Cuban Sugar Cookies (Torticas de Moron) Recipe | Magnolia Days (2024)

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Cuban Sugar Cookies (Torticas de Moron) Recipe | Magnolia Days (1)

Birthday parties are so much fun. Surprise parties are even better. All the secret planning and preparation builds such excitement. The moment the guest of honor gets the big “SURPRISE!” it is worth it all. And guess what? It’s someone’s birthday and some bloggers got together to throw a virtual party. The guest of honor is Carla of Chocolate Moosey!

SURPRISE! Happy Birthday Carla!

We have lots of treats to share. I brought Cuban Sugar Cookies (Torticas de Moron) with a dulce de leche topping. As soon as our host Jen of Juanita’s Cocina invited me to the party I knew I had to make something caramel-y. Carla is the one who gave me great advice the first time I made caramel sauce. I had a big failure then and tweeted about it. Carla came to the rescue and replied with helpful tips and advice. The second batch was a major success and I have her to thank.

This time I wanted to try dulce de leche. It is a type of caramel. I was inspired by Carla’s Dulce De Leche Milkshake. In her post she wrote how you can make your own with sweetened condensed milk. I followed the link to the Bakers Royale guide and decided to try the cooking it on the stove method. I wanted it to be smooth for topping the cookies. I thought I had another big caramel fail going.

I cooked the sweetened condensed milk for six hours. The guide said four but what was coming out of the holes on the top of the can was not the right color. It was still as light as it started. At six hours I turned off the heat and set it aside. I tweeted about the fail and guess who responded? Yep, it was Carla once again.It was not a failure at all. When I opened the can and poured it into a dish, the bottom was the right color. I stirred it and put it in the fridge. A little while later it was the right thickness too. Success!

Cuban Sugar Cookies (Torticas de Moron) Recipe | Magnolia Days (2)

A little about the Cuban sugar cookies. They are called Torticas de Moron and I have wanted to make them for the longest time. The first time I had one was at this local Cuban restaurant about 15 or so years ago. I’ve seen them at Publix too. Those are a little thicker than my cookies. I wanted to be really authentic although it was difficult to narrow down which recipe was truly from the city of Moron where they originated. Several recipes called for shortening or lard. It is probably more the authentic way however I went with one using butter. The cookies have a touch of citrus from lime zest. They are rich, buttery, and similar to shortbread.

Cuban Sugar Cookies (Torticas de Moron) Recipe | Magnolia Days (3)

Carla is a talented and giving person. She is one of those kind people who will help you in any way she can. Her food photography tutorials have greatly helped to improve my photos. I am setting my white balance and using different backgrounds, setups, lighting, and much more because of her tips. She is also a great friend. She has wonderful recipes too. You have to check them out on her blog -> Chocolate Moosey

There are lots of tasty treats for this virtual party! Check out what everyone is bringing:

Happy Birthday Carla! My very best wishes to you today and in all the days to come. May your life be filled with success, love, health, and happiness!

Cuban Sugar Cookies (Torticas de Moron) Recipe | Magnolia Days (4)

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Cuban Sugar Cookies (Torticas de Moron) with Dulce de Leche

A recipe for Cuban sugar cookiesalso called Torticas de Moron. These buttery and shortbread-like cookies have a hint of citrus from lime zest plus a dulce de leche topping.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Author Renee

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2cupsall-purpose flourunbleached recommended
  • 1teaspoonsalt
  • 1/2teaspoonbaking powder
  • 1cupunsalted butter2 sticks, at room temperature
  • 1cupgranulated sugar
  • 1large eggat room temperature
  • 1 1/2teaspoonslight rum
  • 1/2teaspoonvanilla
  • 2teaspoonsgrated lime zest
  • 1can of dulce de leche

Instructions

  1. In a medium bowl, add the flour, salt, and baking powder. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed for 1 minute. Add the sugar and continue to beat for 4 minutes, until it is light and fluffy. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.

  3. Add the egg and beat 1 more minute to combine. Scrape down bowl as needed.

  4. Add the rum, vanilla, and lime zest, and beat to combine.

  5. Add the flour and beat on low speed until just combined. Do not over-mix.

  6. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a round disc. Wrap each one with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.

  7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or non-stick liners.

  8. On a lightly floured surface, roll out a disc to about 3/8-inch thickness. Cut out the cookies with a round 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter. Place the cookies on a baking sheet. Gather up excess dough after cutting the cookies, shape into another disk, and roll out for more cookies. Use your thumb, small teaspoon, or the end of a pestle to make a small indention in the center of each cookie.

  9. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator and chill for 10 to 20 minutes to firm up the dough. Repeat rolling and cutting process with second dough disc.

  10. Bake the cookies until the edges are lightly golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and cool completely. Top each cookie with a dollop of dulce de leche.

  11. Store cookies in a sealed container at room temperature.

Recipe Notes

A recipe for Cuban sugar cookies also called Torticas de Moron. These buttery and shortbread-like cookies have a hint of citrus from lime zest plus a dulce de leche topping.

Recipe adapted from one on the Cooking Channel website.

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Cuban Sugar Cookies (Torticas de Moron) Recipe | Magnolia Days (2024)

FAQs

Where did Torticas de Moron originate? ›

These delightfully sandy cookies originated in Morón, in central Cuba. Some recipes call for only four ingredients: flour, shortening, sugar and lime zest. But this one goes a step further, adding salt and vanilla to amplify the other flavors. The shortening is essential here, and traditional to the recipe.

What were sugar cookies originally called? ›

The sugar cookie is believed to have originated in the mid-1700s in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. German Protestant settlers created a round, crumbly and buttery cookie that came to be known as the Nazareth cookie. Jumbles are the earliest form of sugar cookies.

Why are frosted sugar cookies so dry? ›

Tips for baking soft sugar cookies

If there's too much flour, the cookies will turn out dry and they will not spread. If possible, measure the flour with a food scale. Otherwise, to ensure the exact amount, gently spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level if off with a flat edge.

What is the history of Moron food? ›

It is a native delicacy of the Waray people in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines, particularly in the area around Tacloban City in the province of Leyte and in Eastern Samar province. Other parts of the Philippines have their versions of it, however.

What is a San Francisco cookie? ›

The shape of the cookie looks like a flat bread roll, and thus the cookies were called “Panecitos (little rolls) from San Francisco”, for the town from which they hailed.

What are the oldest cookies in the world? ›

Pizzelles are the oldest known cookie and originated in the mid-section of Italy. They were made many years ago for the “Festival of the Snakes” also known as the “Feast Day of San Domenico” in the village of Colcullo in the Italian region of Abruzzo.

What is a fun fact about sugar cookies? ›

The modern sugar cookie was originally called the Nazareth Sugar Cookie, after German Protestants who settled in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and improved the recipe. When forming the dough, they made the cookies resemble the state's keystone emblem.

What is a sugar cookie in the navy? ›

McRaven describes the experience of Navy SEAL trainees who are subject — often randomly — to a punishment where they are directed to get wet and sandy on the beaches. By the time they are finished the trainees, covered in sand, look like “sugar cookies.”

Why poke holes in sugar cookies? ›

The holes trick

There's also a new technique going around when preventing craters in a second layer of icing: poke holes in the base flood (under the area you'll cover with a second layer of icing). You can even do this when the first layer flood has completely dried!

What does baking powder do in sugar cookies? ›

Baking powder simply adds carbon dioxide to the equation, providing a more forceful pressure that encourages a dough to spread up and out. Without the well-developed elasticity of a bread dough, the strands of gluten in cookies would sooner snap than stretch, cracking along the surface.

Should you refrigerate frosted sugar cookies? ›

Choose to store them at room temperature or in the freezer instead of the fridge. If you can store your cookies at room temperature or in the freezer - do it. The fridge should be your last resort because of the moisture that can make your cookies soggy. Store the cookies in an airtight container.

What were cookies called in the 1800s? ›

The first American cookies that showed up in cook books had creative names like Jumbles, Plunkets and Cry Babies which gave no clue to what was inside the cookie. As the expansion of technology grew in the United States, new ingredients started to show up in cookie recipes.

What was the original word for cookie? ›

The word was introduced into the USA in the late eighteenth century by Dutch immigrants, and comes from Dutch koekje, a diminutive form of koek, 'cake'. Dutch influence is no doubt responsible also for the parallel use of the word in South African English.

What did whippet cookies used to be called? ›

Théophile Viau first manufactured these as "Empire" biscuits in Montreal, and introduced them at a hockey game in Westmount in 1901, but in 1927, in order to lower costs, he removed the vanilla and renamed the product "Whippets".

What is the sugar cookie slang? ›

Where one is to roll in the sand or dirt while PT-ing, then continue PT-ing to look like a sugar cookie themselves. There's also a sand hill named after this term in 29 Palms, for this same reason.

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