Mexican

As weird as it may sound, whenever I think of these, I think of the trunk of a car. You see, parked around the streets of Mexico City are numerous cars filled with towers of corn breads. Their trunks are open and there is a cardboard sign announcing the delicacies for sale. This particular recipe takes only a few minutes to prepare (plus baking time, of course) and the result is very tasty and moist. Enjoy a slice with a cup of cold milk or coffee.

Many desserts in Mexico are cooked on the stove and served on a platter at room temperature. This particular one is from the State of Mexico and is prepared for Día de los Muertos celebrations. You can find ground blue corn at many specialty markets or online (see Sources), or you can substitute it for the white variety.

The name gorditas is used in an endearing manner to describe many small but “fatty” (referring to the thickness) foods. Everyone loves gorditas, and there are many different kinds. I tried these in Nuevo Leon and love them because they are fried, which makes them (or me) double gordita. I also like them because of the salty cheese and piloncillo that make them go wonderfully with a hot chocolate (page 25) or champurrado (page 22).

These cookies from Tamaulipas get their crunchy texture from the lard and the corn flour. They are rarely glazed, but you may choose to brush a beaten egg white and dust with sugar before baking them, as I like to do.

You can find all sorts of corn flour (masa harina) in Mexico, and their colors can seem almost fake. The best place to find them is the food mills, and they are commonly found near markets. Whenever I can, I like to make this dish with pink or blue corn because it enhances the color in a natural way and it somehow seems more fun.

Corn tamales have prevailed for at least five centuries as ubiquitous protagonists in ceremonies and rituals such as Día de los Muertos. This preparation is from Durango, and I want to thank Ricardo Gurrola for providing me with the recipe. They go deliciously well with Strawberry Atole (page 29).

For a few years now, my dad and his partner Manuel have made an incredible Día de los Muertos celebration in a country house located near Cuernavaca. They invite friends and neighbors, attempting to preserve the culture that many children in big cities confuse or associate nowadays with Halloween. Hundreds of assorted tamales and hot chocolate are always made to welcome the guests as they come to visit the awesome ofrenda. One year, Mrs. Catalina, the charming woman responsible for the tamale feast, kindly showed me how to make them (although she didn’t let me touch the batter because she said it would separate). The lime zest ones were my absolute favorite and remind me of a very light and airy sponge cake. The bit of shortening helps give it a wonderful texture, but you may substitute more butter if you prefer.

Popcorn has been eaten in Mexico since pre-Hispanic times and has remained a favorite snack when combined with the sweet molassy flavor of piloncillo. The butter in the caramel makes the sweetness of the honey and piloncillo come together. This recipe isn’t time consuming but requires close attention because the caramel can burn in seconds if you’re not careful.

These cookies are fragile and it is almost impossible not to get crumbs all over the place when eating them, but that is precisely their beauty! The Arabs brought polvorones to Spain during their occupation, and the Spaniards, in turn, brought the cookies to Mexico when they settled in the land. The recipes differ in several ways, but the main difference is the Arabs used butter and the Spanish used lard. Nowadays, you can find both kinds in Mexico and others made with shortening or margarine. I tested many, many recipes, because I wanted the most crumbly, meltin-your-mouth cookie with the least amount of human error possible. I ended up with this recipe, which is a hybrid of the two and may be made with or without nuts.

Although the name of this dessert says it’s a cream, it’s really more of a creamy gelatin with a caramel sauce like that made for flan. The orange blossom makes this simple dessert quite sophisticated. It is best made a day in advance so the flavor really comes through and it is easier to unmold.

The apples in these treats are slightly roasted, which gives them a wonderful flavor that contrasts nicely with the crispy texture of the batter. Any kind of apple can be used, but a tart one such as Granny Smith or Crispin works great. The sparkling apple cider enhances the apple flavor, but it can be substituted with a light beer if you prefer. Serve the fritters on their own or dip them in some warm cajeta (add about 2 tablespoons of rum or brandy per cup of warm cajeta to add a nice kick and thin it out a bit) or Natilla (page 163).

These candies were supposedly created in the Santa Clara convent in the state of Puebla and are sold everywhere in that state. They are long, cigar-shaped pieces of sugary sweet potato flavored with different fruits (mostly using flavorings and added colorings), but this is the basic recipe without any distractions. They are usually made with white sweet potato, but I prefer the flavor of the yellow or orange kind. Although it takes a couple of days to dry out, you can also serve it on a platter once it has cooled (and then you won’t even have to wait to eat it) the way many desserts were served in convents, and decorate it with some fresh pineapple on top.

Antes are very old desserts that were prepared in many convents. They are similar to a layer cake and are made with marquesote or mamón (similar to a pound or génoise cake) that is soaked in syrup or liqueur, then filled with a fruit jam and colorfully adorned with fresh, dried, or crystallized fruit and often meringue and nuts. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, certain sweets were eaten before a meal, which is where the name of this dessert comes from: antes de means “prior to.” This particular ante was inspired by a recipe found in a manuscript from Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. She used mamey, which I’ve replaced with mango because it is much more readily available and is a wonderful combination with the ground almonds and because it still represents the cultural blend apparent in the original recipe.

Jamoncillos come in different shapes and sizes, but they are always deliciously sweet (very sweet), fudgelike candies. Some of the best I’ve had are prepared by the Hernandez family in Toluca. This three-generation family-run business is set up in their home. The copper pots are filled with raw cow’s or goat’s milk, and while some stir as it cooks down with sugar for many hours, other members of the family are busy pouring or cutting different candies out on the sunny patio. The flavors they have never cease to surprise me, including lime, pine nut, coffee, papaya, guava, and coconut, to name a few. I wanted to include at least one candy recipe in the book that wasn’t as time-consuming as the others, so this is a modern adaptation of a classic. It will definitely not be as good as the ones the Hernandez family makes, but they did inspire me to play around with a few variations that will surely please anyone with a sweet tooth.

Although the original recipe calls for making your own chestnut purée, I like to use the chestnut purée from Spain or France to make this custard because it has a wonderful nutty flavor and silkiness. I met a nun in Puebla who told me they coated the mold with a bit of butter and sugar and topped the flan with apricot jam. I took this idea and made an apricot caramel to cover the bottom of the pan, and it turned out to be an unexpectedly pleasant combination that showcased flan in a whole new way.

Ates are fruit pastes made from cooked fruit and sugar, a method that was brought by the Spaniards by way of the Arabs. In the old days, the word ate was put at the end of the main ingredient, such as mangate (mango paste), perate (pear paste), or membrillate (quince paste). Ates are cooked down in copper or heavy pots, and once cooled they are cut up into slices. The more the mixture cooks, the firmer it will be. They are sold in many markets by weight and are also cut into small cubes, tossed in sugar, and then sold in baskets of assorted flavors and colors. Known as ates in the majority of the country, they are also called cajetas (not to be confused with the caramel sauce) in some of the northern states. Quince ate is one of the most common flavors because of its high pectin content, and it is definitely my favorite. Ate can last for a long time (up to two years!). Be sure to serve it with some kind of semifirm cheese that isn’t too salty (it is commonly served with Manchego).

Jamoncillo is the name of many different candies in Mexico, but they are usually firm on the outside and soft when you bite into them. Most commonly, you will see them in slices or blocks and made only from a couple of ingredients. This particular one is made from pumpkin seeds and sugar and is found primarily in central Mexico. The paste is often used to make alfeñiques, or figures in various shapes. In Jalapa, Veracruz, you can still visit some convents where they make beautiful peach shapes that are molded around a square of wine-soaked cake. Traditionally, this particular recipe was tinted using grana cochinilla, a small insect that comes from a cactus plant and is used to this day for its incredible vibrant red color. I’ve substituted it in this recipe with food coloring, but you can always leave it out. This preparation is a bit time consuming because you have to soak the pumpkin seeds overnight and peel them, but the result is well worth the effort.

This recipe takes very little time to make but amazes everyone. The natural oil from the peanuts, or any other nut you are using, comes out when you grind it, and the sugar barely holds this crumbly, nutty sweetness together.

This recipe is based on one in a magnificent book called Delicias de antaño by Teresa Castelló Yturbide and María Josefa Martínez del Río de Redo. The anise flavor comes from toasted aniseed as well as anise liqueur. These cookies are a unique preparation, because they are submerged in a sweet syrup after baking and dusted with sugar once they’ve dried out.

Almonds were used in most of the convents, and these prunes filled with an almond candy similar to marzipan capture the love the nuns had for this ingredient. You can always buy almond flour, but I find that the flavor of the nut really comes through when you make it at home, and the honey adds a delightful sweetness. You can fill dried figs, dried apricots, or dates instead.