Pan dulce

Name: Orejas
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 9 min
Total time: 1 h 4 min
Yield: 15-16 cookies
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 1 sheet Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, defrosted; ½ cup Zulka morena granulated cane sugar; ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

How to Make Pan de Anis

58 · Jan 12, 2021 · 8 Comments

Pan de anis is a type of Mexican pan dulce that comes in various shapes, but always has anise seed to give it its flavor.

My favorite version of these sweet, pillowy anise rolls known as pan de anis are a staple at the famous El Cardenal restaurant in Mexico City, which has been serving traditional Mexican dishes in the capital since 1969 and has an extraordinary bread and pastry service. If you’ve ever eaten breakfast at El Cardenal, then it’s possible you’ve passed over this pan dulce for a concha or other sweet bread you recognize. And while their conchas are amazing, you’ve been missing out if you’ve never ordered these anise rolls!

Mexican anise rolls in a square baking pan, topped with sugar

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Sugar Crunch Rosca de Reyes

15 · Jan 4, 2021 · Leave a Comment

This modern version of Rosca de Reyes has only one topping: everyone’s favorite crunchy sugar crust!

If your family is anything like mine, certain family members clamor for the piece of rosca with the sugar crunch topping every Día de Reyes. There’s never enough pieces for all the people who want that addictive crunch, and somebody is inevitably disappointed they had to eat a piece without it.

Mexican rosca de reyes with sugar crust on a baking disc over parchment paper and a piece cut and served on a blue and white Mexican talavera pottery dish. There is a knife to the left of the cake.

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Roles de canela

34 · Oct 20, 2020 · Leave a Comment

Roles de canela are one of the most common types of pan dulce you’ll see in a Mexican bakery. These fluffy cinnamon rolls have a dough base made from masa bizcocho, the same dough that’s used to make conchas and other popular types of pan dulce.

I love making these cinnamon rolls around the holidays, especially when I’m visiting family or they’re visiting me. Cooking for my family is my love language, so a breakfast spread with fluffy homemade cinnamon rolls hot from the oven, served with milk, hot chocolate or coffee on the side is an extra special way to let them know how much I love them. In fact, some of my happiest family holiday memories are of sitting around the table together, enjoying a meal and each other’s company.

mexican cinnamon rolls drizzled with icing

If you’re a pan dulce-lover you should check out my Guide to Mexican Pan Dulce with photos and descriptions of dozens of types of Mexican sweet bread! Some of my other favorite types of pan dulce to make at home include conchas, pan de muerto, orejas, and garibaldi.

It’s important that when baking for my family that I use traditional recipes that taste just like they always have, which means no skimping or substituting ingredients. It’s got to taste like it came from abuelita’s kitchen!

Ingredients you’ll need for this recipe

It’s easier to make your own roles de canela than you might think! The hardest part is waiting for the dough to rise twice. You can also make this dough the night before and let it rise in the refrigerator overnight.

There are three key ingredients to making the dough that you should not substitute.

Whole milk: Many baking recipes call for whole milk because it provides structure, flavor and moisture. The fat in whole milk also contributes to the tenderness of the bread.

Whole milk not only serves as a crucial structural ingredient to this recipe, but also helps achieve that perfectly browned color on top, while keeping the inside moist and fluffy.

milk in a pitcher in the foreground in front of a pan of mexican cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven

Bread flour: You want to use this because it contains more protein and therefore can absorb the milk and other liquid in this high-hydration dough in order to give it its elasticity and make it both light and chewy.

Fast-rise or instant yeast: This type of yeast does not need to be activated before you use it, so it makes the recipe quicker and easier. You’ll throw the yeast in the mixing bowl with the other dry ingredients and save a couple steps and a little time in prep work.

You’ll also need:

Granulated sugar
1 Large egg
Unsalted butter
Pure vanilla extract
Kosher Salt
Dark brown sugar
Ground cinnamon
Pecans
Powdered sugar

Kitchen tools you’ll need

For perfect pan dulce every time, I recommend the following tools:

A kitchen scale to ensure your ingredient measurements are precise
A bench scraper to help you make more precise cuts in the dough
A greased 6-quart clear food container or large glass bowl to give the dough room to proof properly
A stand mixer with a dough hook attachment

Note: While you CAN knead this dough by hand, it is absolutely tedious to do so and takes a lot longer. I highly recommend using a stand mixer to do the hard work for you.

How to make roles de canela

Make your dough in a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment following the directions below in the recipe. Add ingredients in the order listed.

This is a high-hydration dough, meaning it will be sticky. The dough is ready to come out of the mixer when it mostly pulls away from the sides and sticks to the hook. Do not add extra flour to the dough, as the bread flour will absorb the liquid as the dough rises. Allow dough to rise undisturbed until it’s doubled in size, about two hours.

While the dough is rising, you can prepare the filling and glaze. Add room temperature unsalted butter, ground cinnamon, dark brown sugar, pure vanilla extract and salt to your stand mixer with the paddle attachment and combine on medium speed until the filling looks like a paste.

To prepare the glaze, mix powdered sugar and whole milk in a small bowl and set aside.

Once the dough has doubled in size, sprinkle all-purpose flour on your work surface to prevent the dough from sticking. Turn the dough out onto the surface and gently roll into a 9×13 rectangle shape. Be sure not to roll the dough too thin, as this will prevent it from rising properly during the second rise, and absorbing sugar during the baking process.

Use a spoon or offset spatula to gently spread the filling over the rectangle-shaped dough, leaving 1/2 inch around the edges.

spreading cinnamon roll filling on the dough

Sprinkle the chopped pecans evenly over the filling.

Cinnamon roll dough spread with cinnamon sugar butter filling and sprinkled with chopped pecans

Roll from the long side inward and tuck the dough seam underneath.

Use your bench scraper to cut 6-12 equally sized rolls and place in a 9×9 parchment-paper lined pan and cover with a lightweight kitchen towel. Allow to rise again, undisturbed, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until rolls have doubled in size.

After the second rise, the rolls should look like this:

Bake in a 350 degree F preheated oven for 15 minutes, until the top of the rolls are sufficiently browned but not burned. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, then drizzle glaze over the top of the rolls in a diagonal pattern. Allow the glaze to set for 10 minutes before serving.

What to serve with roles de canela

At home, I love to pair my pan dulce with warm beverages, especially on chilly fall and winter mornings. Here are some of my favorite drinks with milk you can either use to drink or dunk your pan dulce:

Roles de canela

Author: Maura Wall Hernandez
Prep Time: 25 minutes active, 4 hours inactive
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours, 40 minutes
Yield: 9 rolls 1x
Method: Baking
Cuisine: Mexican

Print Recipe

Description

Roles de canela are Mexico’s answer to the cinnamon roll and are one of the most common types of pan dulce seen in a panadería.

Ingredients

Scale

For the bread:

200 grams bread flour
36 grams granulated sugar
5 grams fast-rise instant yeast
100 grams whole milk
1 large egg, room temperature
40 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 grams kosher salt

For the filling:

113 grams (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pinch kosher salt
1/2 cup raw pecans, chopped

For the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons whole milk

For greasing the container where you’ll proof the dough:

Cooking spray

For flouring your work surface:

All-purpose flour, as needed

Instructions

Add bread flour, sugar, and fast-rise instant yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the dough hook attachment, turn mixer to speed 2 to combine dry ingredients.
Add warm milk, 1 large egg, and butter to the bowl and increase speed to 4 for 5 minutes.
Add pure vanilla extract and kosher salt to the bowl and continue to mix on speed 4 for about another 10 minutes, until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and mostly gathers around the hook. You may need to stop the mixer partway through to scrape down the sides with a spatula so no dough is wasted.
Prepare a large glass bowl or a 6-quart food container with lid for proofing the dough by spraying the inside with cooking spray so the dough won’t stick to the sides.
Turn the dough out from the stand mixer bowl into the bowl or container to proof and cover. Allow dough to rise undisturbed for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size.
Once dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a floured surface (use all-purpose flour for this part, just enough so the dough doesn’t stick to your work surface). Gently roll out to 9×13 with a floured rolling pin. It’s OK if your dough isn’t a perfect rectangle.
In a stand mixer, make the filling with the paddle attachment. Cream the butter and sugar first, then add ground cinnamon, pure vanilla extract and kosher salt. Mix on speed 4 until well combined.
Using a spoon or offset spatula, spread the filling mixture on your rolled out dough, leaving about 1/2 inch around the edges.
Sprinkle the chopped pecans evenly over the filling and gently roll starting with the long side inward. Tuck the dough seam underneath the roll.
Using a bench scraper or very sharp knife, divide the dough into 9 equal pieces. Arrange them in a 9×9 parchment paper-lined pan and cover with a kitchen towel for the second rise, until doubled in size. This should take about an hour and a half to two hours.
Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree F oven for about 15 minutes, until the tops and sides are sufficiently browned but not burned.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before drizzling the icing. Allow icing to set for 10 minutes and serve immediately.

Notes

TO MAKE THE DOUGH AHEAD OF TIME: Make the dough the night before and allow it to rise overnight in the refrigerator. Keep the bowl or container covered so the dough does not lose moisture. The cold temperature of the refrigerator will slow the growth of the yeast, but overnight will be plenty of time for the dough to double in size. It’s OK if it rises a bit more. If it hasn’t risen enough, allow it to rise for about 30 minutes on your countertop undisturbed.

Keywords: roles de canela, cinnamon rolls, pan dulce

Pan de muerto

85 · Oct 5, 2020 · 1 Comment

Pan de muerto is a yeasted sweet bread perfumed with orange blossom water or orange zest and dusted with a sugar topping. This pan dulce is typically eaten to celebrate Day of the Dead and is also given as an offering on altars for Día de los Muertos.

close up of Mexican pan de muerto on a baking sheet

In fact, the most common offering on an altar for Día de los Muertos, aka Day of the Dead, is pan de muerto (literally: “bread of the dead”). Alongside other items included in the ofrenda, the bread is intended to honor the souls of our loved ones who return to visit us and give them nourishment. Other items on the altar may include food and drinks loved by the deceased, trinkets and other symbolic offerings such as marigold flowers (known in Spanish as cempazuchitl), sugar skulls, papel picado, candles and more. You can read more about the symbolic elements of the altar in my post about How to Celebrate Day of The Dead. This holiday is celebrated on November 2, known to Catholics as All Souls’ Day.

Mexican Day of the Dead altar with pan de muerto and other symbolic elements

Pan de muerto represents an earthly gift and the generosity of the host. The bread dough contains orange blossom water and is often topped with sugar or sesame seeds, depending on the region of Mexico. The dough decorating the top represents bones.

Depending on the region of Mexico you visit this time of year, you may notice that there are other forms this bread can take such as little people, dolls or half-moons. The traditional shape is round with the dough arranged on the top to represent bones. The dough ingredients may also vary slightly according to region, sometimes containing anise seeds or orange zest. In Mexico City, the sugar topping is the most popular. Some areas of Mexico use pink or red sugar, but the most common is plain, uncolored sugar.

In the past, it was common for pan de muerto to be sold in panaderías only a few days prior to Día de los Muertos, but with the growing interest in the holiday outside of Mexico and modern supply and demand marketing, you’re likely to see pan de muerto in grocery stores and some bakeries in Mexico City as early as late August and early September. Even for those who don’t actually celebrate the holiday, it’s common to buy pan de muerto to consume this time of year.

Mexican pan de muerto fresh from the oven on a baking sheet sitting atop a cooling rack

The pan de muerto form you see pictured here is the most common you’ll find in Mexico City; the round base represents a grave mound covering the coffin, the dough shaped like bones represents the arms and legs, and the ball of dough on top represents the skull. The bread itself is made from the same masa bizcocho dough that is used to make conchas, roles de canela, pan de anís, novias, chilindrinas, rebanadas and other similar types of Mexican pan dulce.

You might also like: A-Z Guide to Mexican Pan Dulce

In Oaxaca, the base of pan de muerto is made with their traditional pan de yema, and is sometimes adorned with sesame seeds. In other areas of Mexico, this bread carries other names and has more elaborate decoration as well.

This recipe can make 6 small individual rolls, 4 medium individual rolls, or 2 large pan de muerto breads for sharing with up to 4 people. If you want to make this recipe as one large bread, you may need to adjust the baking time by adding a few minutes.

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Margarita-glazed doughnuts

5 · Jan 21, 2019 · Leave a Comment

These margarita-glazed doughnuts are a fun recipe to impress your adult guests for breakfast or brunch—it’s like having a cocktail for breakfast without the buzz!

If you’ve been a longtime reader, then you know we love biscuit doughnuts in our house! They’re super easy to make, and the icing only takes a few minutes to whisk together. A couple of bakeries in LA have a margarita-glazed doughnut that I really liked, so I thought I’d try making my own at home and these were pretty spectacular! The icing really does taste like a margarita….

What is a Rosca de Reyes?

50 · Jan 4, 2019 · 1 Comment

Rosca de Reyes is a sweet yeasted bread that has been a part of Dia de Reyes in Mexico for more than 400 years.

The ring-shaped cake, which is considered to be a type of pan dulce, arrived from Spain during the conquest, as part of the celebration of the arrival of the Three Wise Men in Bethlehem on the Epiphany (aka Three Kings Day) to visit the baby Jesus.

Mexican rosca de reyes for Día de los Reyes Magos via theothersideofthetortilla.com

The Epiphany is celebrated on January 6 each year.

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How to make orejas

802 · Nov 4, 2014 · 11 Comments

Orejas, also known as palmiers, are a puff pastry cookie and kind of pan dulce commonly found in panaderías all over Mexico.

Pan dulce was made popular during the French occupation in the mid 1800s, and as Mexican President Porfirio Díaz was considered to be a Francophile, French influence on Mexico’s gastronomy was allowed to grow from the time Díaz first took control as president in 1880 and flourish into the early 1900s.

In 1911, Díaz left Mexico to live in exile in Paris when Madero became president; he would live there for four years before he died in 1915. And although Díaz died in exile, the French pastries and sweet breads adopted by Mexico morphed into uniquely Mexican creations, with a variety of shapes, textures and creative names that still exist today.

RELATED RECIPE: Cafe de olla

Pan dulce can encompass pastries, sweet breads and even cookies. Other popular kinds of pan dulce include conchas (circular sweet rolls with a sugary, crunchy, crumbly topping made of flour, confectioners’ sugar and butter or vegetable shortening, and shaped to resemble a seashell), sweet empanadas, mantecadas (similar to pound cake, and shaped like muffins or mini loaves), cuernitos (croissants), and puerquitos or marranitos (pig-shaped cookies). Of course, these are only a few of the most popular and common kinds of pan dulce. Some types have a directly translated name from the original French name, but others have more creative names in Spanish.

Orejas are a staple at my house and I often make a batch to enjoy with a cup of coffee throughout the week, to take to work for a breakfast meeting, or when I need to drop off something easy for a bake sale or party. Some of my other favorite variations include churros, garibaldi, and rieles (mini strudels with a fruit or cheese filling and coarse-grain sanding sugar).

RELATED RECIPE: Atole de vainilla

Orejas are made by spreading cinnamon sugar on both sides of a sheet of puff pastry, then rolling the puff pastry with a rolling pin to press the cinnamon sugar into the pastry. Then, the pastry is folded and sliced, and baked at a high temperature so the sugar caramelizes and creates a sort of glassy sugar glaze on the pastry dough.

Although every Mexican panadería is a little different, it’s guaranteed you’ll always find orejas. But you’ll feel like a fancy pastry chef and a little bit like a rock star when you make them on your own—and you’re likely to impress people who have no idea how easy they are to make!

3 votes

Orejas

Prep 10 mins

Cook 9 mins

Inactive 45 mins

Total 1 hour, 4 mins

Author Maura Wall Hernandez

Yield 15-16 cookies

One of Mexico's most popular kinds of pan dulce.

Ingredients

1 sheet Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, defrosted
½ cup Zulka morena granulated cane sugar
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

Line a large cutting board with parchment paper and unfold the puff pastry sheet to defrost for about 45 minutes to an hour.
When pastry is defrosted, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread about ¼ cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture on it, roughly in the shape of the puff pastry.
Transfer the defrosted puff pastry to the baking sheet on top of the cinnamon sugar and peel the parchment paper off the other side. Spread the remaining ¼ cup of cinnamon sugar liberally over the top of the puff pastry.
Use a rolling pin to gently roll out the puff pastry both horizontally and vertically, which will cement the sugar into the pastry.
Fold the puff pastry inward from the edges to meet in the middle. Then fold again, in half. With a sharp knife, cut half-inch slices and transfer to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Bake at 425 degrees F for 5-7 minutes on one side, remove from oven and flip orejas with a spatula, and bake for another 3-4 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack. Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Notes

Recipe prep and cook time does NOT include 45-60 minutes of inactive prep to defrost frozen puff pastry sheets.

Courses Breakfast

Cuisine Mexican

GARIBALDI

39 · Jan 21, 2011 · 39 Comments

By now, you all know about my deeply rooted love for pan dulce, especially for a particular chochito-covered panque from El Globo called el garibaldi. In fact, El Globo is credited as the original maker of garibaldi, a little pound cake bathed in apricot jam and covered in white nonpareils. Many bakeries in Mexico try to emulate these little magical cakes, but nobody makes them quite like El Globo.

During our trips to Mexico City, we’ve always purchased them fresh to eat for breakfast. With a little café con leche, I can’t imagine a better way to start a day. On one occasion, we carefully wrapped a few to bring home with us to Chicago, but sadly they got slightly smashed in our carry-on luggage and from then on, we decided they didn’t travel well. And after eating garibaldi on countless visits to Mexico City, I returned from our most recent trip with a serious mission: to spend time in the test kitchen trying to recreate them so I wouldn’t have to wait until my next trip to Mexico to eat them. Looking at my calendar, five months is a long time – too long, if you ask me – to deny myself one of my favorite sweet treats….