CHAMPURRADAS

February 1, 2023 Buffalo Latino Village

Back in my hometown, the grocery store I lived up the road from sold champurradas in the dessert aisle. These Guatemalan cookies with sesame seeds sprinkled on top were a delight to have on the weekends with coffee or hot chocolate.

On one of my previous visits back home, I decided to go back to the same store to grab some champurradas for an after-dinner snack with the family. Sadly, the champurradas they sell now taste nothing like the ones I grew up with. The flavor was bland and barely any sesame seeds were on them. This drove me to look up recipes online so I would never be disappointed again.

My sister found a blog from Guatemala.com that referenced a recipe she planned on using, but she didn’t try it out and sent it to me instead. The recipe called for the following: ½ pound of flour, 2 eggs, 5 ounces of sugar, 4 ounces (1 stick) of butter, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 3 tablespoons of milk, and 2 ounces of sesame seeds. I later discovered that the measurement for the flour wasn’t, but I will explain more in a moment.

First, I warmed the stick of butter in the microwave for 15-20 seconds, so it was soft enough for mixing. Then, I combined the sugar and butter until a yellow ball formed. After putting the eggs and milk into the bowl with the butter/sugar mix, I whisked the flour and baking soda together in a separate bowl.

When it came time to combine the dry and wet ingredients, the resulting mixture turned into a wet blob rather than a soft dough. I tried rolling individual balls to make the champurradas, but the mix would stick to my hands and didn’t keep its shape. I decided it was time to experiment, so I added more flour to the mix until the dough was firm.

As the oven preheated to 350 degrees, I made several small balls out of the dough and placed them on a buttered baking tray. I flattened the balls out using my hand and then put the tray into the oven for 20 minutes.

The champurradas came out golden brown but thicker than I wanted them to turn out. They still tasted good, certainly better than the last ones I had. While this was a fun first attempt, I am going to work on this some more to develop my recipe. I’ll also be looking for butter and egg replacements for my vegan readers. Looking forward to sharing this with you next month!