Cocadas Sonorenses

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy-bottomed 3-quart saucepan
• •Sturdy wooden spoon
• •Half-sheet pan
• •Parchment paper
• •Tin or glass jar with a tight lid for storage

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the piloncillo syrup

   Put the chopped piloncillo, water, and cinnamon stick in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the piloncillo dissolves completely, about 8 to 10 minutes. The piloncillo is hard and stubborn. Do not raise the heat to rush it. You want a clean dark syrup, the color of strong coffee, not a burnt one. Scrape in the vanilla seeds, drop in the pod, and let it steep in the syrup as it cooks down.

   If your piloncillo cone is rock hard, give it a knock with the back of a heavy knife or wrap it in a towel and hit it once with a hammer. No me vengas con atajos like a microwave. The crystal structure changes and you lose the molasses depth that defines piloncillo.
2. 2

   Reduce the syrup

   Once the piloncillo has dissolved, raise the heat to medium and let the syrup bubble steadily for 5 to 7 minutes. It should reduce by about a third and thicken enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Drag a finger across the spoon. The trail should hold for a second before closing. That is the consistency you want before the coconut goes in.

3. 3

   Add the coconut and condensed milk

   Lower the heat to medium-low. Fish out the cinnamon stick and the vanilla pod. Stir in the coconut all at once and keep stirring. The mixture will look dry for a moment. Then pour in the condensed milk and the salt and keep working it with the spoon. La Lechera is not optional here. It is the binder and the gloss. This is how the senoras in Hermosillo and Navojoa do it, and that is the recipe.

4. 4

   Cook until the spoon stands

   Keep stirring over medium-low for 12 to 15 minutes. The coconut will drink the syrup and start to darken into a deep caramel color. The mixture goes from soupy to pasty to thick. You know it is ready when you drag the spoon across the bottom of the pan and the trail holds open for two full seconds before the coconut creeps back together. Stir in the butter and the egg yolk now, off the heat, until the butter melts and everything looks glossy.

   Do not walk away during this step. Coconut on the bottom of a hot pan burns in seconds and the whole batch tastes of it. Stir from the corners of the pot, not just the center. Asi se hace y punto.
5. 5

   Spoon and set

   Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. While the mixture is still hot, scoop heaping tablespoons of the coconut paste and drop them onto the parchment, leaving an inch between each one. Shape lightly with the back of a wet spoon into rough mounds about the size of a walnut. Do not press them flat. Cocadas are meant to be domed, with rough edges and a craggy top that catches the light.

6. 6

   Brown the tops (optional but traditional)

   Heat the oven to 350F. Slide the sheet pan in for 8 to 10 minutes, until the tops turn a deeper mahogany and the edges of the coconut shreds toast and curl. This step is what gives Sonorense cocadas the dry-edged, chewy-centered bite that distinguishes them from the soft, white cocadas of Veracruz. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

7. 7

   Cool fully before serving

   Let the cocadas cool completely on the pan, at least 30 minutes. They firm as they cool. Touch one when it is warm and it will still be soft. Touch it when it is cool and the outside is candy-firm with a chewy center. That is the cocada. Store in a tin with parchment between the layers.

Chef Tips

• •Buy real piloncillo, not brown sugar. The cones come in two sizes at any Mexican market, and the dark ones (piloncillo oscuro) give you the depth this candy needs. Brown sugar will get you a sweet coconut paste, but it will not give you that molasses-and-canela backbone that makes a cocada taste like Sonora.
• •Use unsweetened dried shredded coconut, not the sweetened bagged stuff from the baking aisle. Sweetened coconut throws off the sugar balance and the cocadas turn out cloying. The Filipino and Indian sections of most markets carry good unsweetened coconut. Coco rallado from a Mexican market is best.
• •The egg yolk is optional but traditional in the home recipes I have collected across Sonora. It adds richness and a slightly tender crumb. Some families leave it out because they keep cocadas at room temperature for two weeks. With the egg yolk, store in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.
• •If your cocadas weep sugar on the parchment after cooling, you pulled them off the heat too soon. Scrape them back into the pot, cook for another three to five minutes until the spoon stands more firmly, and re-portion. This is a recoverable mistake. Burned coconut is not.

Advance Preparation

• •Cocadas keep in a tin lined with parchment for up to two weeks at room temperature, longer if the recipe includes the egg yolk and you refrigerate them.
• •The piloncillo syrup can be made one day ahead and held covered at room temperature. Warm gently before adding the coconut so the syrup is fluid again.
• •These ship and travel well. Sonorense families pack them in tins for road trips between Hermosillo and the border. They survive heat and time better than almost any other Mexican dulce.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 35g)