Description
When planning our Encanto Party, we started with some research. The movie took place in Columbia, so we wanted to make the menu authentic. Maria uses AREPAS to heal everyone. We looked around for local restaurants that served Arepas and found a few. Though we were excited at this find, we quickly concluded that the amount we needed would be slightly over budget. We decided to try and make them ourselves. Taking this on was a fun activity with the kiddos. We were able to talk about other countries, cultures, and food.
The kiddos were incredibly excited to be making the healing AREPAS like in the movie. We played with a few different recipes and were able to create the best kid-friendly option. So please put on the Encanto soundtrack, and let’s go!
The first thing we thought about was who was coming. We mainly had children, of course, so the flavor had to meet their tastebuds. To do this, we altered the original recipes by adding some honey.
We also had to think about specific allergies that some of the people coming had. Score all those out there with gluten allergies. If made using this recipe and watching the brands of the specific ingredients, these will be an excellent treat for you. To work with those that had dairy allergies, we made two different batches. One was plain Arepas, and the other batch was Arepas con Queso.
Ingredients
4 Cups of Masarepa
3 tsp of salt
3 tsp of honey
5 1/2 cups of Luke warm water
2.5 cups of Mozzarella (for the Arepas con Queso)
Instructions
1- We don’t talk about Bruno. But we do wash our hands. Remind children who want to help, and the first step is always to clean their hands.
2- Take all of your dry ingredients and mix them. Children love to measure and pour. It is a perfect way to teach them measurements and an ideal way to use hand-eye coordination to ensure ingredients get into the bowl.
3- Slowly pour in your water, watching the consistency. You want the dough to be moist but not tacky. Children love to mix and pour. Having them do it slowly helps them to use the skill of patience, which we all know is hard for us sometimes.
4- Mix in the honey. Children can mix, and I encourage you to allow them. One hand is always steady on the bowl while the other hand combines.
5- Allow dough to rest for 5-10. Turn your music up and dance to a few songs. Make cooking fun!
6- Separate into 16 balls. The children love to roll out the balls. It is like when they play with play-doh. It is better than play-doh. It’s actual food!
7- Separate into two piles, one for cheese and one for plain.
9- For the cheese ones, allow the children to put a thumbprint in the middle. Then fill the thumbprint with about 1 tbsp of the shredded mozzarella cheese. Then gently press the opposite sides together to cover the cheese. We found that having wet hands allowed us to fold over the sides better to cover the cheese.
10- Place on a gently oiled pan. Use a spatula to flatten the rolled ball, and cook for about 2 minutes on each side or until you see that they have a toasted side. Flip and do the same on the other side.
11- When cooked, place them on a serving dish. Put the dairy-free on a separate plate if there are allergies. If not serving right away, cover and put away. I made the night before and used in casserole dishes that I just popped into the oven the day of the party to heat up.
12- When ready to serve, drizzle with honey. Allowing children to do this last step is exciting for them, have them gently dip a spoon into a honey jar and then shake over arepas.
Notes
Allowing your children to participate in making something gives them a sense of confidence. They get to hear people at their party compliment their work.
We have made them a few ways. The easiest way we found to make them was using a stove top griddle. We were able to cook many at the same time.
ENJOY!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 3-5 per batch
- Category: Encanto Party
- Cuisine: Columbian
Keywords: Encanto Arepas Columbian Dinner Children