It wouldn't have been Christmas unless Colombian buñuelos were involved and since it was my first holiday away from family (and my mom's yummy cooking) I had to fend for myself. Fortunately, London has a pretty established Colombian community so it was easy to find Latin markets with everything that I needed: pre-packaged buñuelos mix and fresh farmer's cheese.
My first attempt on Christmas Eve was a near disaster after I added too much water to the mix and over-heated the oil. Joe jumped in to help (as it usually goes with my cooking) and we managed to get six good buñuelos in the end. Determined to get my beloved Colombian fried bread balls down to perfection, we went to Brixton Market to buy some more cheese. We found the holy grail of ingredients at a Colombian cafe after they agreed to sell us ground-cheese straight from their kitchen. This, of course, came at a premium but we were more than happy to fork over the money since pre-packed options were nowhere to be found at the market and we were set on making this happen!
With a bag of cheese and fresh arepas in tow, we were ready to make the best buñuelos ever. We choose to make them for breakfast and with a new found wisdom and spanking new thermometer, we fried the best bread balls this London kitchen has ever seen. Though a little "pecosos", or freckly, as my mom would say, they were the perfect crunch on the outside and perfect softness on the inside. Since they can feel pretty heavy in your stomach after eating a few, we paired them with some Greek Yogurt and fruit so that we could eat more with less guilt (totally worked, by the way).
The ultimate moment of satisfaction was when Joe bit into a fresh buñuelo and proclaimed in a dreamy tone "I love that you're Colombian"... Me too, hunny. Me too.