Vanilla and Chocolate Conchas

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Description

Conchas are better known as pan dulce or Mexican sweet bread. I scanned the Internet for the best conchas recipe and couldn’t find one. So I took it upon myself to take pieces of 3 different recipes and put them together, with a couple alterations of course! Many recipes you see all have butter in the dough, but this recipe is traditional and uses lard. It will leave you with light pillows of sweetness that you will dream about while you sleep.

Ingredients

  • 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • ½ cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees F/43 to 46 degrees C)
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • ¾ cup white sugar
  • ½ cup lukewarm evaporated milk
  • ⅓ cup lard
  • 1 egg
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ⅔ cup white sugar
  • ½ cup salted butter
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Dissolve yeast in water in a large bowl. Stir in 2 cups flour
  2. sugar
  3. evaporated milk
  4. lard
  5. egg
  6. cinnamon
  7. and salt. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.
  8. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic
  9. about 5 minutes. Place in a large greased bowl
  10. then turn so greased side faces up. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled
  11. about 1 1/2 hours.
  12. Meanwhile
  13. make topping dough. Beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Stir in flour until mixture is the consistency of coarse crumbs. Divide into 2 equal parts. Stir cocoa powder into 1 part and vanilla extract into the other.
  14. Divide chocolate topping into 4 small balls; roll each piece into a flat circle. Repeat for the vanilla topping.
  15. Punch down concha dough and divide into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball; placed on a greased baking sheet. Place a vanilla or chocolate circle on each ball of dough
  16. smoothing it over the top. Make 5 or 6 shallow cuts across the circle to form a shell pattern. Cover and let rise until doubled
  17. about 45 minutes.
  18. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
  19. Bake conchas until lightly browned around the edges
  20. 15 to 20 minutes.

Prep Time: 30 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 3 hrs

Servings: 8

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