COQUITO - docinhos de coco - Cuba

Good afternoon!!

Coquitos? Do you know what is this traditional sweet that can be found everywhere in Cuba and that is among the 10 types of best-selling street food? If you said cocadinha, “kissing” .. you hit. That's right, very traditional also here in Brazil since we can find numerous recipes and variations. And speaking of variations I chose this one for having only three ingredients and for being extremely easy and fast.

According to my research, coconut is a super affordable ingredient both in price and at the time when you need to kill thirst. Sold on the streets, are a party for those who sometimes do not have this habit, especially when it is straight from the fruit. Here in Brazil, we can easily find in the streets, kiosks and supermarkets.

In addition, in Cuba, it is common to find ice cream served directly in the coconut shell, extremely consumed on hot summer days.

There are different recipes of coquitos or coconut balls, including some with cover of milk candy, chocolate or caramel, but I chose this recipe to feel only the taste of coconut and I also opted to baked them. Is it a baked cocadinha? Yes, it is. Now we know that it is a very typical sweet from there and here and that only the names are different.

Opening a parenthesis, coquito can also be a much appreciated drink in Cuba. Although there are different recipes, some of them take evaporated milk, coconut milk, condensed milk, white rum, eggs, cinnamon and some other spices. Potent this drink is not?

Shall we go to our recipe, in this case of eating and not drinking?

You have three options:

watch the video, watch the step by step or go straight to the recipe.

VIDEO:

Step by step:

Ingredients:

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking sheet with Premium paper. Do not use ordinary baking paper, otherwise the balls will stick to the paper.

With a fouet, beat the eggs until foamy.

Add sugar and whisk quickly until dissolved.

Add the grated coconut and stir until the ingredients are well integrated.

Let rest for a 10 min. so that the coconut absorbs the eggs and sugar mixture.

Moisten your hands and form balls of regular sizes. I took as a measure the tablespoon and the sizes turned out great. Place them on the baking sheet, leaving a space between them because with the heat of the oven they will spread.

You can also use a biscuit mould, taking care to press the dough on both sides before placing them on the baking sheet.

Take to the oven that is already heated and leave for about 10-15 min. depending on the oven, or until the edges and surface begin to turn slightly golden. Do not let it get too baked, because when you remove them from the oven they will continue to bake and may become dry.

Allow to cool before removing from the baking sheet, put on a grid to cool completely before storing, that is, if you are not tempted to eat some of them.