Manteconchas are mini versions of thetraditional Mexican sweet bread and are loaded with cinnamon.
Course: Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine: Mexican
Keyword: conchas, manteconchas, sweet bread
Ingredients
Bread Ingredients
2teaspoonsyeast (1 packet)
1/2cup plus 1 tablespoon lukewarm milk
3tablespoonsmelted butter
3tablespoonssugar
1/16teaspoonsalt
1egg
2teaspoonsvanilla
2heaping teaspoons cinnamon
1 3/4cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
Topping Ingredients
1/2cuppowdered sugar
1/4buttersoftened
1teaspoonvanilla
3-4drops cinnamon oil flavoring
1/2cupflour
Food coloring
Instructions
For the bread, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk. Combine the milk mixture, along with the butter, sugar, salt, egg, vanilla, cinnamon and about half of the flour into a mixer with a dough hook or start by mixing with a wooden spoon. Knead/stir for four to five minutes, and then add the rest of the flour and knead for seven to 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth. It will be sticky.
Spray a bowl with cooking spray (spray your hands, too, to make handling the dough easier), and transfer the ball of dough into it. Cover it and let it rest for about 30 minutes at room temperature.
For the topping, combine all of the ingredients, adding as much food coloring as you like at the end (you can split the mixture into several sections and get multiple colors, if you want). Knead the topping until it is smooth and then flatten it into a disc, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for about 20 minutes.
Once the dough is done resting, line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners and then separate the dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each into a ball, and place them in the lined cupcake tin.
Now split the topping into 12 equal pieces (I rolled mine into a snake to do this, and it was super easy to split evenly). You'll want to minimize how much you touch the topping, because it will get sticky quickly. I recommend working with it on a piece of waxed paper to make it easier to pick up.
Take each piece of topping and roll it into a ball. Using the heel of your hand, flatten the ball out to a disc about the same diameter as the cupcake tin wells.
Stamp the piece of topping with a cookie stamp or use another tool to make a shallow design in the top. Do not cut all the way through the disc.
Transfer the stamped discs to the tops of the bread, and let the manteconchas rest for another 45 minutes.
When the time is almost up, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 13 minutes. The bread that is peeking through the topping should be lightly browned and fully set.
Remove the manteconchas from the cupcake tin and let them cool before storing them in an airtight container.