Puerto Rican Guava Thumbprint Cookies AKA Mantecaditos are buttery, crisp, sweet and oh so festive! These tender shortbread style cookies feature a guava paste center, and are especially popular for Christmas!
Is it just me, or does the holiday season keep arriving sooner and sooner? By the time September rolls around, I'm already seeing Christmas decorations in all the stores! It's like society has decided, screw Fall, let's get right to the point, and do all the Christmas things! It's gotten kind of insane, if you ask me. I wouldn't mind if things slow down a bit, as the hectic nature of the holidays can leave me feeling, well, like I need a vacation from the holidays!
But there is one surefire sign that Christmas is definitely around the corner...it's when my mom starts baking mantecaditos! These tender, crispy, melt-in-your-mouth cookies are a Christmas tradition in my house, and many Puerto Rican households. Mantecaditos are definitely a labor of love if you don't have an electric mixer, but if you've got the will (and some killer upper body strength), you can absolutely make these by hand.
In case you're wondering why these are called Mantecaditos, Manteca means lard or butter in Spanish so you could translate these as little butter cookies. It's definitely a better name than "little lard cookies", don't you think? Shortbread cookies are the perfect cookies for novice bakers, because there are no leavening agents, so you don't have to worry about them not rising. And the best part is that these cookies are made with just a few simple ingredients, so you can whip them up in a flash!
Mantecaditos are the perfect cookie, if you ask me. They're buttery and crunchy, with a hint of almond and the tang of guava. A sprinkle of colorful nonpareils are the perfect finishing touch. We make lots of them during the Christmas season, and then give away small tins of them as gifts! I hope you enjoy these as much as we do!