Traditional Sweets – Cocadas Doradas

A nice sweet ending to the Puebla style stew from my previous post would be cocadas doradas – golden brown coconut treats, which are traditional sweets from the same state. Although coconuts are not native to Mexico, but were brought after the Spanish conquest, they quickly became endemic to coastal regions, and nowadays there are many ways to cook with them. Curiously, Puebla is an inland central state with relatively cool weather, so coconuts are not cultivated there, but these treats have been around for many years, with the recipe mostly unchanged; people in Puebla still make them commercially or at home, for the sheer pleasure of tasting their “doraditas” – “goldies”.

Golden Brown Coconut Treats – Cocadas Doradas

Printable recipe: Golden Brown Coconut Treats Cocadas Doradas (including how to process a fresh coconut)

Ingredients

2 cups shredded coconut (preferably freshly grated, or dry from package, see *NOTE)
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup coconut water (or water, if using dry coconut)

*NOTE: I started with one fresh coconut (click here for detailed printable directions). I got approximately half a cup of coconut water, and managed to avulse about 4 cups of flesh (I used the extra two cups for a batch of my cocadas de yema). If using dry shredded coconut, try to find the unsweetened type, or if sweetened, reduce the amount of sugar by a couple of tablespoons.

Prepare twelve truffle-sized paper cups on a heatproof tray, such as a cookie or muffin pan. Reserve.

Place all ingredients in a saucepan over high heat to start melting the sugar (photo below, left). Bring to boil, and cook, stirring occasionally (photo below, right):

Continue cooking until most liquid has evaporated (photo below, left); reduce heat to medium, and stir constantly to avoid burning at the bottom of the pan. Do not leave unattended, as the coconut will quickly turn golden brown at this point (photo below, right):

Remove pan from heat promptly, and immediately divide the paste into prepared paper cups, using two spoons to scoop and scrape. DO NOT TOUCH coconut paste with fingers, as it will be brutally hot:

Allow to cool down to room temperature. This recipe makes a dozen treats:

The texture of cocadas doradas is very crunchy and slightly sticky, and they are very sweet, with a clean taste of distinctive coconut flavour; they pair perfectly with a cup of tea or coffee:

(Treats served on a Talavera ceramic plate, also from Puebla, click here for full story.)

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