Panderos is a popular Colombian cookie from El Valle region of the country. They are traditionally made from yuca (cassava) starch, butter, sugar, egg and aguardiente (sugar cane and anise-flavored alcohol drink) or anise extract, if you don’t have this drink at home.
Panderos have a very crumbly texture and are lightly sweetened with a touch of anise flavor from the Aguardiente. You will find street vendors all over the country selling plastic bags filled with Panderos, or Panderitos, as they are sometimes called in Colombia.
I love eating Panderos with a cup of black coffee or tea. Buen provecho!
Ingredients:
1 + 1/2 cups of cassava or yuca starch, plus more for rolling
6 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup of butter, at room temperature
1 large egg at room temperature
1 tablespoon of aguardiente or 1 teaspoon of anise extract
Directions:
1. In a food processor, combine all the ingredients. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Then process continuously until the dough comes together.
2. Form a ball, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for about 30 minutes.
3. Turn the batter out onto a floured work surface and divide in half. With well-floured hands, shape into two logs.
4. Using a knife, cut the dough into small squares. Pattern each cookie with a fork.
5. Preheat an oven to 325°F. Place the Panderos on the cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart.
6. Bake until light brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let the Panderos cool on the sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer them to the rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
These are like sugar cookies made with cassava… Nice! I love making bread rolls with cassava, it’s sooo good. This short list if ingredients sounds nice and easy and yummy!
These cookies are so irresistible!!
These look like they’d be great with coffee! I’ve never baked with yuca starch, but might have to find it. Raquel from ThoughtfulEats let me know about your blog
These sound great! I love finding new ways to use cassava. Last week I thought of your blog. On the show Modern Family they were talking about the New Years grape tradition. I told my husband – I read about that on this blog I like!
Very curious to try these with cassava starch! I also like a hint of anise. Funny how they start sorta rectangular and bake round.
Beautiful photos and a great option for a gluten-free sweet treat!
this is definitely a new one to me, erica! it certainly looks quite tasty, and if i could round up some yuca, i’d love to try them!
These cookies sound and look great…I am sure that it will be great with a cup of tea.
Have a great week Erica!
Looks delicious! We have a recipe which uses yuca starch too and coconut milk….just as yummy!
I’m surprised they came out round from the way you cut them! Sounds tasty!
I never knew that you can use yuca for cookies…I have made flan. This is a great recipe Erica
How many does each batch make?
I would love to make this but do I have to use a food processor or could I use a hand mixer? Please let me know….
Thanks
I always use the food processor! You can try it with the mixer.