This morning I woke up with a bit of nostalgia remembering my beloved Grandma Pancha, and with an immense desire to eat the delicious sweet arepitas she used to make me as a child, I remember coming home with a plate full of these delicacies inflated like a cornmeal balloon, a crispy crust and a sweet anise flavor that made them perfect, a crunchy crust and a sweet aniseed flavor that made them perfect, that encouraged me to eat even on my worst days, and after a half run over the day we had yesterday at home, I think this was what I needed to lift my spirits and cheer up my parents too.



Many know them as sweet arepitas, others as aniseed arepitas, and in the area of the llanos they call them little ears because when they are fried they are taken with a pair of forks and they are pressed on the sides making them turn into a shape similar to the ears, there they are usually bathed with llanero cheese and the truth is that I like them very much, but adding grated cheese to the dough was the way my grandmother used to make them and it gives them an extra touch of flavor that makes them perfect for me, lots of anise and lots of love, those were her secret ingredients, or at least that's what she told me, so taking that into account I set out to prepare them this morning.



I tell you that I am terrible at making arepas, they are always square hahaha, and the sweet arepitas always break when I make them thin, but today I discovered that another of the secret touches is patience because with a little patience they all turned out beautiful, so I am proud to have managed to make them all well hahaha. This recipe besides being simple and economical I assure you that the little ones in the house will love it. Join me and I'll show you how to prepare these delicious sweet arepitas with cheese.

Ingredients

4 Cups	Precooked corn flour
3 Cups	Water
3/4 Cup	Sugar
1/4 Cup	Wheat flour
1 Tbsp	Sweet anise seeds
200 gr	Llanero cheese or other hard and salty cheese
Quantity Needed	Corn oil for frying

Preparation

Preparation time	10 Minutes
Cooking Time	5 Minutes

To begin add the sweet anise in the water, before adding them we rub the seeds between the hands, with this, we open them a little, and their smell and flavor will intensify, we continue adding the sugar and the wheat flour and beat with a balloon whisk to dissolve the sugar and avoid lumps in the wheat flour.



Next, we add the previously grated cheese and the precooked corn flour, now we have to get our hands dirty and knead until we get a dough that does not stick to our hands. At this point, we must have the oil hot to fry our arepas and we take a small portion and make a small ball.



It is important that we make a thin arepa and with even edges, this and the wheat flour will make the arepitas inflate in the pot with oil, we take to the hot oil and fry until golden brown, taking into account that on the side that inflates the cooking should not be very long because it will burn that thin crust. Once ready, remove from the heat and drain the excess oil.



As the arepitas already have cheese in their dough we can eat them like this, alone or widows as they also say, however, I serve them with cream cheese, custard and sometimes with garlic sauce, yes I know, it does not combine very well, but, although garlic sauce is not one of my favorites, the mixture of custard and garlic sauce with these sweet arepitas, is an explosion of flavors that certainly have to try someday.



_{Images of my property, taken with the camera of my Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S Edited with Snapseed and PicsArt.}

Thank you for taking the time to read this post, if you have any questions, criticisms, or suggestions, I would appreciate it if you would put them in the comment box, and remember, you too can make magic in the kitchen wherever you go!

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