Guatemalan donuts for a special holiday

Quema del Diablo is a big night in Guatemala

My friends! Tomorrow is a holiday in the country of Guatemala, an absolutely beautiful place where I have spent time with the World Central Kitchen team after a volcanic eruption in 2018, and again in 2020 after two destructive hurricanes hit the country. I love Guatemala, and any time I can celebrate its food and traditions, I am happy to do so!

The holiday is called quema del diablo, the burning of the devil. Throughout the country, people will light bonfires right at 6pm in order to burn everything that was bad from the last year (symbolically or literally!) and start fresh and purified for the holidays—it marks the beginning of the Christmas season for many Guatemalans. In cities and towns around the country, can buy devil-shaped piñatas, known as Diablitos, ready to burn.

The amazing Guatemalan chef Sofia Deleon, who owns El Merkury in Philadelphia—she has been a longtime restaurant partner of WCK—remembers celebrating quema del diablo with her grandparents in Guatemala City: “When the clock hit 6pm, we burned a devil piñata with old newspapers and twigs to make a bonfire. Once the fire was gone, we proceeded to my favorite part: the food.” Sofia’s grandmother, “who always liked to cook for small armies of people,” would make hundreds of buñuelos, little fried dough balls served with a sweet citrus-infused honey which are traditionally made to celebrate the holiday. Here’s Sofia’s recipe, inspired by the memory of her abuela, which we published in the World Central Kitchen Cookbook (did you buy an extra copy for gifting…?)

Oh, and will you tell me: are you afraid of frying? I love to fry, I think it’s one of the most exciting things to do in the kitchen…but I know that there are many people who aren’t comfortable doing it at home. Let me know what you think, maybe I will dedicate a post in the future to techniques for frying…

Buñuelos

Makes approximately 20 buñuelos