Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Rosquillas en Miel
Little corn-and-cheese rings simmered in a dark spiced sugar syrup, a Honduran and Central American sweet.
Honduran · medium · serves 6
prep 25 min · cook 30 min
~531 cal · 14g protein · 88g carbs · 15g fat · 2g fiber · 52g sugars · 9g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Rosquillas are small rings of corn and cheese found across Honduras and its neighbours, baked hard as a savoury snack to dunk in coffee, or simmered in syrup to become a dessert. The sweet version, rosquillas en miel, is the one made for celebrations and cold evenings.
The dough is the interesting part: corn bound with grated hard cheese, which gives the rings their firm bite and faint saltiness. Shaped into little O's, they are simmered in a miel, a dark syrup of rapadura or piloncillo scented with cinnamon and cloves, until they soften and drink it in.
Served warm in a bowl with plenty of the spiced syrup, they are homely, comforting, and unmistakably Central American, the sweet-and-salty contrast of corn, cheese, and dark sugar doing all the work.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
2 cups harina
Hard to find? fresh masa from a tortilleria - the one thing that is not a substitute is ordinary cornmeal. Masa harina is nixtamalised, treated with alkali, which is what lets it bind and gives it the flavour; untreated cornmeal will not hold together and does not taste of the same thing at all
1 cup grated hard cheese
1 1/2 cups rapadura or dark brown sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
3 whole cloves
4 whole allspice berries
3 cups water
Instructions
1
Mix the masa harina with the grated cheese and enough warm water to make a firm, smooth dough.
2
Pinch off pieces and roll into ropes, then join the ends into small rings.
3
Make the syrup: simmer the sugar with the water, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice until it dissolves and thickens slightly.
4
Drop the rings into the gently simmering syrup and cook until they firm up and soak up the colour, about 15 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the syrup at a bare simmer. A rolling boil breaks the delicate rings before they set.
5
Serve warm in bowls with the spiced syrup spooned over.
Honduran home-sweet tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
San Pedro Sula. The baleada is credited to the north coast and to La Ceiba rather than to this city, though the whole region eats them daily. The flour tortilla is thick and soft, the crema is Honduran mantequilla blanca, thinner and more sour than the name suggests, and the cheese is queso duro, salty and dry.
🗺️
Honduras. Honduran food centers on corn, beans, and plantain, with the coastal Garifuna tradition bringing coconut-rich seafood soups. Baleadas (folded tortillas with beans and cheese) are the beloved national snack.
🌍
North America. The most consequential technique on this continent is nixtamalisation, cooking maize with lime or wood ash. It loosens the skins, makes the dough that becomes tortillas and tamales, and frees up niacin the body cannot otherwise absorb, which is why maize spread around the world without the technique and took pellagra with it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Honduras
BaleadasA thick flour tortilla folded over refried beans, salty cheese, and crema, Honduras’ perfect handheld meal.
Pollo con TajadasHonduran fried or grilled chicken over crisp green-plantain chips with cabbage slaw and sauces.
Sopa de CaracolA rich conch soup in coconut broth with yuca, plantain, and corn, the Garifuna coastal dish Honduras made famous.
Browse all Honduras recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Rolling pin.
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
Make it a Honduras meal
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Horchata HondureñaDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Rosquillas en Miel?
Little corn-and-cheese rings simmered in a dark spiced sugar syrup, a Honduran and Central American sweet.
Where does Rosquillas en Miel come from?
Rosquillas en Miel is a Honduran dish from San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
Can Rosquillas en Miel be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Rosquillas en Miel recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Rosquillas en Miel safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Rosquillas en Miel take to make?
About 55 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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