Tequeños. (Venezuelan Cheese-Pastry)

The "tequeño" is the star snack of Venezuelan parties, as well as the snack of many children throughout the country. This delicious Venezuelan snack consists of a small stick of hard white cheese rolled in a thin dough made of flour and fried in oil until crispy on the outside and with melted cheese on the inside. This was one of my favourite snacks (if not the most favourite).

Tequeños are prepared in different sizes, ranging from small for parties to large, which are known as "tequeñon", and are sold in kiosks or school cafeterias.

This recipe yields 50 units.

Ingredients:

250 gr. of AP flour

1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons of salt

1/2 teaspoons of sugar

1/4 cup of corn oil

1/4 cup of milk

1/4 cup of water

500 gr semi-hard white cheese cut into sticks (like haloumi).

Oil to fry

Directions:

Mix and sift the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. In a bowl, make a volcano with the flour.
In another bowl mix the liquids then add to the flour.
Knead and when the gluten has developed let it rest for at least ½ hour. It is required to form a soft and elastic dough.
Roll out the dough until it is 2 millimeters thick, with the help of a rolling pin or a pasta machine.
Wrap each cheese stick with a strip of dough overlapping them ½ cm. Place them on a tray sprinkled with wheat flour and set aside for frying.
Pour the oil in a pan and wait for it to heat up. Fry the tequeños in the pan until golden-brown.
Place the tequeños on absorbent paper and they will be ready to eat.

Tips:

They can be fried or baked.
It is accompanied with sauces of different types such as papelón (cane-sugar), garlic or jams.
They are filled with other flavors such as chocolate, banana and cheese, guava and cheese tequeños and even sausages. There are "jojoto tequeños" that, unlike the traditional cheese, are wrapped in corn dough, vegan ones stuffed with tofu, and rice dough and Yuca (cassava) dough for those on a gluten-free diet.

Enjoy!