Polvorones (Mexican Wedding Cookies)

1. Boil the water and steep cinnamon sticks for 30 minutes.
2. The day before, or the morning of if you make polvorones in the afternoon, sift the flour and almond flour in a baking sheet and toast gently while stirring often, in an oven preheated at 250 F / 120 C for 30 minutes. The result should be light brown.
3. Add the icing sugar and crushed almonds to the flour and almond flour and stir well.
4. In a large bowl, whip butter (or lard) until frothy.
5. Stir in the mixture of sugar, flour and almonds and mix.
6. Add the cinnamon-infused water, and the anise liqueur (or vanilla extract).
7. Form a dough and refrigerate for 2 hours.
8. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature.
9. There are two options to shape the polvorones:

Option 1

1. Flour the work surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of ¾ inch (2 cm) and cut out small circles of 1 inch (2,5 cm) diameter with a cookie cutter. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Option 2

1. Flour a work surface and form a cylinder of 1 inch (2,5 cm) diameter. Divide the dough by cutting ¾ inch (2 cm) wide sections and lay flat on a parchment paper. If dough is too soft, put the cylinder in the freezer for about 30 minutes in order to facilitate cutting.
2. Preheat oven to 480 F / 250 C for 15 minutes.
3. Then lower the temperature to 350 F / 175 C and bake for 10-15 minutes.
4. Allow to cool completely before handling as polvorones are very brittle.
5. Dust with icing sugar.