{"id":2999,"date":"2024-03-14T15:18:19","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T20:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/?p=2999"},"modified":"2024-07-22T09:33:16","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T14:33:16","slug":"central-american-corn-donut-cookies-rosquillas-de-maiz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/index.php\/2024\/03\/14\/central-american-corn-donut-cookies-rosquillas-de-maiz\/","title":{"rendered":"CENTRAL AMERICAN CORN DONUT COOKIES (“Rosquillas de Maiz”)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some countries use more corn than wheat flour as their staff of life, and in those lands you have to expect corn based desserts. Enter Rosquillas de Maiz<\/span>, a crunchy, mildly sweet cookie meant to accompany a cup of coffee, tea, a drink, or even a fruity dessert soup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A word to the wise: the word “rosquillas” describes the shape, not the dish, and can include a variety of recipes that can range from our common fried donuts, through ring-shaped breads, tender shortbreads, and in this case, barely-sweet cookies. A native speaker is bound to complain if you use that word alone, just as Norteamericanos<\/em> would complain if you handed over a bowl of ring shaped breads and called them donuts. Use the adjective, though, and you’re fine. Rosquillas de Maiz<\/em> means “corn donuts,” and Rosquillas de Nicaragua\/Honduras<\/em> means “donuts from this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTE FROM KATE: If this pattern continues, we will never be done testing cookies! What a terrible fate, right? Every time we think our short list got trimmed down to “just a few more,” this happens. Every. Single. Time. However, I have no regrets. This little cookie is easy to make, fun to shape, and expands the repertoire in an entirely unexpected direction! One note of caution: If you toast your corn flour, make sure the flour is cold before you add your leavening agents, especially if you are using hartshorn. (I poured my toasted corn flour into a steel bowl and let it cool in the freezer, for patient I am not.) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here if you only want the recipe without its context<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Origin Story For Cookie Sleuths Everywhere<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We often get asked “Where do you find all these?!”<\/em> My best answer is, “They are there waiting to be found if you just take the time to look, and to ask.”<\/em> This cookie is a case in point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kate and I are in the final month of intensive recipe testing before attention turns to getting Volume 2 ready for publication. Sweet Wine Cookies<\/span>, a ring-shaped treat common from Portugal, Spain, and Italy has been high on our list for some time now. I mean, come on: everybody cooks with wine in their soups and sauces, so it makes total sense that wine growing regions would use their excess wine in baking too. Wine based desserts aren’t exactly rare. Nor are wine based flavors in cakes. Haven\u2019t you come across some version of Champagne Buttercream Frosting<\/span> for cakes, cupcakes, Macarons<\/span>, or eclairs? If you haven’t, you’re welcome; that\u2019s good stuff!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked around and, sure enough, the wine growing regions in Southern Europe have just such a treat. So I worked up a test recipe, got to where we liked it, and then went searching for native Spaniards to tell me what I needed to tweak. But there I ran into a problem. Our fallback testers include several native Italians (who gave it a big thumbs up), but Spaniards are thin on the ground in Pittsburgh and our Portuguese friend has retired. Thus I wandered into Reyna Foods, a Latin-products grocery store in the Strip District that we have patronized loyally for decades. There’s a lady there who also likes to supply her friends and neighbors with holiday cookies; Latin America was part of the Spanish Empire; and so I hoped that Rosquillas de Vino<\/span> might have found a sideways path into her repertoire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No such luck. But there was a lady from Nicaragua in the back who’s reputed to be a fine baker, and her ears perked right up at the word Rosquillas<\/em>. She doesn’t speak much English, but a coworker agreed to translate my request for feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her eyes crinkled up in suspicion when I opened the tin of powdered rings. She picked one up with obvious hesitation, gave it a little nibble, and made a face so universal it needs no translation. “No, no, no. No bueno.”<\/em> It wasn’t quite a blecch!<\/em> because she didn’t mind the flavor per se, but she was quite firm that these were not<\/em> the Rosquillas<\/span> she grew up with. Not even close. Mine were sweet, tender, and had a uniquely wine-tinged aroma. No bueno<\/em>. Nicaraguan Rosquillas<\/span> were supposed to barely sweet, very crunchy, and [ahem] untainted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then she pulled out her phone, did a quick search, and showed me a photo. Plain, golden rings. “Estas. Estas son Rosquillas.”<\/em> I scrolled up and saw the title: Rosquillas de Maiz<\/span>.<\/em> Wait a second. Maiz? As in \u201cmaize?\u201d I.e.<\/em>, corn?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Pause for translation]. “Of course it is. Rosquillas are made with masa a\/k\/a corn flour.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And thus the penny dropped. The basic idea of ring-shaped cookies had indeed traveled the length and breadth of Spain’s former dominion, but not the Spanish recipe. People in the Americas had taken the idea and made it their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked things up as soon as I got home, and found quite a few examples from Nicaragua and Honduras in particular. It’s a pretty straightforward recipe with a few twists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twist #1 – The Basic Formula and Target Result<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research for this cookie quickly ran into a problem: the details were all over the place. Some called for lard (pig fat), some called for tallow (beef fat), some called for butter. Some were leavened, others unleavened. Some had sugar added, some didn’t. Etc. Fortunately, it’s a problem we’ve faced before and we knew what it meant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a peasant recipe enjoyed by the whole society, not a well defined restaurant dish. That means the overarching instruction goes like this: “Use what you have on hand, so long as you keep the basics in place, and achieve the right result.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are those basics, as measured by weight:<\/p>\n\n\n\n