Cuernitos Materos

What's mate? you may ask, here is a short explanation, for more just google it and you will find more :)

"Mate is as tea-like beverage consumed mainly in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and southern Brazil. It is brewed from the dried leaves and stemlets of the perennial tree Ilex paraguarensis ("Yerba Mate"). The name "Mate" derives from the quichua word "matí" that names the gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris) that is traditionally used to drink the infusion."

We drink mate in the morning and afternoon mostly and any time throughout the day to spend time with friends and have a good laugh. Mate goes great with this cuernitos, crunchy on the outside soft in the inside and of course with our traditional "facturas" which is sort of pastries, I will be talking more about those later!

Now let's get to the recipe

500 g of flour
15g of salt
1 stick of butter at room temperature, not too soft
15g of yeast, I buy it in a block, you need 15g of whatever yeast you have
200ml of lukewarm water

On your working surface or a bowl mix flour and salt.

Form a crown and add rest of the ingredients

Incorporate ingredients together until a dough is formed, these are my two helpers, a 4 year old and a 2 year old.

Work your dough until a soft ball is formed.

Dust your working surface with flour, roll your though to a rectangle

Sprinkle some flour on top of it

Fold your dough in half

Wrap it in plastic wrap and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Now after you let it sit for 10 minutes you must repeat this step 8-10 times. Roll dough, sprinkle flour, fold in half and let it rest for 10 minutes, the more you do it the better it is!

Once you are done, roll your dough, cut rectangles, I cut them too big but you may cut them smaller to get more cuernitos out of this.

Take a rectangle, it should feel thin, if its not roll it out a bit, take both edges and stretch your though, dont pull it so hard that it will break though.

I fold each edge like this

then i roll one side half way

then the other side till they meet in the middle.

Now twist them and overlap them with each other, and place them in a pan that has been previously brushed with soft butter.

Brush your cuernitos with water and let them sit for 25 minutes, this will make them raise even more. When you are ready bake at 325 for 30 minutes or until lightly brown.

When they are out, call your friends, have some mate, eat them warm or wait till they cool down, they are SUPER yummy either way!

Love you guys!
Delfi