The mole from Guatemala is very similar to mole poblano, which is a chocolate and chili based sauce (over simplification of the ingredients). One huge difference is that mole poblano is a main dish with turkey or chicken; meanwhile Guatemalan mole is a dessert with fried plantains slices ladled with chocolate sauce or mole for short. Bon appetite!
We have to thank Erin, loyal and long-time reader from AntiguaDailyPhoto, for the buñuelos recipe you see below.
Erin shared with us the buñuelos recipe last year:
Making buñuelos at home can be a little bit tricky because the altitude will affect the dough. Having said that, don’t be afraid to try, it will be worthy!Bring to boil 1 cup of water and remove from heat. Optional: you might like to infuse the water with a cinnamon stick and a teaspoon of anise seeds; just be careful to remove them before adding the flour.
At once, add 1 cup of all purpose flour and mix vigorously with a wooden spoon (don’t use your hands, the mixture will be really hot).
When the water/flour mix is lightly warm, add 4 eggs, ONE AT A TIME, and continue mixing until everything is well incorporated and the dough looks velvety.
Cover the mixture with a damp kitchen towel and let it rest for at least a couple of hours (I prefer overnight).
In a deep pan or a fryer, at medium temperature, heat a large amount of vegetable oil; using 2 spoons, drop small portions of the dough (donuts holes is a good reference for the size), and let them fry until golden. One of the nicest features of the buñuelos is that they float and turn around in the oil by themselves!
Once the buñuelos are golden and crispy, remove them from the oil and let them rest over paper towels.
To serve the buñuelos the traditional way, make a syrup combining and bringing to a boil, equal amounts of water and sugar, a cinnamon stick and anise seeds. I prefer the syrup less sweet, so I use two parts of water and one part of sugar and right at the end, when I turn-off the heat, I like to add a cup of sherry or marsala.
In a small bowl, put 3 buñuelos (they look pretty in trios) and pour over about 1/2 cup of the warm syrup.
Enjoy!
Oh December, or the dry season for the matter, is full of Guatemalan comforting foods; mostly sweets like buñuelos, torrejas, mole, camote, chilacayote and higos. Perhaps, the fact that the dry season brings forth the low temperatures, around 6C/43F, courtesy of the cold winds blowing from the great white north (home to Manolo, the provocateur {his words}) that having something hot and sweet to warm up seems only logical.
If you’re not in Guatemala now, but would like to have some Guatemalan comfort foods, please pay a visit to AntiguaFC.com where Amanda can prepare a sweet combo and ship it to your home or office.
Come back tomorrow for the recipe for making buñuelos at home, courtesy of long-time reader and friend Erin.
I took over one hundred photos for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, but by and large the portrait of this tender Guatemalan Guadalupano is my favorite. Follow the white rabbit to look at the photographic slide show of Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Today’s theme for The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 in Antigua Guatemala will be photographic backdrops and photo stages. In the slide show below you can find find examples of the Guatemalan kitsch at its best.
As I have shared with you in previous years, in La Antigua Guatemala, religious celebrations draw together all kinds of heterogeneous people and the Feast of Our Lady of Virgen de Guadalupe is no exception. On December 12 celebrations of La Virgen de Guadalupe, Our Lady of Guadalupe, you can find gringa moms, indigenous mamás, ladino madres and white mamás all taking their children dressed with indigenous clothes to visit the altar of La Virgen Morena.
This is among my favorite photographic subjects: repetition, arches, and Palacio de Los Capitanes Generales. I don’t think I will ever get tired of photographing this building. In fact, I should do a series with just photos of Palace of the Captains which should include everything from details to not often seen sections of the inside. What do you recommend?
Poinsettias or Flor de Pascua are in full bloom in The Land of the Eternal Spring for the Christmas season. The most common color is red, but now you can find yellow, white, pink and mixed at your local nursery and shops. Pascuas are an integral part of the Guatemalan decoration for the Christmas season and beyond. They are also given as gifts quite often.
An archived article at Prensa Libre entitled: Pascuas que cambian de colores (Poinsettias of different colors) I read that, according to industry statistics, Guatemala is the top grower of poinsettias in the world. Guatemala produces 60 million poinsettias which represents 80% of the production in the world.
I believe life should be about giving instead of receiving, especially so around Christmas, thus here are my first offerings for the season. First a video clip from my favorite Guatemalan artist Gaby Moreno singing about Christmas time. Next you will find a link to download a wallpaper for your computer, iPad, tablet or mobile device. Enjoy!
If you would like to have a yellow poinsettias wallpaper for you computer, download it from here.
The other day I found this typical Guatemalan stamp: the trash collectors having breakfast inside the trash collecting truck and the chuchos (street dogs) waiting for a piece of food. I believe this is a very real image of Guatemala and I should concentrate my efforts on bringing you more of these kind of imagery. What do you think?
If you spent any time on Parque Central, this will be one of the most common vistas. If you spend too much time there, you might become the buyer, especially if you look like a tourists or a foreigner. Sometimes just carrying a camera is enough to mark you as one. That’s what happens to me often, that’s why from now on I will be carrying a tiny camera that can fit in my pocket. I will update you with the results of my experiment. 
La Antigua Guatemala remains as one of the few places where you can meet with hundreds of people willing to Burn the Devil and the bad spirits in a cleansing ceremony through the purifying power of fire. The idea of the La quema del diablo celebration was to get rid of the devil, the bad spirits, the bad vibes and anything negative that may interfere with the celebrations of Nacimientos (Nativity Scenes), Posadas (Quest for Shelter [Español/English verses]) and Christmas celebration which begin officially with the Feast for the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th.
Photos by Leonel [nelo] Mijangos – EnAntigua.com
These are the more traditional baskets found in Guatemala. I believe these baskets are made from Maguey fiber. Kathryn Rousso knows for sure since she’s the foremost authority when it comes to handicrafts made from natural fibers in Guatemala. You can read some of her finding at the Revue web site.
At the recent Fair Trade Fair in Antigua Guatemala I found these gorgeous baskets made from dried pine needles. The vendor had traveled all the way from Nicaragua to show and sell her baskets. Although, I believe these pine-needle baskets are also made in Guatemala. What do you think, are pine needle baskets made in Guatemala?
Okay everyone, I am in the Santa Claus mood, so I will send a beautiful set of three 11″x14″ photos from AntiguaDailyPhoto.com to the most creative caption/story for these three photos. Everyone is welcome to participate and I will not close the contest until there at least 10 proposed captions. Be as creative as you can be. Good luck to all participants!
The country of the eternal Spring is Guatemala’s slogan or selling hook, except Guatemala does not have Spring seasons, nor Winters; the same for Summer and Fall. Guatemala only has a dry and ready seasons. However, the slogan does applies because of flowers are always blossoming and the weather is temperate most of the time. So there you have it, come the country of the eternal Spring and enjoying the ever-present flower blossoms.
This is just one of the ways we recycle magazines in Guatemala and, as always, it has to be colorful. I found these boxes and baskets to be very sturdy. As I have declared, in Guatemala we recycle just about everything without really having recycling programs.
Here are some of recycled things I have highlighted in AntiguaDailyPhoto:
Check out the scrap metal recycling photographic essay by Rodrigo Abd at The Boston Big Picture to get an idea about how recycling works most of the time in Guatemala.
Antigua Daily Photo has become my food bible as well as a wonderful resource for all things about Antigua. It is updated daily and well worth checking out if going to this city... —rworange @ Chowhound
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