Wait!

Nope. It doesn’t come from Tembleque in Toledo, Spain. Although I must say, Puerto Rico was a colony of Spain for many many centuries ago. But no, it’s not from there. It’s actually from Puerto Rico.

It JIGGLES!

That’s why we call it Tembleque; it jiggles, but in a sweet way.

 

Back when I was 10 years old, every Saturday my sister and I accompanied my dad to the bakery shop to buy the usual morning provisions. He would greet the owner as always with the same phrase,

“Buenos días, buenos días…un posillo, media libra de pan sobao y una libra de pan de agua.

“Desean postres?”…

“Si, si, lo mismo de siempre… la caja de 10…”

I can picture them all right now: El Tembleque, los Mantecaditos, los Pastelillitos de Guayaba, los Tornillos, las Mallorcas, el Pan de Maíz, los Hojaldres, y el Brazo Gitano. OMG! The smell of them all together would intoxicate your mind to the point that you simply had to buy a bunch of them, and not just one. Having a box that would fit an assortment of 10 pastries would certainly satisfy anyone’s sweet palate. Of course, we took the box.

Truth is I live in Switzerland now. I almost went nuts when I saw coconuts at the supermarket, but why? This is 2015, and still, I got excited. When my daughter spotted them, we simply had to buy one. And for the past couples of weeks, we’ve been buying coconuts. It would’ve been a sin not to make Tembleque. So we made it, and it was divine. Divine, Divine, D i v i n e! Obviously, I love it so much that I must share the recipe with you. With that being said, here’s the traditional recipe to make this simple and delicious coconut dessert.

FYI: Tembleque is a typical Puerto Rican dessert that we ALL Puerto Ricans have eaten at one point in our lives. If not, then…shame on you!!!

 

Ingredients:

1 Coconut

3/12 cups of hot water

1/2 cup of Corn Starch. (I used Maizena)

2/3 cups of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of Orange Blossom Water (agua de azahar) Since I didn’t have this at hand-I used Lemon Juice)

Shredded Coconut and Cinnamon (powdered) for garnish.

 Preparation: 

This is simple! Shred the coconut first.

 

 

 

 

Take the shredded coconut, and soak it in 3 1/2 cups of hot water. Take your hand, and squeeze the living daylights out of it. I have a picture of that here.

 

You must repeat this until you get the 4 cups of Coconut Milk.

 

Once you get the 4 cups, put the milk aside. Move on to the dry ingredients. First, mix them all together: The sugar, the salt and the starch. Then, in a large saucepan, put the Orange Blossom Water together with the mixed dry ingredients. Stir until all are well combined. Here’s a picture of that as well.

 

 

Now, pour the 4 cups of Coconut Milk into the saucepan. Do this slowly as you stir the ingredients to make sure they’re well combined. Then, turn the stove top to a moderately high temperature. At this point, you need to stir. Do not leave it unattended because it will not work. Believe me! You must stir at all times.

 

Don’t get impatient with this process; it takes a little bit of time, but once you see that it starts to thicken, lower the temperature to medium low. Continue to stir.

 

 

If it starts to boil while you stir, then remove it from the heat.

 

Pour the pudding into individual containers, cups, glasses; whichever way you want to serve it, it’s fine. Let it chilled for a couple of hours.

 

 

I garnished mines with some of the Shredded Coconut and Powdered Cinnamon. Some people use the sticks as garnish. Others use some spices, rum and confiture. I simply love it this way.

 

Here’s my final product!

 

I can eat this everyday; maybe that’s because it reminds me of how much I love being Puerto Rican or because it reminds me of how wonderful my life was back then when I was 10 years old. Fact is, it reminds me of that and more.

 

As always, when I’m cooking, I listen to my music. I was listening to this oldie. I did that on purpose too. Here it is.