This classic Spanish tortilla or tortilla de patatas should not be confused with tortillas from Mexico. Whereas Spanish tortillas contain mainly eggs and potatoes, Mexican consist of cornflour. You will find Spanish tortilla everywhere, each café or pub offers some, I believe it is something like the secret national dish. There are many variations out there, some are made with onions, others prefer without and you can fill them and include add-ons. I am going to introduce the classic version here including onions. This means five ingredients: potatoes, eggs, onions, olive oil, and salt. If you don’t count the salt, it is just four ingredients.
If you have been on my blog before, you probably know that I have a lot of corn flatbread recipes from Colombia and Venezuela on here, they are normally called arepas. Today I am going to introduce you to the gluten-free version that is made with sweet corn and is filled with cheese. In Venezuela these are called cachapas, in Colombia arepas de choclo. The Spanish word for sweet corn is choclo, hence the name. Normally the sweet corn is cooked and directly cut off the cob, however, I decided to go for canned corn as in Germany usually only sweet corn is sold. I had tried already once to make cachapas, however, I was not completely happy yet. But then I had the privilege to eat cachapas at my husband’s cousin again. Her husband is Venezuelan, so obviously he knew exactly how to make them. Of course I immediately asked her for the recipe, which she happily let me know. So I set to it and guess what, they tasted marvelous, so I finally felt OK to share the recipe here. So let’s make cachapas with cheese filling!
You can also make the cachapas and melt the cheese on the top if you find the procedure described below too complicated
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If you are in the mood for a fluffy and airy dessert, this is for you. This is meringue made in a waterbath and there is a reason it is called isla flotante or “floating island”. It is so airy, it is only floating. It is perfect for anyone who can’t eat gluten as it does not contain any flour. As stated, you will prepare a meringue and bake it in a waterbath. The top is caramelized. You may serve it just like that or you can serve it with the custard called Sabayon. I also caramelized some strawberries since I like some fresh component. Even if you serve it with all these extras, you will only need five ingredients in total: eggs, sugar, vanilla, alcohol and strawberries. May I interest you in this dessert?
Awww, these are super cute, aren’t they? Cute little snowmen as macarons. I find it so fitting that it actually snowed during the night, what better time to publish this recipe than today? I published a bucket list on January 1 with 24 ideas of what you may wish to tackle in your baking, myself included. In my opinion French macarons should definitely be on your baking bucket list. I already have several recipes on my blog. However, what I hadn’t tried so far is to decorate macarons with royal icing. Maybe due to all the gingerbread houses I decorated with royal icing not long ago made me think. You can also decorate French macarons with them, so I decided to make some snowmen. I only decorated the macaron shells on the top with rocal icing. It actually was a lot of fun. I hope these sweeten a cold winter day for you!
Guys, these gluten-free arepas with plantain are a dream come true! Try to think of a flatbread with a touch of sweetness from the plantain, which is filled with mozzarella. I tell you, of all the arepas I have eaten, this is by far my favorite. Since I am married to a Colombian, I have had my share of arepas. Just as bread is extremely important in German culture, arepas are a staple in Colombia. Of course I posted the basic arepa recipe, some from the region Boyaca, which are slightly sweet, and arepas with cheese filling, which have become popular after the movie Encanto. In Venezuela arepas are commonly filled and stuffed, I introdcued arepas with chicken filling and today, finally, let me introduce arepas made with mashed plantains.
Warning, these classic empanadas from Colombia are a labor of love. If you are going to make everything from scratch like I did, you will need a few hours. However, one of the good things about empanadas is that you can prepare a lot in advance. You may wish to make the filling and/or the dough one to two days prior and then “only” need to fill and fry the empanadas the following day. But before we get into the details, what are empanadas exactly? Empanadas are dumplings, each Latin American country has its own variation, heck, every region and city will be proud of their particular empanadas. Since I was born in Uruguay, I am used to empanadas made with wheat flour. The traditional filling in Uruguay is beef (duh) and they are usually baked in the oven. Yes, of course I have a recipe for Uruguayan empanadas on my blog. Colombian empanadas on the other hand are made with cornmeal, if using the right one, they will be gluten-free. Most of the time they are not baked in the oven, but deep-fried. The filling varies, some use a piece of meat that is later pulled apart, I simply decided to use already minced meat. One particularity of Colombia is the “guiso” or “hogao”, this is a thick sauce made of tomatoes, spring onions, onions and herbs that are typically mixed with the meat filling. This makes them Colombian.
Updated recipe in 2022 with clearer instructions and more options
I love meringue. I got to love meringue at a very late stage. Maybe because I feel meringue doesn’t play a very important role in the baking industry. But even though it was late love, merengón from Colombia is the best. It consists of three layers, meringue, whipped cream and a layer of fruit sauce. Easy to prepare, wonderful to look at and once you take the first bite, you will be in heaven, melts in your mouth and has a nice tangy aftertaste due to the fruits. Really a fairy dream!
Today we have a Mexican cake from the north called “mostachón de fresas.” Its base is a nut-based meringue (including crackers) a cream-cheese topping and of course strawberries. I learned that you can basically decorate with any kind of fruit. In Mexico mangos are pretty popular, but I figured since we have strawberry season and strawberries are also popular for this cake, I would stick to the traditional version. It may sound like a strange combination, especially the salty crackers, but my husband and me loved it.
Update: I rewrote the recipe a bit in 2021 and took fresh pictures
It’s summer! Officially! So I need something fast, something refreshing and also something healthy. That’s why I invented this frozen strawberry cake, which can be done in less than 15 minutes. It is pleasing to the eye and everybody will love it, I promise. It may be one of your new go-to recipes. I at least have it stored as a new favorite. I honestly was surprised. I usually don’t invent cakes. I like to change recipes to me liking, I like to alter them. But start one from scratch? I don’t know what happened, but for some reason I just felt like throwing some strawberries together and hope for the best. I usually don’t mind following a recipe, but this time it was just an impluse reaction, why not mix strawberries with some crunchy almonds? I took quite a risk there, because this cake was a birthday cake for a friend of mine. And since he likes strawberries and since it is summer, I came up with this beauty.
Finally I am introducing the basic recipe for arepas on my blog! Arepas are a flatbread made from cornmeal. They are most popular in Colombia and Venezuela. As a German I have to say that these countries offer the same kind of varieties of arepas as breads are offered here. I already introduced arepas boyacenses, however, so far the basic recipe was missing. The reason being simple, I just felt I still didn’t know how to make perfect arepas even though it only consists of three ingredients, cornmeal, water, and salt. But now the waiting is finally over, below I am offering many tips. Hopefully they will make you confident enough so that your first arepas turn out great from the start. If making the very basic recipe, arepas are naturally gluten-free and vegan.