I Love Lima

Peruvian Desserts – Suspiro de Limeña

| Emma Louise

Maga....mis suspirosSuspiro de Limeña (or Limeño, or without the ‘de’, or with ‘a la’ instead of ‘de’, etc …..) literally translates as ‘sigh of a Limeña’, (Limeña meaning a woman from Lima). I’m not sure where the name comes from but I think it’s quite beautiful and original!

The dessert is made up of two parts. The top is a soft meringue (think Italian meringue) flavoured delicately with port, and the bottom is a base of manjar blanco (a caramel made from milk and sugar) mixed with egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla.

It is a very sweet dessert. No joke.

I actually really, really love the soft, fluffy meringue that sits on the top. It is definitely my favourite part and I probably could just eat a bowl of that. Isn’t it amazing what egg whites become when they are whisked, with a little sugar, to within an inch of their lives!

The dessert in general is scrumptious, but I am super fussy with the particular ones that I will eat. Although, essentially, this dessert is made from  milk, I do not much like the taste of it, and therefore do not like tasting milk in my desserts. In addition to this, a shortcut to make manjar blanco is to boil condensed milk  until it becomes manjar, but the taste of condensed milk is a million times worse than regular milk. For me, a good manjar blanco shouldn’t taste like condensed milk, and therefore neither should any dessert with it in. Therefore, I am always super happy when I find a suspiro that fits the bill!

Here is a list of some of the best in the city that I have tasted so far, but I’m sure there are many more yet to be tested!

Where would I recommend in Lima to eat Suspiro de Limeña?

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Peruvian Desserts – Turrón de Doña Pepa

| Emma Louise

turronTurrón is extremely popular here in Lima, and I guess throughout Peru too. There are different kinds of turrón (plain, chocolate…), but the one I am concentrating on is Turrón de Doña Pepa. Although this type of turrón is sold throughout the year, October is the month where you will see it the most. This is due to it being the celebratory sweet food for the procession of ‘Señor de los Milagros’ (the Lord of the Miracles) which takes place in October.

It was originally made by a lady as a thank you gift for the Lord of the Miracles during the annual processions she visited, and it has become a tradition ever since. (If you want to read more about the history of the Turrón de Doña Pepa, have a look at Peru Delights who explain more about it, and give you a recipe to make it yourself!)

Turrón de Doña Pepa is made up of sticks of pastry-style dough (normally about 3-layers deep), stuck together with a certain variety of honey or syrup, and sprinkled with brightly coloured hundreds and thousands, sprinkles and/or candy pieces. The amount of sprinkles used basically shout out ‘I am a party in a dessert’.

The pastry is flavoured with aniseed, and the honey is also flavoured, but this time with acidic fruits like orange and pineapple. The honey is syrupy and very sticky, but alongside an unsweetened pastry, they make the perfect combination. A very tasty sweet treat that can be eaten all the year round, not just in October!

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Peruvian Desserts – Tres Leches

| Emma Louise

tres leches

Tres Leches literally translates as three milks, and the milks that it refers to is condensed milk, evaporated milk and crema de leche. Don’t worry it’s not some kind of milky, flan-type panacotta monstrosity, the dessert is actually a light sponge cake soaked in the three milks and sometimes topped partly or completely with soft meringue. Now that sounds so much better, don’t you think?! Also, it normally comes served with all the excess sweet milky mixture, so no mouthful should ever be dry at all. This dessert is heavenly and very rich, especially if you like big fat slices like I do. Coming from the person least likely to drink/eat anything milk related, you know this cake must be awesome. Continue reading →