Masa podrida

A very short crumbly cookie made with yolks only and no liquid at all.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter).

Ingredients

• 300 g plain flour
• 120 g caster sugar
• 200 g butter, soft
• 4 egg yolks
• 0.25 teaspoon salt
• 0.5 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 egg yolk, for brushing
• 30 blanched almonds

Method

1. NO LIQUID AT ALL -- no milk, no water, no whole egg. The dough is held together by butter and yolk only, which is what makes it collapse into crumbs the moment you bite it. A tablespoon of milk makes it easier to handle and ruins exactly the quality the cookie is for.
2. Because of that, the dough feels wrong while you work it: dry, crumbly, reluctant. Press it together rather than kneading it, and trust it.
3. Cream the butter and sugar 4 minutes until very pale and light -- longer than usual, because this aeration is doing work that liquid would otherwise do.
4. Yolks in one at a time, beaten in fully. Zest and salt.
5. Flour in in two goes, worked with a spoon and then pressed together by hand just until there is no loose flour left.
6. Chill 1 hour, wrapped. Butter-only dough at room temperature is impossible to shape.
7. Roll heaped teaspoons into balls, flatten each slightly, and press an almond into the middle.
8. Brush with the extra yolk. Well apart on lined trays.
9. Bake at 160C for 16 to 18 minutes, until set and barely coloured except at the very base. Browned, the butter tastes fried.
10. Leave them on the tray until completely cold. Moved warm they disintegrate, and there is no way to rescue them.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes