"These cookies go by the many endearing names for pigs in Spanish: cerdito, cochinito, marranito, or puerquito. This is the recipe that is the most requested on my blog by Mexicans living abroad. The piggies’ honeyed nuttiness comes from the piloncillo, raw brown sugar, that flavors the sticky dough. Although they are made like cookies, cut like cookies, shaped like cookies, and baked like cookies, piggies are more like a delightful marriage between a traditional bizcocho or pan dulce (sweet roll) and a cookie. The moment you take them from the oven, they are at their softest and fluffiest—closer to a sweet roll. If you cover them as soon as they cool, they will remain soft and fluffy for a while, but as the days go by, they will harden and have the snap of a traditional cookie. If you want them to harden faster, don’t cover them. You can find pig-shaped cookie cutters online, or use any shape you like—but then, you need to change their name."
Pati Jinich is the host of PBS' Pati's Mexican Table and the official chef of the Mexican Cultural Institute. She has appeared on the Food Network, ABC’s The Chew, and The Splendid Table. This is her first cookbook.
