Misk’i Kinwa Tawa K’uchuyuq

There are a lot of foods I miss that seem impossible to find here. Last week I found arugala and raspberries in a local grocery store and almost cried I was so happy to eat foods that I strongly identify with my northwestern home.

My housemates and I were discussing foods we miss and someone brought up rice crispy treats. Marshmallows are crazy expensive here and really hard to find. I’ve never seen rice crispies, but I’m sure they exist. However there are a lot of other puffed grains: wheat, corn, quinua, amaranth and lots of kinds I’ve never heard of before. A popular street snack is sweetened corn puffs, usually sold by small old ladies out of a wheelbarrow.

One of my favorite desserts to make in the states are vegan rice crispy treats – the kind with peanut butter AND chocolate. Given the variety of puffs, I thought a Bolivian puffed treat would be a good idea. And oh man, it is.

The Bolivianess of the ingredients definitely changes the flavor, but it works. For example, peanut butter here is just ground up (with a hand crank grinder) roasted peanuts. Nothing else added and way less oily than US peanut butter, maybe it’s roasted less? While you can buy pb in a grocery store, the best I’ve found is in a market close to my house, where you can buy a pound of the bulk pb (in a bag – everything comes in a bag) for 6 or 7 pesos (less than $1). Chocolate chips are hard to find, but not impossible. As much corn as there is in this country, I don’t think they process it into corn syrup, at least not for sale to consumers – it might get added to other products. So I bought some imported Karo corn syrup from the states at the supermarket.

I´m struggling with the name. Here are three options, any votes?

1. Misk’i Kinwa Tawa K’uchuyuq (sweet quinua squares - Quechua)
2. Bocadillo Insuflado (puffed snack)
3. Bolivian Puffy Treats

The recipe:

1 c sugar
1 c corn syrup

Heat on low and stir until bubbly

Stir in

1 c Peanut butter
1 c chocolate chips

Pour over a mix of

3 c puffed quinua
2 c puffed amaranth
1 c puffed canuah

Stir together, mush into a pan and let cool