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Peruvian Turron de Doña Pepa

Today, Turrón de Doña Pepa is available year-round in prepackaged form, though it was traditionally made only during October, known in Peru as Mes Morado or the "purple month." This month marks the celebration of El Señor de los Milagros, or the "Lord of Miracles" procession, held in Lima.
Legend has it that Turrón de Doña Pepa was first created by an Afro-Peruvian woman named Josefa Marmanillo, nicknamed Doña Pepa, who was renowned for her baking skills. After becoming paralyzed and unable to bake, she journeyed to Lima to pray to El Señor de los Milagros for healing. When her health was restored, she crafted the turrón as an offering of thanks. Turrón de Doña Pepa is a traditional Peruvian sweet with a distinctive anise flavor, consisting of thick, layered cookie bars.
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Prep Time 50 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 50 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Peruvian
Servings 8
Calories 1445 kcal

Ingredients
  

Dough

  • Butter – 2 cups
  • Flour – 4 ½ cups
  • Salt - 1 tbsp
  • Baking powder – 2 tsp
  • Egg yolks - 5
  • Sugar - 4 tbsp
  • Sesame seeds, ground - 1 tbsp
  • Anise seed, ground - 1 tbsp
  • Milk - 1 cup
  • Anise water or milk

Chancaca Honey

  • Sugar- 6 cups
  • Peaches - ½ cup
  • Chancaca sugar - 2 tbsp
  • Dried figs - 100g
  • Banana - 1
  • Lemon - 1
  • Quinces - 2
  • Pineapple - ½
  • Orange - 1
  • Orange peel - 1
  • Apples - 2
  • Cloves
  • Cinnamon sticks

Topping

  • Colorful dragees - 100g

Instructions
 

Dough

  • Sift the flour, salt and baking powder.
  • Add the butter.
  • Knead into a firm dough.
  • Place the dough on a table and make a hole in the center.
  • Add the yolks, sugar, sesame seeds aniseed and enough aniseed water or milk to form a soft dough.
  • Knead everything together.
  • Let the dough rest for approximately 15 minutes.
  • Make sticks of the desired size, e.g. 3 cm high by 10cm long.
  • Once the sticks have been molded, place them on a floured baking pan.
  • Heat the oven to 350 F degrees and once hot, bake them for about 40 minutes.
  • Check them after half an hour so, they should be golden.
  • Remove from the oven and let cool.

Chancaca Honey

  • Peel and chop all the fruit into medium pieces.
  • Place the fruit, sugar, cloves and cinnamon in a large pot with enough water to cover all the fruit.
  • Boil until the fruit has broken down and the liquid has been reduced by half. This will take approximately close to 30 minutes.
  • Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool before straining out the pieces of fruit and spices.
  • Melt the chancaca with a small amount of hot water.
  • Add this to the fruit juice, place the pot on the fire and cook again over low heat for two hours. It should become thick.

Assembling Turron de Doña Pepa

  • In a large, flat dish, place parchment paper and put the sticks one by one together in the same direction.
  • Cover the top of this first layer with the chancaca honey.
  • Place more sticks on top, this time in the opposite direction and cover the top with honey.
  • In the third and last layer of sticks, place the honey then colored dragees, candies and dried fruits if desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 1445kcalCarbohydrates: 241gProtein: 13gFat: 52gSaturated Fat: 31gTrans Fat: 2gCholesterol: 242mgSodium: 1400mgFiber: 6gSugar: 179g
Keyword Peruvian Turron de Doña Pepa
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