Chilean Desserts and sweets

The origin of the Chilean sweets is varied, but it has a notorious Spanish, French, German and Arab influence, brought during the time of the conquest and the subsequent arrival of immigrants. On these winter evenings when temperatures begin to drop and we crave for eating something delicious.

1. Torta Merengue Lúcuma: The Lúcuma Meringue Cake is one of the most traditional in Chile, as lúcuma is a fruit that you will find only in northern Chile and southern Peru. It is prepared with light meringue discs filled with soft fresh cream whipped with some sugar and natural lucuma pulp. It is a delicate preparation with a lot of flavor.

2. Calzones Rotos: The Calzones Rotos are fried doughs, slightly sweet and sprinkled with powdered sugar; It has a hole in the center, through which the dough is turned.

3. Cuchuflí: Cuchuflí is a spongy or crispy dough sweet, filled with manjar, it has a tubular shape and originated from the traditional wafer (for ice cream), which was modified, then someone decided to fill them with manjar to give them a better consistency.

4. Dulces de la Ligua: The Dulces de la Ligua won notoriety throughout Chile thanks to the "Palomitas", people in white with white scarves, who sell their products on the road; alfajores, meringues, chilenitos, cocadas, palitas, among others.
The recipes for these sweets date back to the end of the XIX century, in Curacaví; They were very common to serve them in the country houses, cooked in clay ovens and filled with manjar, pear or alcayota candy, and covered with meringue. The "Palomitas" offered these sweets on the road that connects Santiago with Valparaiso.

5. Mote con Huesillo: Mote con Huesillo is a Chilean dessert that is made up of a mixture of caramelized juice, with wheat (mote) and dehydrated peach, named huesillo, although it is consumed all year round, its sale is maximized in times of high temperatures.

6. Leche Nevada: It is a traditional Chilean milk dessert, soft and special for cold times of the year. It is prepared with milk, eggs, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, and lemon or orange peel. This dessert can be served cold or hot.

7. Leche Asada: This is a classic Chilean dessert, its origin is not known exactly, but it is believed to be an adaptation of the flan that the Spanish brought. Semisolid consistency, roasted milk consists of a preparation based on milk, vanilla, cinnamon, eggs, sugar, topped with caramelized sugar.

8. Chumbeque: Chumbeque is a classic from northern Chile. Made with butter, flour and lemon or mango honeys, it also has variants with manjar or chocolate. You can combine it with a rich passion fruit juice.

9. Picarones: Picarones are rings made of flour mixed with pumpkin and chancaca (molasses); Picarones are particularly widely consumed in southern Chile, when the cold and rain are noticeable.

10. Manjarate: Manjarate (comes from Manjar y Chocolate) is a chocolate covered manjar mousse, a delicious and easy dessert to enjoy with the family. The manjar in other countries is also called Dulce de Leche, which is a cooking of milk with sugar.