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Cucurucho de coco
Coconut and honey cones
Cucurucho: Baracoa's coconut, fruit and honey sweet packed in palm-leaf cones
Drive into Baracoa on Cuba's far eastern tip and roadside sellers hold up cucuruchos, cones of dried palm bark packed with grated coconut cooked down with sugar, honey and local fruit such as guava, orange or pineapple. It is sticky, chewy and fragrant, a sweet you eat with your fingers on the road. The mistake is stopping too soon; the mix has to cook until it pulls from the pan, or it weeps in the cone. At home, cones of baking paper or small cups stand in for the palm bark. Chef's tip: use fresh coconut if you can and toast it lightly first, which keeps the shreds chewy rather than soggy.
- Total time
- 60 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
- 14 oz fresh coconutgrated (or unsweetened desiccated, soaked 10 minutes in 150 ml water)
- 5 ½ oz brown sugar
- 3 tbsp honey
- ½ cup water
- 5 ½ oz pineapplefinely chopped
- 1 orangezest and juice
- 2 ⅛ oz guava paste (optional)diced
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
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Method
0/4 doneStep 1: Toast 14 oz fresh coconut in a dry wide pan over a medium heat for 4 minutes, stirring, until it smells nutty but is not brown. Tip out.
4 minStep 2: In the same pan, dissolve 5 ½ oz brown sugar and 3 tbsp honey in ½ cup water, then add 5 ½ oz pineapple and the zest and juice of 1 orange. Simmer for 8 minutes until the fruit softens.
8 minStep 3: Add the coconut, 2 ⅛ oz guava paste and ½ tsp ground cinnamon and cook over a medium-low heat, stirring often, for 20–25 minutes, until thick, sticky and the mixture pulls away from the pan in a mass.
23 minStep 4: Shape 8 cones from squares of baking paper, fold the bottoms and pack them with the warm mixture. Cool completely to firm up. Keeps a week in an airtight box.
15 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 330 kcal
- Protein
- 2 g
- Carbs
- 46 g
- Fat
- 17 g
- Fibre
- 6 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does cucurucho de coco take?
- About 60 minutes in total: 25 minutes to prepare and 35 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of fresh coconut?
- Desiccated coconut soaked in hot water for 15 minutes, about three quarters of the weight.
- What can I use instead of brown sugar?
- White sugar + 1 tbsp molasses or treacle per 200g.
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