If my company decides to invite for a Mexican celebration of the “dia de los muertos”, so All Saint’s Day, I am in. The most important food in Mexico on this very special occasion? Pan de muerto, this is an enriched sweet yeast dough flavored with orange and anise seed. There are many varieties in Mexico. I volunteered that I would like to make this bread for the event. Because I enjoy baking and I like to try out new recipes from Latin America. So I started doing research, I even did a trial run and then I ended up making my beloved enriched yeast recipe, which I enriched with orange zest. Normally I should have also added anis seeds, but I don’t like the flavor. Feel free to add, I included the instructions below. So let’s get started.
These sandwich cookies from Argentina are from the city Cordoba. They are named alfajores cordobeses in Spanish. They are characterized by a type of sugar cookie filled with quince paste or dulce de membrillo, which is then dunked in icing glaze. They are so delicious!
Continue Reading…
Did you know that October 1 is international coffee day? I am currently hosting a blog event, which features blogger recipes containing coffee. For this special occasion I wanted to bring a recipe from Colombia: flan. Do you know flan? This is a custard originally from Spain, which has become very popular in all of Latin America. Obviously I already have a recipe for regular flan on my blog. This time I wanted to create great coffee flavor. So when I started consulting the Internet for recipes, I realized that almost all used instant coffee or espresso granules. I didn’t like that too much. I was extra happy when I found out that my Colombian cookbook creates the coffee flavor by making a coffee syrup first. This helps bring the coffee flavor to the front, but is not as bitter.
Continue Reading…
Tres leches, or literally translated as three milks, is a famous cake from Mexico. I have been meaning to introduce it and never got round to it, but finally I am doing it now. Think of a sponge cake, which is soaked in three types of milk. The version I introduce below is with condensed milk, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy cream. By soaking the cake, it becomes extra moist. I liked the version that has one layer of whipping cream on the top, which is then sprinkled with cinnamon. If you like milk flavor with a touch of vanilla, this very soft cake is probably for you. 
I will never forget the first time I was asked in a hotel in Colombia what I wanted for breakfast. I replied: “arepas“, a flatbread made from corn, which there are millions of variations of. The person looked at me in disgust, clearly, there were going to be arepas, duh, the question was how I wanted my eggs. Whether I wanted regular scrambled eggs, or scrambled eggs with sausage, or with tomatoes and spring onions, which is the “huevos pericos.” I had never tried this version and therefore asked for “huevos pericos.” Below I introduce you to the recipe and also outline how a typical breakfast in Colombia looks like and what is going to be served.
A typcial Colombian breakfast: arepa con queso with scrambled eggs and freshly pressed juice
Continue Reading…
“Arroz paisa” or “arroz antioqueño” comes from the region Antioquia in Colombia. It is related to the national dish bandeja paisa. The main difference between these two dishes is that in this case all ingredients are mixed together. Some components are also missing here, but I believe this dish is just as delicious. Arroz paisa contains fried meat, yellow plantain that is also fried, and the sauce named “hogao” or “guiso”. For this sauce you will fry onions with tomatoe and use some typical herbs. The dish is rounded off with rice, black beans, avocado, and lots and lots of cilantro.
Continue Reading…
Due to the request of my hubby today you will get creamy passion fruit ice cream. It is made with a custard, which contains egg yolks, cream, and milk. You will need an ice cream machine for this ice cream. You will be rewarded an extremely refreshing ice cream with a distinct passion fruit flavor. We have made it several times this summer. Even though I don’t like ice cream too much (I know, I am weird), I have to say, this one is different. Even I ate my fair share of it. So if you have an ice cream machine and want to make ice cream the classic way, let’s get going, this is so delicious!
Have you ever heard of pasteles Gloria from Colombia? These are not to be confused with the ones from Spain, which contain marzipan. One distiction is that the Spanish ones are called pasteles DE Gloria. The Colombian ones are made with puff pastry, quince paste (originally with guava), and mozzarella. Often the caramel spread named arequipe is also added. Mozzarella combined with jam is very popular in all of Latin America. These turnovers aka empanadas with quince paste and mozzarella are just one example. I am going to make the puff pastry myself. I recently found out that bought puff pastry often contains palm oil instead of butter. This also explains why the first time around they didn’t taste very nice as I used store-bought. Instead we are going to do it ourselves, trust me, they will be amazing!
Have you ever eaten a Uruguayan hot dog? Funnily enough, it is not similar to the Argentinian choripán, but has more resemblance with the New York hot dog as the same type of sausage is used. However, the toppings are completely different. You will find chips in the shape of fries and different sauces. Below I will also give you a recipe for homemade buns. Typically in Uruguay hot dogs are not literally translated as “perros calientes”, but are called “panchos”. I hope you enjoy this version of it.
Guys, we need more empanadas in our lives! Today I am presenting these turnovers very popular in all of Latin America with a chicken filling to you. My love for empanadas is pretty visible on my blog, I have a lot of recipes on here, for an overview, check out these eight empanada recipes in this blog post. Just a warning, yes, empanadas do require a bit of time. You will need to make the dough, you will need to make the filling, and then you need to make each empanada separately before baking them. However, what I do love about empanadas is the fact that you can do everything in advance. You may make the dough as well as the filling two days in advance. For me filling each empanada is better than yoga, it really calms me down. Once you get to the baking part, you will be awarded some delicious food!















