Guatemala stands out for me with their fantastic desserts. We stayed super close to Dona Maria Gordillo which is one of the iconic dulcerias in Antigua. The recipes originated from a nun who lived in a nearby convent and sold sweet to raise money for the church and other things the nuns needed. Her recipes have lived on for almost 150 years through this store.
The desserts are all fruit or root vegetable based. (Mr Snacks would have liked to see a little more chocolate dessert options, but they mostly only do chocolate as a hot chocolate drink.)
Here’s a few favorites (and some not-so-favorite):
Canillita de Leche
Every Central and South American country seems to have their own format for creating dulce de leche, and Guatemala’s is really good. They create into a small bar about 2 inches long and ¾ of an inch wide of chewy, fudge-like consistency dulce de leche. Fantastic!
(Side note—canallita seems to translate as “newspaper boy”…so I’ll guess the name is because they vaguely look like tiny newspapers?)
Cocada Real
Wide slices of chewy coconut mixed with condensed milk lumped together into round balls, topped with cinnamon and a raisin. This usually comes with an old-school wooden ice cream paddle to eat it with. This is like the best version of the “coconut snowball”.
Camote
For this dessert, I just say “why?!?!”. In the US, many families have (or used to have) a sweet potato dish as a Thanksgiving staple. Large chunks, in a casserole dish, covered with marshmallows. This is the candy-store equivalent of this dish. It seems to be a big hunk on sweet potato roasted and then glazed. While there’s nothing wrong with it, per se, it’s just not something I can get behind as a dessert when there are so many other options.
Colocho de Guayaba
Literally this translates to “Curl of Guava”, but it’s kind of like the greatest fruit roll-up ever made. Very concentrated guava flavor contrasts nicely with the powdered sugar on the outside. It is a smooth, soft texture and one of the few Guatemalan desserts that isn’t super sweet.
Rellenitos de Platano
Rellenitos de Platano is like taking several of my favorite desserts and combining them together. It’s just not a fair fight for the other desserts. Unlike the others above, this didn’t come from the dulceria. Rellenitos are little dough balls (or logs, depending on who makes them) made from sweet plantain “dough”. The dough is wrapped around a bean mixture with cacao or chocolate and a little honey. Think Chinese fried sesame balls with black bean filling—but Central American flavors. (Unlike the others above, this one didn’t come from the dulceria. My favorite version came from La Cuevita de Los Urquizu.)
Mollete en Miel
Last, but probably least (for me) is Mollete en Miel. This dessert is typical for the Day of the Dead celebration. To the best I can tell, it’s a sweet bread, fried and then served drowning in a thin, brown sugar liquid. Super sweet and completely soggy. Not combinations that enamor me to a dish. These usually are homemade, not from a store.
Huge win for the Guatemalan desserts–I love (most of) them!