Let's inaugurate the month of December with the first Christmas-inspired post. There are those who have already started decorating, those who strictly respect traditions, and of course those who consider Christmas a mere commercial holiday... but this is no reason not to try new tastes and learn about the traditions of other countries. Today we discover together the recipe for Natilla Navideña.

Natilla Navideña is a spoon dessert, which may remind one of panna cotta, typical of the Christmas period. During the festive season, it is usually served with buñuelo, tasty fried balls made with cheese and yucca starch (the edible tuber of cassava, for those who don't know it).

This is a fairly simple dessert to prepare, it will be ready in 15 minutes and you will look great. Since this is a festive cake, we have chosen a recipe with servings for up to 10. Let's move on to the ingredients needed and the steps to follow.

How to make Natilla Navideña:

To prepare the natilla you will need 7 cups of room temperature skimmed milk, 600g of cornflour and cinnamon sticks or cinnamon powder to taste (many recipes suggest using 1 tablespoon of cinnamon powder for decoration and 2-3 sticks for preparation) .

Pour two cups of milk into a sufficiently large bowl and gradually add the cornflour, stirring thoroughly until the cornflour is completely dissolved in the milk. (preferably with a whisk so that no lumps form). Butter is also added in this step in some recipes (one tablespoon for every 200/250 grams of cornflour).

Pour the remaining 5 cups of milk into a saucepan, add the cinnamon sticks and cook over a low flame. Gradually add the previously prepared milk and cornflour mixture, stirring constantly.
Simmer, stirring constantly, until the cream has thickened and starts to simmer, about 5 minutes (keep an eye on the consistency and take care not to burn the cream).
Once the cooking is finished, it is not necessary to remove the cinnamon sticks.
Pour your cream into a single mould (perhaps themed for Christmas parties), or into individual moulds and decorate as desired, with dried fruit, fresh fruit or caramel.
We tried it with dehydrated coconut and sultanas.