almond content relative to the whole dough is at least 8% for the traditional type and at least 15% for the casero type. Casero means “homestyle,” and among certified products it refers to the type that uses more almonds. The pieces are oval, with maximum dimensions of 4 centimeters on the short axis, 7 centimeters on the long axis and 2.5 centimeters in thickness, and a maximum weight of 50 grams. Conditions like these are set even for the size of each individually wrapped piece.

These are characteristics of the product bearing the Estepa place name. The general name polvorón is broader, and makers’ traditions also continue in places such as Tordesillas in Castile and León.

Cooling and individual wrapping protect the fragile confection

After baking, the pieces are cooled, coated with powdered sugar and then wrapped. Wrapping them while hot tends to cause moisture to condense inside the packaging, so cooling is not only about appearance but also affects their condition after packaging.

Under the Estepa specification, the production process includes packaging within the production area. There is flow-pack wrapping, which is heat-sealed, and a double-pleated wrap that gathers both ends into tufts; both protect the fragile confection from breakage, excessive drying and rancidity of the fat. Care is also taken in packaging so that the shape stays intact until the wrapper is opened.

Overlap with mantecados

Polvorones belong to a family close to mantecados, which are made with flour, fat and sugar. Some mantecados use cinnamon and sesame, coconut, cocoa, lemon, almonds and so on, and in everyday usage the names also overlap.

Estepa’s almond polvorones are marked by their oval shape and powdered-sugar coating. Because there are also mantecados with almonds, the two cannot be fully distinguished by the single point of whether they contain nuts. Comparing the shape, formula and surface finish defined in the production area reveals the difference between the two confections.

From a homemade confection to a product that could travel

Estepa has a history connected with the Convent of Santa Clara and home confectionery. The 19th-century improvement by Micaela Ruiz Téllez, as related by the producers’ association, was a technique of finely refining and toasting the flour of the traditional “tortas de manteca,” firming and drying the outside while keeping the inside soft. The account is that she preserved the flavor and shape so they could be delivered far away through her husband, who worked in transport.

The same association marks 1870 as the turning point when they came to be sold as a product suited to packaging and transport. Confections made from flour, lard and sugar themselves existed before then. Along with Christmas demand, in addition to confectionery production, work in packaging manufacture, printing and transport also expanded.

The saying that repeating the name three times brings happiness

Introductions to the confection in Japan also include the story that saying “polvorón” three times before it fully crumbles in your mouth will bring happiness. The specialty shop at Shima Spain Village and HIBIKA also present it as a confection of happiness or one that makes wishes come true. As a play on words tied to its tendency to crumble in the mouth, the saying now accompanies it when it is given as a gift. Whether this custom originated in old Spanish weddings is unclear.

Philippine polvorón: toasted flour pressed in molds

Philippine polvorón is made by toasting flour, then mixing in powdered milk, sugar, butter and so on, and pressing the mixture in molds to set it. The order of heating differs from the Spanish method, in which the pieces are baked again after shaping.

The flour is stirred constantly in a pan, and when it turns light brown and becomes fragrant, it is taken off the heat and cooled. Powdered milk and sugar are mixed in, the mixture is bound with butter and left to rest briefly, then pressed out with small molds, and each piece is wrapped in paper or cellophane. Some versions add pinipig, cashew nuts, cocoa and the like.

Bound with fat and carrying the milky flavor of the powdered milk, it is less a baked confection than a sweet made by gathering fine powder into a bite-sized piece. In addition to its place as a Spanish Christmas confection, in the Philippines it has been passed down as an everyday snack and as a treat at festivals.

Glossary