Cuñapés are one of my favorite bake goods. These soft, chewy, cheesy rolls hail from Bolivia, and are made out of three key ingredients – yucca flour, cheese, and eggs. If you are gluten intolerant this recipe is a home-run. There is no gluten in it, but the starchy consistency of the cuñapé is oddly reminiscent of a bread roll. Yucca flour or starch is the main substance of the cuñapé. Yucca, better known to Americans as cassava, is a starchy root used in the production of tapioca. Fortunately, now days, you can find tapioca starch in most grocery stores, but if you have a latin market in the area you might want to check in to see if they have any yucca flour. Tapioca starch is slightly more refined then yucca flour, but in a pinch it will do the trick. Your cuñapés will retain that amazing taste, but turn out slightly stumpy.
Ingredients:
- 2 cup Yucca Flour (or tapioca starch)
- 4 Eggs
- 1/4 cup melted Butter
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2-3 tbsp Milk
- 1 cup crumbled Cheese (In Bolivia they use an extremely salty white farmers cheese that is stretchy when melted. It almost has the consistency of a mozzarella, but is a lot saltier. The closest substitute I have been able to find around here is a generic Queso Fresco which is a traditional Mexican farm cheese, and the addition of salt to my cuñapé recipe. In Bolivia, with the Queso Menonita, the additional salt is unnecessary)
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 425 F (~218 C).
- Line a baking sheet or two with parchment paper or grease the baking sheets.
- Beat the eggs together.
- Pour the eggs into the yucca flour and salt, and stir together.
- Pour in the butter, and stir.
- If the batter is still too dry, add in a few tbsp of milk. You do not want your cuñapés to be dry.
- Stir in the crumbled cheese.
- Now you have two different choices for forming them; 1) you can painstakingly hand roll each one into a 1″ ball or 2) you can use a spoon to scoop and drop the ugly suckers onto the baking sheets.
- Bake them for about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them, you do not want to over bake and dry them out.
- Cuñapés are best when eaten warm and fresh.