Marquesitas

Rolled the instant it leaves the iron, because it sets rigid in about ten seconds and then shatters.

Egg. Not vegetarian — contains edam whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

the wafer

• 200 g plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 350 ml milk
• 40 g butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• oil, for the pan

the filling

• 200 g Edam or mild Gouda, finely grated
• 6 tablespoons cajeta or dulce de leche
• 2 tablespoons chopped nuts (optional)

Method

1. IT IS ROLLED THE INSTANT IT LEAVES THE IRON, because it sets rigid in about ten seconds. This is the whole skill and there is no second attempt on any given wafer. Cooked thin and crisp, the wafer is pliable only while it is genuinely hot; the filling has to be already on it and the roll has to be finished inside about ten seconds of it coming off the heat. A wafer left flat for twenty seconds is a rigid disc, and attempting to curl it then shatters it into pieces. So everything -- grated cheese, cajeta spooned into a bowl, a clean board -- is laid out within arm's reach before the first one is cooked.
2. THE CHEESE GOES ON WHILE IT IS STILL ON THE HEAT, SO IT MELTS. Scattered over the wafer in the pan in the last twenty seconds. On a wafer already lifted off, the cheese stays as cold grated shreds inside a crisp tube, and the point of the thing is molten salty cheese against sweet caramel.
3. IT IS A SALTY CHEESE IN A SWEET ROLL AND THAT IS DELIBERATE. Edam, finely grated, with cajeta. The combination is the dish; made with only cajeta it is a sweet crisp pancake and nothing more. Finely grated matters too -- coarse shreds have not melted by the time the ten seconds are up.
4. THE BATTER IS SPREAD THIN AND COOKED DRY AND CRISP, NOT LIKE A PANCAKE. A ladleful swirled over a wide pan into the thinnest possible layer, and cooked two or three minutes a side -- considerably longer than a crêpe -- until it is dry and beginning to colour all over. A pale, soft, crêpe-cooked wafer will roll beautifully and then go floppy within a minute.
5. THEY ARE MADE AND EATEN ONE AT A TIME. A marquesita is crisp for a few minutes and then softens from the cheese and the cajeta inside it. There is no making a batch ahead of time; the pan stays on and each one is handed over as it is rolled.
6. The flour, sugar and salt whisked with the eggs, then the milk added gradually to a thin, smooth batter. The melted butter whisked in.
7. RESTED 30 MINUTES, then stirred.
8. EVERYTHING LAID OUT FIRST: grated cheese in a bowl, cajeta in a bowl with a spoon, a clean board, all within arm's reach.
9. A wide heavy pan heated over a medium heat and lightly oiled.
10. A small ladle of batter poured in and swirled IMMEDIATELY into the thinnest possible layer.
11. Cooked 2 to 3 MINUTES, until dry and lightly coloured underneath -- longer than a pancake.
12. TURNED and cooked 2 MINUTES more, until dry and crisp all over.
13. STILL IN THE PAN, in the last 20 SECONDS: the grated cheese scattered over the surface so it melts.
14. The pan taken off the heat and the cajeta spooned in a line down the middle, with nuts if using.
15. ROLLED AT ONCE into a tube, within about 10 SECONDS, while still hot and pliable.
16. Handed over immediately and eaten in the hand. The next one started straight away.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes