The Mexican Sweets You Can Make at Home

Mexican confectionery: a heritage of flavour

The Mexican sweet-making tradition is one of the richest and most varied in the world. The heir to pre-Hispanic techniques (amaranth, cacao, maguey honey) fused with Spanish conventual confectionery (marzipan, ate, cajeta), Mexican confectionery produces delights ranging from the most rustic and street-style to refined creations worthy of haute pâtisserie.

Best of all: many of these sweets are surprisingly easy to make at home with ingredients found in any Spanish supermarket. You do not need an oven for most - a hob, a pot and some patience is all it takes.

Cocadas: coconut and sugar, simple perfection

Cocadas are the most popular street sweet in Mexico. They are little mounds of grated coconut caramelised with sugar and milk, baked or cooked in a pan until golden outside and soft inside.

Recipe:

• 200g grated coconut (from the supermarket, baking section)
• 200g sugar
• 150ml whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg yolk

Mix all the ingredients in a pot over medium heat. Cook stirring constantly for 15 to 20 minutes until the mixture comes away from the bottom. With a spoon, form little mounds on baking paper. Leave to cool. Done.

Variants: Add a few drops of food colouring to make pink, green or yellow cocadas like the ones from the street stalls.

Amaranth alegrías: the pre-Hispanic superfood

Alegrías are bars of puffed amaranth (amaranth "popcorn") bound with honey, piloncillo or agave nectar. They are pre-Hispanic sweets that the Aztecs prepared for religious ceremonies - amaranth was so important that Hernán Cortés banned its cultivation to weaken indigenous traditions.

Recipe:

• 2 cups puffed amaranth (found in herbalists and organic shops in Spain)
• ½ cup honey
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• Juice of 1 lime
• Raisins, peanuts or pumpkin seeds (optional)

Heat the honey and the sugar in a pot over medium heat until it bubbles. Add the lime and stir. Remove from the heat, add the amaranth and mix quickly. Pour into a greased mould, press firmly and leave to cool. Cut into bars or squares before it hardens completely.

Peanut palanquetas: crisp and addictive

Palanquetas are the Mexican version of French praline: whole peanuts in crisp caramel. They are sold in markets, petrol stations and street stalls throughout Mexico.

Recipe:

• 2 cups peeled, toasted peanuts
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Pinch of salt

Heat the sugar with the water over medium heat without stirring until it turns into golden caramel. Add the butter and the peanuts, mix quickly and pour onto a greased surface or baking paper. Flatten with a spatula and leave to cool. Break into irregular pieces.

Variant: Make pumpkin seed palanquetas - substitute the peanuts with pumpkin seeds and add a touch of powdered chilli piquín to the caramel.

Cajeta: the Mexican dulce de leche

Cajeta is dulce de leche made with goat's milk. It is originally from Celaya, Guanajuato, and has a more complex and less cloying flavour than Argentine dulce de leche thanks to the slightly sour notes of the goat's milk.

Simplified recipe:

• 1 litre goat's milk (found in Spanish supermarkets)
• 250g sugar
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the milk with the sugar and the bicarbonate in a large pot (it will rise). Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 1 to 1.5 hours until it thickens and takes on a dark caramel colour. The bicarbonate stops the milk from curdling and helps the caramelisation. When it has the consistency of a thick honey, remove from the heat, add the vanilla and leave to cool.

Cajeta is eaten with a spoon directly, over ice cream, on crepes (cajeta crepes are a classic Mexican dessert), or used to fill wafers.

Glorias: the sweet of Linares

Glorias are burnt-milk sweets with pecan, wrapped in red cellophane, originally from Linares, Nuevo León. They are a northern cultural icon.

Recipe:

• 1 tin of condensed milk
• 100g toasted, chopped pecans (or regular walnuts)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cook the condensed milk in a pot over low heat, stirring constantly, until it darkens and thickens (20 to 30 minutes). This is essentially making dulce de leche. Add the nuts and the vanilla. When it is thick, form little balls or cylinders with greased hands. Wrap in cellophane.

Quince ate: the Mexican version

Ate is concentrated fruit paste, similar to Spanish membrillo (quince paste) but made with various fruits: guava, quince, tejocote, mango. In Mexico it is eaten with fresh cheese - the ate + cheese combination is the most popular dessert/snack in central Mexico.

Spain has a huge advantage here: Spanish membrillo is exceptional. To give it a Mexican touch, make guava ate (if you can find guavas) or simply serve your quince paste with Burgos-style fresh cheese, as we do in Mexico.

Peanut marzipan: the children's favourite

Mexican marzipan is completely different from European marzipan (which is made of almond). The Mexican one is made with ground peanuts and icing sugar. It is dry, melts in the mouth and comes pressed into discs wrapped in cellophane. The De La Rosa brand is iconic.

Homemade recipe:

• 2 cups toasted unsalted peanuts
• 1 cup icing sugar

Grind the peanuts in a food processor until you get a fine powder (careful not to reach peanut butter). Mix with the icing sugar. Press firmly into moulds or form discs with your hands. It needs nothing else - the natural fat of the peanut acts as a binder.

Wafers with cajeta

Two thin wafer discs (like communion wafers but larger) with cajeta in the middle. They are a roadside sweet - in Mexico you buy them at every petrol station and bus stop. The wafers are found in baking shops in Spain.

Camotes poblanos

Camotes are sweets made of cooked sweet potato, mashed with sugar and flavoured with lime, orange, strawberry, pineapple or guava. They are cylinders wrapped in waxed paper, originally from Puebla. They are made with Spanish sweet potato, sugar, lime juice and fruit extract. Cook the sweet potato, mash with sugar, cook until it thickens, form cylinders and wrap.

Borrachitos

Flour sweets filled with liqueur (rum, rompope, tequila), with a texture between a soft biscuit and marzipan. They are colourful (pink, green, white) and mildly alcoholic. They are made with flour, sugar, lard and liqueur, briefly baked.

"Mexican sweets do not need French technique or expensive ingredients. They need patience, a hob and the desire to sweeten life as our grandmothers did."

Explore more sweet flavours in our Mexican recipes, find ingredients such as amaranth and cajeta in Mexican shops in Spain, and try artisanal sweets in some Mexican restaurants that make them by hand.