Name: Iquique cookie sandwiches (Chumbeque)
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: Chilean
Ingredients: 2 fig leaves in brine, rinsed; juice and rind of 1 lemon; 2.5 ml/½ tsp salt; 15 ml/1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda); 690 g/17½ oz/3½ cups white sugar; 400 g/14 oz/3½ cups plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted; 225 g/8 oz/1 cup lard or white cooking fat, melted; 90 ml/6 tbsp honey; 6 egg yolks; 1 cinnamon stick

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Food and Cooking of Chile

By Boris Basso Benelli

Published 2014

About

The story goes that this recipe was created by a Chinese immigrant who married a Chilean sweet-maker. Remembering a Chinese man called Chung, who had made a similar confection, the immigrant dubbed the dish ‘el queque de Chung’, which means ‘the cake of Chung’. This was then shortened to chumbeque. The sweet is very popular in the northern city Iquique, and is loved by students for its high calorie content.