Uncle Frank's Biscochos

Biscochos are our family's traditional cookie, however when it comes to making them, everyone has their own technique. If you enjoy dunking a crispy cookie into a hot cup of tea, then Uncle Frank's delicious bizcocho is the one that you will want to make. 

Ingredients:

1 lb lard (= 2 cups)

1/2 lb butter (= 1 cup)

6 cups sugar plus ½-1 cup more for dusting

6 large eggs

1 -1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (or 2 to taste)

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1-1/4 tablespoons vanilla

1-1/2 to 3 bags of anise seed

1/2 to 1 bottle anise extract

1/4 cup or more of anise liquor such as pernod

9 cups of flour

6 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Cream the fats and the sugar together until light and fluffy.  Then add the eggs and continue to beat until the sugar is almost dissolved. You will feel that the grittiness of the sugar is less when you rub the mixture between two of your fingers. This will take a good 15-20 minutes at top speed
2. Crush the anise seeds in your hands or with a rolling pin. 
3. Add the liquor, anise extract, vanilla and anise seed to the fat mixture and beat until incorporated.
4.  In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt.
5.  Mix the wet and dry ingredients together and knead it until it is shiny.
6. Allow it to sit in the fridge for several days
7.  Roll out the dough to a ½ inch thickness and use cookie cutters to cut out the cookies in whatever shapes you want
8. Mix together the cinnamon and ½-1 cup of sugar and place on a plate. Dip the cut out cookie dough into the cinnamon and sugar before baking.
9. Bake the cookies on greased cookie sheets at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10- 12 minutes.

Note: For true Uncle Frank Biscochos, he insists that you must grind the anise seeds between your palms or roll them with a rolling pin to release the flavor before adding them into the fat mixture. I throw them into the mixer and beat them for a quite a long time whenever I make it. I find that it does the same thing and is much less work. 

Also, some family members tend to put less anise seed extract and fewer seeds into the dough because the flavor can be pretty intense. 

As with all recipes, you should make the recipe and then make whatever changes you see fit for it to work for your family. 

Going to Great-Grandma's House

When I saw Grandma Helen's car in the driveway after arriving home from school it never surprised me. She would often be there when my mother worked, however,  when I would see her car on a Friday afternoon and I knew my mother was home, I would begin to get excited.  I knew that we were going to see Great Grandma Josephine.

During the long car ride down, Grandma would tell us stories about her parents. "Your Grandpa Frank was a go-getter," she would say, "he would collect big piles of bricks from construction sites after demolition and after cleaning the bricks, they would stack them nicely in a vacant lot down the street to sell them." Story after story would fill the many hours of travel and when she became tired of telling stories, she would try and guess what kinds of crops were growing along the side of the highway.

On the days that we left early enough, we would make several stops: Aunt Maryann's house for some candy bars, Anderson's for some of grandma's favorite split pea soup, Aunt Vivian's house in the mountains for some cheese and fruit, and finally we would arrive at Grandma Josephine's house. On the days when we arrived late, my grandmother would hustle us into the bedroom that had two twin size beds and an old singer sewing machine in it, but before falling into bed, we would go into Grandma's bedroom and gently give her a kiss on the cheek. She would wake up slightly startled, but once she realized who we were, the corners of her lips would rise forming the most beautiful smile, her skin would crinkle around her gorgeous dark brown eyes and the most welcoming feeling would wash over the room. She would put her hands together and bring them up to her breasts in a graceful gesture,  and she would quietly drink in the sight of us and tell us how much we had grown. Every time that she saw my little brother she would exclaim, "Helen, he looks so much like Tony." Later we would ask, "Grandma Helen? Who is Tony?" She would never answer, instead saying, "Shush, it is time to go to bed." Tony was Grandma Josephine's brother.

Those long trips in the car to go see Grandma Josephine sometimes seemed mundane while they happened, but they are now a treasured memory that I will one day tell to my own children.

(Note about the crops along the highway, Helen and I have different recollections of this event.  I remember her asking, "What is that crop over there?" It looks like such and such, or maybe it is this or that? However, her version is that she would tell me what it was every time. She would tell me a lot of times, but there was some major guess work going on with some of them.)

And So It Begins...

Josephine and Frank Cienfuegos began this amazingly large family when Josephine was only 16 or 17 years old. What began as a friendship between two Colorado families slowly blossomed into the California based family that we know and love today. Together, we will discover the evolution of the Cienfuegos family from the many perspectives of our family members and we will base it around what is of utmost importance, food! Sabriya (Carmen's daughter) and Carmen (Helen's granddaughter and named after Sabriya's mother) have come together to organize this project for everyone. We hope that you will all enjoy it!