Venezuelan Tequeños 🇻🇪❤️

Tequeños are one of the most popular Venezuelan foods after the arepa. In the 1920s, a lady working in a wealthy family's kitchen in Los Teques, Venezuela, accidentally created tequeños. She used the remaining dough from another recipe she was cooking, wrapped it around cheese sticks, and deep fried them, making the well-known Venezuelan dish, tequeños.

I grew up eating tequeños at home and pretty much at every celebration, it is a dish that takes me back to my childhood and brings up good memories. So, its very exciting for me to share this recipe with you; even though it's a simple dish, it carries enormous meaning for me and every Venezuelan.

Here are the ingredients:

- 350 grams of wheat flour

- 80 grams of butter

- 1 egg

- 1 teaspoon of sugar

- 2 teaspoons of salt

- 300 grams of hard white cheese (Llanero cheese)

- Mild olive oil

- 1/2 cup of water

Preparation:

On the countertop, create a well with the flour and place softened butter, egg, salt, and sugar in the centre. Gradually incorporate the flour from the edges while adding warm water little by little.

Monitor the amount of water, as it will depend on the type of flour used. Work with your hands until you achieve an elastic and smooth dough. Cover the dough and let it rest in the microwave/oven for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the hard cheese into sticks of the desired size and refrigerate.

Sprinkle a little flour on the countertop and divide the dough into several small balls.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough and cut it into equal strips. With these strips, wrap the cheese, covering it completely, and seal it by pinching the ends with the dough.

Heat the oil over high heat in a frying pan. When the oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium.

Carefully fry the tequeños until they are golden and crispy. When removing them, blot them with kitchen paper to remove excess oil.

Tips:

- Make sure you do not over fry the tequeños so that the cheese does not melt out of the dough.

- The most popular dipping sauce for tequeños is salsa rosada (pink sauce) or "mayochup". I will leave my little family secret for this sauce: a hint of mustard.

This recipe was shared from the heart so please, make it from the heart.

Homemade Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

I was talking with my sisters to figure out with recipe I should post next, the funny thing is that I was baking these cupcakes for them while brainstorming about a new recipe idea. The three of us started laughing when we realize that I might as well just post the one I was making in that moment.

So, here it is. These are my little sisters' favourite recipe (even though I think there are better ones lol) because they say it tastes like home. I hope it also tastes like home to you too.

Ingredients: (makes approximately 12 cupcakes)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Sifting helps ensure a light and fluffy texture. In a separate large mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter and granulated sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.

You can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer for this one. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then, stir in the pure vanilla extract. Slowly add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the large mixing bowl, alternating with the milk.

Do not overmix; this will result in dense cupcakes. With a scoop or a spoon, divide the cupcake batter into the cupcake liners, filling each about 2/3 full. This will allow room for the cupcakes to rise.

Place the cupcake pan in the preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake.

And don't forget to cook from the heart.

Birthday Cake Inspo 🌸🧡

One of my birthday gifts for my loved ones is always a birthday cake. I enjoy making them in their favourite flavours and use decor that matches their personalities. My mom and my tia taught me everything about cakes and desserts. I think it was in 2010 when they had a little food truck where they only sold desserts, people loved them, they had customers that traveled from the other side of the city just to get some of my Tia's chocolate cake. I remember thinking that truck was the coolest thing in the world, full of colours and yummy things soon the inside (that I couldn't really eat because they were for sale, not for me to eat lol). I always think about them when I'm baking, I think that's why people like my desserts, I guess they're made from the heart.

This is the cake I made last June for my little sister's birthday. I believe this one is a vanilla cake with raspberry cream filling and a white chocolate buttercream for the outside decor.

I have not yet shared a full cake recipe here, but I'm thinking about doing it. I have many cake and cream recipes that I have inherited from my abuelita's cookbook. Maybe I should make a post series called "How to make a cake from the heart"? Let me know what you think!