Ingredients
Dough
- 600 gplain flour
- 300 gbutter, cold and cubed
- 2 teaspoonssalt
- 1 tablespoonsugar
- 2eggs
- about 180 ml cold water
- or 180 ml cold milk
Sometimes added
- 1 teaspoonbaking powder
- 1egg yolk, for glazing
To serve
- queso de hoja, Ecuadorian string cheese
- or fresh mozzarella
- dulce de leche, manjar
- hot chocolate
Directions
- Put the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add the baking powder if you are using it. Whisk them together thoroughly. Add the cold cubed butter to it. Rub it in with your fingertips. Work until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Keep everything as cold as you can. Warm butter gives a greasy and heavy biscuit.
- Beat the eggs into the cold water or milk. Adding the liquid needs restraint. Pour it in gradually while mixing. Stop as soon as the dough comes together. Knead it briefly until it is smooth. Do not work it hard or it turns tough. Wrap it and refrigerate it for thirty minutes.
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface. Roll it to about one centimetre thick. Cut it into short fingers or small rectangles. Set them on lined baking trays. Leave good space between them.
- Prick each one all over with a fork. That pricking stops them puffing in the oven. Brush them with egg yolk if you want a shine. Heat the oven to 170C for them. Bake them for about twenty minutes. They should be pale gold and firm.
- Leave them in for another fifteen minutes. It is the step that makes them keep. Take one out and let it cool completely. It should snap cleanly with no give.
- Return them to a low oven for ten more minutes. Do not judge them while they are hot. Let them cool completely before storing. Storing them is easy once dry. Put them in an airtight sealed tin. They keep three or four weeks.
- Tear the cheese and eat it with the biscuits. Hot chocolate is the usual drink alongside.
Technique
- Cayambe sits north of Quito on the route toward the Colombian border, and its bizcochos are sold to passing travellers.
- Queso de hoja, a fresh cheese pulled into layers, is the traditional partner and is made in the same region.
Substitutions
- Fresh mozzarella is the closest widely available substitute for queso de hoja.
- Milk in place of water gives a slightly richer and softer biscuit.
Variations
- Some makers add a little more sugar for a sweeter biscuit.
- A version with aniseed is made in some bakeries.
- Cayambe also produces a soft cheese and a caramel sold alongside them.
History
Made in Cayambe north of Quito and sold to travellers with queso de hoja and hot chocolate.
Frequently asked questions
What is Bizcochos de Cayambe?
Bizcochos de Cayambe is a bread & pastry from Ecuador: dry salty butter biscuits baked in wood ovens, eaten with string cheese. Made in Cayambe north of Quito and sold to travellers with queso de hoja and hot chocolate.
How long does Bizcochos de Cayambe take to make?
Bizcochos de Cayambe takes 40 minutes plus resting of preparation and 35 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 40 biscuits. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Bizcochos de Cayambe?
Yes, within limits. Fresh mozzarella is the closest widely available substitute for queso de hoja. Milk in place of water gives a slightly richer and softer biscuit.
What is the most important thing to get right in Bizcochos de Cayambe?
Beat the eggs into the cold water or milk. Adding the liquid needs restraint. Pour it in gradually while mixing. Stop as soon as the dough comes together. Knead it briefly until it is smooth. Do not work it hard or it turns tough. Wrap it and refrigerate it for thirty minutes.
