In Cuzco, many people make desserts in their free time. Some make them for themselves and their family while others make them to sell. There are many ways of making them and also secret ingredients. These all make desserts individual and often exquisite.
Ingredients such as sugar seem to always be present in order to give a sweetness. In Peru many people use a piece of chancaca, a kind of raw, molasses sugar. It gives them a distinctive flavor that is particularly Peruvian. Some typical desserts include puddings, stewed fruit such as peaches, and much more.
Another common ingredient is milk. It is very important for making desserts since it finds a place in a great variety of desserts such as the typical rice pudding (arroz con leche), the custard called flan, the Peruvian delight called leche asada, and many more.
Here is one particular dessert that is a favorite of Cuzco that makes use of all the mentioned ingredients.
Chancaca Dessert (Postre de Chancaca)
Five servings
Ingredients:
– ½ liter of milk
– 1 chancaca (a ball of molasses sugar similar to the Mexican panela)
– A cinnamon stick and a clove
– 250 gram flour
– ¼ kilo sugar
– Powdered cinnamon
Preparation:
1. – Bring the milk with the cinnamon stick and clove to a low boil.
2. – Add the sugar to the boiled milk as well as the chancaca, let simmer for ten minutes.
3. – Dissolve the flour with water in a bowl until no lumps remain and then add it slowly to the milk.
4. – Simmer for ten minutes and then let cool.
When you serve the dessert, sprinkle a little cinnamon on top of the dessert. You can enjoy this dessert either cold of warm. When served warm it is like the mazamorra pudding and when cold it resembles flan.
Besides being easy to make from common ingredients, the flavor of the preparation is absolutely delicious.
