Okay, so today I decided to dive into the sweet world of Argentinian desserts. I’ve always been curious about South American cuisine, and their desserts seemed like a good place to start. Here’s how it all went down.
The Research Phase
First things first, I needed to figure out what to make. I hit up the internet and started searching for “popular Argentinian desserts”. A whole bunch of names popped up, some I recognized, some totally new.
- Alfajores: These seemed to be everywhere, described as sandwich cookies with dulce de leche.
- Pasta Frola: A sweet tart filled with quince paste, sounded interesting.
- Chocotorta: A no-bake chocolate cake made with chocolate cookies and a cream cheese/dulce de leche mixture. This looked super easy.
- Flan Mixto: Basically, flan with dulce de leche and whipped cream, Classic!
Making My Choice
I’m not gonna lie, the Chocotorta looked the easiest, and I was feeling a bit lazy. Plus, I already had some chocolate cookies. The Flan Mixto also seemed pretty doable. So, I decided to go with those two – Chocotorta and Flan Mixto!
Gathering the Ingredients
For the Chocotorta, I needed:
- Chocolate cookies (I used some regular ones I had).
- Dulce de leche (Found it at the local supermarket).
- Cream cheese (Already in the fridge).
- Milk (Got that too).
- Instant coffee(Powder type is the best!).
For the Flan Mixto, I needed:
- Eggs.
- Milk.
- Sugar.
- Vanilla extract.
- Dulce de leche (already had it from the Chocotorta).
- Whipping cream (to serve).
The Cooking (and No-Baking) Process
Chocotorta Time!
I start to brew some strong coffee. I dipped each cookie in the coffee for just a second – didn’t want them to get soggy. Then, I started layering. Cookies on the bottom of a dish, then a layer of the dulce de leche and cream cheese mixture (I just mixed those two together until it looked good). I kept layering until I ran out of cookies and filling, ending with the creamy layer on top. This went straight into the fridge to chill for at least a few hours.
Flan Mixto Time!
I beat the eggs with sugar and vanilla in a big bowl. Then, I warmed up some milk on the stove, make sure that it not boiled. Slowly, I poured the warm milk into the egg mixture, whisking like crazy so the eggs wouldn’t scramble. After everything mixed together, I put caramel on the bottom of my baking pan and add the egg mixture on top. This whole thing went into a water bath (basically, a bigger pan filled with hot water) and into the oven at a low temperature.
The Taste Test
Chocotorta: Oh, man. This was good. Like, really good. The coffee-soaked cookies, the creamy dulce de leche filling… it was just the right amount of sweet and super easy to make.
Flan Mixto: The flan was perfectly wobbly, and the caramel was nice, not a strong bitter, taste. Adding a dollop of dulce de leche and whipped cream on top? Amazing.
Overall, my Argentinian dessert adventure was a total success! It was also a lot of fun and I might try making Alfajores next time, they look so tasty!
