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This is the look of the typical Guatemalan sweets booth at town fair. If when you visit Guatemala you can not find a town fair happening near Antigua Guatemala, you can always take a short trip to San Felipe which happens to have this kind booths all year round.

What kind of Guatemalan sweets are your favorites?

This image of a stand of the typical Guatemalan sweets was captured in the little market on the main square of San Felipe de Jesús; one the best places to have Guatemalan typical food and not be overcharge as in my restaurants in downtown Antigua Guatemala. San Felipe de Jesús is also a good place to visit if you want to experience a Guatemalan town fair and there’s none happening nearby; here the square is always filled with fair stands, especially so Thursdays through Sundays. San Felipe de Jesús also has the only gothic church around Antigua Guatemala and, of course, Finca Filadelfia resort and tours; one of the best places to experience coffee tours, nature walks, mule and horseback rides or zip through the canopy of the hills of the coffee plantation; et cetera.

Have you tried any of the Guatemalan sweets on display here?

We Guatemalans are the best recyclers in the world. That’s what I was trying to convey a couple of weeks ago with the entry Recycling Around Antigua Guatemala where a list some of the ways we recycle in Guatemala.

Well, today I happy to share another way we recycle in Guatemala: Bocado de Reina, a cake made with bread leftovers. But, don´t believe me, I’ll move aside and let Cynthia Rothwell from Guatemalan Genes describe Bocado de Reina and a quick, kids approved, recipe. If you don’t already follow Guatemalan Genes, you should, Cynthia is very good at covering all aspects of the Guatemalan DNA, culture and traditions.

Here’s a bocado of Guatemalan Genes to your tasting:

The Bocado de Reina is a cake made with leftover bread. It is not bread pudding because the consistency is that of a cake. The literally translation Bocado de Reina is “Bite of a Queen” now to really carry the meaning I suggested “Food fit for a queen”, although I couldn’t figure out why a cake made of left overs would be fit for a queen…

RECIPE (Kids approved)

2 cups of crumbled bread
1 can of condensed milk
2 eggs
1 tbsp of cinammon
2 bananas
Raisins (optional)

Mix all ingredients. Bake it at 350F for 45 minutes. Makes one 8inch round cake.

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 posted a photo showing some of the Guatemalan sweets on November 1. Today, I am showing you the booth of the shop where I bought the candies for the Day of the Dead altar. This shop is located inside the mercado, market, municipal and the only reference I can give you to find it is that it is a few steps from the entrance that takes you to the comedores (diners).

I am beginning to believe that in Guatemala we make everything colorful, don’t you agree?

I wonder what would be a good translation for espumillas? A literal translation would be little sponges, but a proper word is meringue. Espumillas can be found year round in La Antigua Guatemala and the rest of the country. Espumillas are often found in town fairs and at your local tienda (convenience store). Espumillas are very sweet!

Below what I found in the dictionary:

espumilla or meringue is sweet food made from a mixture of well-beaten egg whites and sugar, baked until crisp and typically used as a topping for desserts, esp. pies. Individual meringues are often filled with fruit or whipped cream. (source: Mac OS native dictionary)

Guatemalan Spanish Word of the Day: turrón is the Guatemalan word for well-beaten egg whites and sugar. In México, turrón is known as merengue, which is very close to the English word meringue. In Guatemala, merengue is a Caribbean style of dance music, which is very popular here.

Every time I see these subtle differences in the Spanish language, I think that having live one-on-one Spanish Lessons through Skype may come very handy in case one can not take full immersion Spanish classes in La Antigua Guatemala; how else can you ask about these little subtleties.