8 Things Every New Mexican Knows About Biscochitos, the Official State Cookie

Cut a batch of biscochitos the traditional way, and you’ll end up with a tray of fleur-de-lis.

New Mexicans have strong feelings about the official state cookie, and holiday baking season is close, so out-of-state relatives will be hearing about them.

Here’s what every New Mexican knows about biscochitos, the official state cookie.

1. Adopted in 1989

Biscochitos became New Mexico’s official state cookie in 1989, when the Legislature adopted them.

That made New Mexico the first state with an official cookie, by the state’s account.

The act’s stated aim was to help maintain traditional home-baked cookery.

A 2023 story from public radio station KUNM called New Mexico one of only two states with an official state cookie.

The cookie was a household tradition well before 1989.

If your family bakes a batch every December, you’re keeping that tradition going.

2. Two Spellings

Biscochitos have two spellings, and state law uses the one with a z.

The state’s cookie page lists it both ways.

New Mexico Magazine‘s recipe page uses bizcochito as the main spelling and biscochito as the alternate.

A 2006 Christian Science Monitor article, which spells it bizcochito, says the name means little biscuit.

Write it the way your family does.

3. Lard or Shortening

Biscochitos call for two cups of lard in the state’s recipe.

Food historian Jane Butel told KUNM in 2023 that biscochitos should be made with lard because lard is the shortest of all shortenings.

Lard has the greatest ability to cut the protein or gluten strands in flour.

New Mexicans who experiment outside that tradition may run into trouble. Many people make a sugar cookie instead, which is why theirs come out tough.

A Santa Fe School of Cooking instructor said in that 2006 article that the school tries to insist on lard, and that a bizcochito isn’t a true one without it.

Lard isn’t often used in baking anymore.

If your recipe card says shortening, a recipe printed in 2006 allows it too, at two cups of shortening or fresh lard.

4. Anise and Early Spaniards

Biscochitos are anise-flavored cookies that early Spaniards brought to the region, according to the state.

If you follow the state’s recipe, you measure two teaspoons of anise seeds.

The method creams those seeds into the lard and sugar before the eggs go in.

The 2006 article says priests were probably among the first to introduce the anise seeds that give the cookie its flavor.

Spanish explorers also brought wheat flour, which was unknown in the Americas.

5. Christmas Rush at the Bakery

Celina’s Biscochitos, an Albuquerque bakery, made two to three times its usual volume during the 2024 holidays, according to Albuquerque TV station KOB.

The bakery was making anywhere from 4,000 to over 7,000 cookies a day.

Co-owner Celina Grife said it was one of the few commercial companies still making them the traditional way, with lard, brandy and anise, the same ingredients as the state’s recipe.

The bakery had made the owner’s grandma’s recipe for 14 years.

Some customers say the cookies bring back many memories.

The bakery’s manager told KUNM that customers often say the cookies taste like their grandmother’s.

If you’d rather buy a batch than bake it, the shop’s flavors included red and green chile, lemon, blue corn piñon and chocolate chip.

6. Cinnamon-Sugar Dusting

The earliest biscochitos weren't sweet.

They were hard biscuits that softened when dunked in coffee or tea.

Today's state recipe has a topping of a quarter cup of sugar and one tablespoon of cinnamon.

That's four parts sugar to one part cinnamon.

You dust the topping over the cut shapes before they go in the oven.

New Mexico Magazine dusts its cookies with cinnamon sugar too.

7. Fleur-de-Lis Cutouts

The state's biscochito recipe has you cut the dough into shapes, with the fleur-de-lis as the traditional shape.

The magazine took the recipe from The Best from New Mexico Kitchens, a cookbook it first published in 1978.

The University of New Mexico Press reissued the book in 2017.

You pat or roll the dough to a quarter inch or half inch thick before you cut your shapes.

8. Weddings, Baptisms and Christmas

Biscochitos show up at wedding receptions, baptisms and the Christmas season, along with other special celebrations and holidays.

New Mexico Magazine says the state cookie usually appears only during the holidays.

The 2006 article called the weeks before New Year's a traditional time for baking cookies, so your December batch fits the calendar. Holiday celebrations often aren't complete without biscochitos.

Where Family Recipes Part Ways

Biscochito recipes are often handed down in families, so the details can differ from kitchen to kitchen.

The 2006 article printed a version that uses water as the liquid. Some families use apple juice or grape juice, and some cooks use egg yolks instead of whole eggs.