So the real question is…would you eat a chocolate pistachio square for a 9am meeting? On St. Patrick’s Day?

Chocolate Pistachio Tart is being served up for Tuesdays With Dorie. This TWD recipe was chosen by Rachelle of Mommy? I’m Hungry! Enjoy more Soft Chocolate Tarts by visiting the blogroll at the Tuesdays With Dorie website. Or, see what other goodies we have enjoyed on past weeks!

Thanks to all of you who participated this month by learning about and baking breads from Latin America. I hope your journey doesn’t end here because there are unlimited recipes of delicious breads from so many of these countries.

Please, take a moment to visit these websites, leave a comment and if you are up to it, bake a Latin American bread in your very own kitchen. You will be glad you did!

Our first stop was in Argentina to taste delicious Argentine Fried Bread. Sandra from Gesund Geniessen asked a Latin friend who pointed her in the direction of this traditional recipe which is always served with Mate Tea. Sandra participated in Bread Baking Day for the very first time this month and we are thrilled to have her!

After Argentina, we had a stop in Venezuela. Nicole from Bread, Butter and Buns recently learned to make Pan de Jamon, or Ham Bread from a Venezuelan man. The bread is traditionally a Christmas bread filled with ham, raisins, bacon and olives.

A favorite country of mine was our next stop on the Latin Bread Tour. AP269 from Family & Food took us to Colombia to enjoy Pan de Queso or Cheese Bread. It is a bread prepared by many other countries using a variety of names. The dough is made with tapioca flour which comes form the yucca plant. Cheese and yucca are one of the best combinations I know!

Hilmar from Mis Recetas Favoritas took us high into the mountains of Venezuela to the town of her mother to sample a traditional bread. This Andean Venezuelan Bread has a really tight crumb and acts as a sponge when served with a delicious cup of hot chocolate, a very traditional Latin combination.

***JUST ADDED*** Priya from Priya’s Easy N Tasty Recipes wanted us to experience Island life, so she took our Latin Bread tour over to Cuba! The Cuban bread is a staple in Cuban cuisine and is the tasty base for the Cuban Sandwich. In their home, they used it as they would their Pav bread and filled it with chicken and vegetables. Yum!

The next stop is Guatemala where Carmen from Las Recetas de Carmen Elena took us along and shared a delicious Pan de Banana or Guatemalan Banana Bread recipe with us. This was the first time Carmen participated in Bread Baking Day as well and we are glad she represented Guatemala in out Pan Latino adventure. She suggests eating this bread with chocolate ice cream, honey or fruit.

Next, we made a stop in the country of my heart, Peru. Umm Razeen from Kitchen Samraj shared a Peruvian Banana Bread. I have eaten my share of bananas in Peru and made a lot of cakes and breads with bananas and plantains. This whole wheat banana bread seems like a wonderful way to enjoy a visit to Peru.

From Peru, we traveled to Brazil with DK from Chef in You. Here we enjoyed the Brazilian version of Pao De Queijo which are classic Brazilian cheese rolls. These look just delicious and I wish I could taste one! DK has made it a goal to use up all pantry ingredients and making these rolls were another step toward that goal.

We returned to Peru in order to taste a favorite bread of mine. Milagritos from Mother Tucka shared wonderful bread made with sweet potato. Peruvian Sweet Potato and Egg Bread, or Pan de Camote, is a wonderful addition to our tour of Latin Breads. Milagritos is another first-time participant in this months Bread Baking Day!

From there, we traveled back to Argentina to sample a taste of one of my favorite things, Chimichurri. Swathi from Zesty South Indian Kitchen faced a fear of yeast with the encouragement from her husband and made Chimichurri Buns. They were full of parsley, garlic, vinegar, and red pepper flakes – all the ingredients that make chimichurri so delicious!

Heading north from Argentina, we make it to the equator to visit the country of Ecuador with Tartasacher of Mil Postres. Here we enjoyed Pan Dulce de Ecuador or Ecuadorian Sweet Bread. What a wonderfully simple and sweet bread to enjoy anytime of the day!

Zaira, from the Kitchen of Zaira took us on a journey back to Colombia. There we enjoyed Mogollas de Salvado which include a generous portion of wheat bran. She suggests these Colombian Wheat Rolls make a great snack and are perfect for breakfast. What a wonderful idea!

Our very own creator of Bread Baking Day, Zorra from 1x umruehren bitte, brought us Marraquetas from the recently earthquake affected country of Chile. She had baked them just days before the quake hit and her post is a tribute to the earthquake victims and survivors. These start with a french bread dough and are specifically shaped to be Marraquetas.

We get to enjoy another bread from Brazil with Lien of Notitie van Lien, a fellow Bread Baking Babe! She brought another batch of Brazilian Cheese Rolls to our Latin Bread table. Although the recipe sounds similar to others we have enjoyed, she was not a fan of this particular recipe. I myself am eager to try them as they are wheat free and have cheese – yum!

Shilpa, from Thoughts and Pots, took us to Mexico at the request of her son. It seems he learned about the “Bread of the Dead” in his classes and they decided to bake it at home. Pan de los Muertos is baked to honor those that have passed away and contains the delicious citrus and anise flavors. It did not last even a single day in their home, so you will have to bake your own!

Staying put in Mexico, we get to enjoy a very common Mexican bread with Susan from Wild Yeast. She is absolutely right in saying that all the panaderias, or bakeries, have these in the display cases each and every day for everyone to enjoy. Susan decided to try coloring the tops of these Conchas, or Mexican Shell Breads, with natural ingredients such as dried fruits and cocoa nibs. I love Conchas and I would be first in line to try these deliciously colored ones!

Cinzia from Cindystar brought us along to a few more Latin American countries to taste some delicious breads in Central America. First, we get to enjoy Pupusas from El Salvador, which are a stuffed flat bread. Pupusas are so popular they even have their own day, November 13th. From there, we take a jaunt to Nicaragua to enjoy Rosquillas, a circle shaped biscuit made from corn and baked in a wood oven.

Petra from Chili und Ciabatta takes us back to Brazil to taste bread with coconut. These pãozinhos de coco or Brazilian Coconut Rolls look absolutely delicious and are calling me to bake up a batch very soon. They have enjoyed exchange students from South America and have vacationed in Brazil. Petra has a number of Latin Breads on her website for you to enjoy!

We near the end of our Latin Bread tour in Chile with a delicious treat common in so many Latin American countries. Gorel from Grain Doe, another fellow Bread Baking Babe, offers traditional empanadas from Chile for us to enjoy! I am surprised to learn this is actually the first month she has participated in BBD! These look like a wonderful treat stuffed with a savory mixture of beef, hard boiled eggs and olives (she purposefully “forgot” the raisins!).

From my kitchen here at Canela and Comino, I chose to celebrate one of my favorite breads of Peru, Pan de Tres Puntas. It is a type and shape of bread very typical to the high mountain region of Arequipa in Peru. The tender bread is baked incredibly early in the morning for all the town to enjoy with their morning coffee.

Well, I must say I was so impressed with the visits so to many different Latin American countries to enjoy the breads from a variety of regions. Bread seems to be fundamental in so many of these countries, at breakfast, dinnertime and even snacks throughout the day. Thank you so much for your joyful participation in this month’s Bread Baking Day. (Please, if I overlooked anyone’s participation, please email me and let me know!)

I hope you will all join fellow bread bakers for Bread Baking Day #28, which is hosted by Tangerine’s Kitchen. We will all be baking up bread buns for the month of March! Cannot wait to see you there!

I have decided to be a bit more forgiving, a bit more welcoming to coconut these days. Kind of like friends who had a disagreement for many years and then decided to put it all past them, but they still aren’t totally trusting of one another. It seems like sometimes I am intrigued by coconut and others times, just simply put off.

When I saw that March was roaring in like a lion with this toasted coconut custard tart (try saying that five times fast!), I was a bit apprehensive. Toasted coconut custard, sitting on top of a sweet dough crust and covered ever so gently by a cloud of whipped cream, then dusted with a bit more toasted coconut. The crust sounded fine, the topping, in the end, was just a simple whipped cream, but is was that layer sandwiched in the middle that had me worried. A plain vanilla custard with shreds of coconut mixed in? Really?

Nevertheless, I have tried renewing my commitment to Dorie, because I know that it forces me to do things, well like this, that I would not normally make and that often times allows me to learn new combinations or techniques.

Making Dorie’s custards always worries me. There. I said it. The directions for the custards seem overly complicated and I stir away, just knowing that something is bound to go wrong. Oftentimes it does. I still haven’t quite figured out what makes it harder than it should be. I made this particular custard with a great deal of anxiety. I do not currently own a strainer and I was worried that the way she has us make it would cause lumps & bumps that I would not be able to strain away. The custard seems to go from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds. The instructions say, bring it to a boil and boil 2 minutes. Ha! It started to bubble and then one side of the pot seemed to form one giant clump and reminded me of the days I would make play-dough. So I started to whisk it as rapidly as I could and removed it from the heat. No full boil, no 2 minutes. My whisk broke because the custard was so stiff. Mind you, I was not about to be stopped. After it chilled, it easily could have been sliced with a knife I’ll have you know.

But, I must give credit where credit is due. In the end, the tart did turn out quite lovely. It was delicious and well received by my friends. Truthfully, I would probably even make it again. Interested in making it in your very own kitchen? Check out the recipe at Beryl’s blog!

Toasted Coconut Custard Tart is being served up for Tuesdays With Dorie. This TWD recipe was chosen by Beryl of Cinemon Girl. Enjoy more Toasted Coconut Custard Tart by visiting the blogroll at the Tuesdays With Dorie website. Or, see what other goodies we have enjoyed on past weeks!

Arequipa is famous for it’s Pan de Tres Puntas or “Bread of Three Points,” or better said by my three year old friend Ruth, “Triangle Bread!” It is a deliciously soft bread baked in a large oven. The number of bakeries around the main square cause the air to be full of the wafting smell of baked bread early each morning. You don’t find this bread in every city in Peru because the “White City” is the only city to boast of it.

Why do they make Triangle Bread? My theory is that it is shaped after the many volcanoes that surround la Cuidad Blanca. What better way to symbolize the city that with it’s bread?

Because I had the privilege and honor of Bread Baking Day #27, I wanted to point (no pun intended!) people in the direction of Latin America. Interesting how several of these countries have been drawn into the spotlight over the last few weeks due to devastating earthquakes. Latin America has a great deal of richness and warmth in the people, the culture and everyday life. This month we had an opportunity to celebrate Latin Breads!

Bread Baking Day is a monthly event for the passionate bread bakers (that could mean passionate about your very first loaf or those of you passionate about baking each and every day). The event was started by Zorra from 1x umrühren bitte and has featured a myriad of themes all focused on bread. If you are still hoping to participate, please check the announcement post for all the details to be submitted by the end of the day today.

Now, for that special Arequipan Triangle Bread.

Pan de Tres Puntas

6 cups of bread flour
1/3 cup of light brown sugar
1 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of dry, instant yeast
2 1/2 cups of lukewarm water, divided
3 tablespoons of shortening, melted and cooled

1. Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Make a well in the center and add the yeast along with about 1/2 cup of the water. Stir the yeast and water together (inside the flour well) and let it rest about 10-15 minutes.

2. Add in the rest of the water and shortening. Mix to combine and turn out to a lightly floured surface to knead until the dough is soft and smooth, about 15 minutes.

3. Place into a large bowl, coated with cooking spray, turning dough to coat all sides. Cover loosely with a towel and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

4. Punch dough down. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

5. Punch dough down and divide into 12 equal portions. Cover and let them rest for 15 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 350F. Roll each ball into a circle. Score a triangle into the dough and fold in the three sides. Place onto a cooking sheet and repeat until all dough balls are rolled and shaped into triangles.

7. Place a metal pan (I used a disposable pie plate) filled with boiling water on the bottom of the oven. Place the bread above it and bake at 350F for 22 minutes.

8. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool. (If you can resist eating them piping hot!)

Pan de Tres Puntas is also being submitted to YeastSpotting! Again, if you would like to participate in Bread Baking Day #27, please check the announcement post for all the details to be submitted by the end of the day today.

Peruvian Chef Gaston Acurio is declared the “the ambassador of the Peruvian cuisine in the world” by the Spanish magazine Viajar (Travel). Citing his work along with other great chefs of Lima, the Spanish magazine honors Lima as having been converted into the Gastronomy Capital of the Americas. The article points out that the commonly used ingredients such as seafood, potatoes, grains, fruits & vegetables have been things that Peru has always had. The magazine also highlighted the fusion between Peruvian and Chinese gastronomies, and between creole and Japanese food. All of the dishes of Peru, such as “Cebiches, chupes de camarones, causa limeña, lomo saltado, ají de gallina, anticuchos, tiraditos” and desserts like “suspiro a la limeña” make a trip to Peru a first class foodie escape.

After the devastating rains in Cusco which all but shut the city off from tourists, Peruvians are looking for ways to assist the people of Cusco. A Food Festival highlighting food from Cusco has been organized at the Swissotel in Lima from March 1 to 5. The per person cost for the buffet is S/. 69 ($25) and the proceeds will benefit those in Cusco which have been greatly affected by the rains this year.

A Peruvian hamburger chain, Bembos, has two restaurants open in Bombay, india and they plan to open another one in New Delhi, India during 2010. Also projected is the opening of a Pescados Capitales in Saudi Arabia during this year. Source: Andina. The owner of the restaurants chain Pardo’s Chicken decided to enter the ceviche business. The first restaurant has opened in the La Molina district, on La Fontana Avenue. Have you eaten there? What did you think?