Sweet Tamales from the Central Region of México

The dessert for my cooking class featuring a ‘Menu from Central Mexico‘ was Tamales de Dulce  (sweet tamales). According to our instructor, Chef Rossana, these treats come from the indigenous word ‘tamalli‘ meaning wrapped. In this class we used corn husks, but the wrappings can also be banana or avocado leaves, or ‘hoja santa‘ (holy leaf). Sweet tamales are usually only made up for festive occasions such Candlemas, February 2, the midpoint of winter, (also known as Groundhog Day).

We started the class by prepping the dough for tamales de dulce (sweet tamales), as they had the longest cooking time. Although I knew about savory tamales, the sweet versions were a delightful surprise. A gooey mixture of masa (corn dough), butter, sugar, pink food colouring known as ‘rosa mexicana‘, cinnamon-infused water, baking powder and raisins were steamed inside corn husks, resulting in a delicately sweet dessert.

1. Soak corn husks for an hour – our instructor Chef Rossana had done this ahead of time.

2. Make cinnamon-infused water by boiling a few broken cinnamon sticks in 250ml water. The longer it stays in the water, the more cinnamon flavour, so this was also done ahead of time…

3. Make masa dough.

Chef Rosanna demonstrates how to prepare the masa

4. Mix creamed butter, sugar and baking powder.

5. Gradually add in masa dough, cinnamon-infused water, and a toothpick of the pink food colouring known as ‘rosa mexicana‘ until you have a smooth paste.

the tamale dough with rosa mexicana added

6. Put the pink paste along with a few raisins in the corn husk and wrap.

add raisins to the sweet tamale dough

7. Layer a large pot with corn husks and add an inch or two of water. Bring it to a boil, take off the stove and pack the wrapped tamales into the pot. Put it back on the stove to steam for at least an hour.

pack the wrapped tamales into the pot

8. A sweet tamal waiting to be unwrapped.

9. An unwrapped sweet tamale, ¡delicioso! 
Chef Rossana teaches Mexican Cooking at UBC Continuing Studies and is on Twitter at: Rossana Ascencio@MiMetate