Barquillo facts for kids
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| Alternative names | Biscuit roll, crispy biscuit roll, crisp biscuit roll, cookie roll, love letter |
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| Type | Biscuit |
| Place of origin |  Spain |
| Variations | Barquiron, Cuchuflí |
Barquillo is a super crispy, rolled cookie that comes from Spain. It's made from simple ingredients like flour, sugar, egg whites, and butter. These ingredients are rolled out very thin, then shaped into a hollow tube or a cone.
Long ago, barquillos were often sold by street vendors called barquilleros. They carried a special red tin with a roulette spinner on top. This tasty treat traveled to Latin America and the Philippines when Spain had colonies there. In Spain and many former Spanish colonies, barquillos are a popular Christmas cookie. They are also enjoyed during different fiestas (festivals). Today, barquillos are very popular in East Asia and Southeast Asia.
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What Does "Barquillo" Mean?
The Spanish name barquillo means "little boat." This name comes from how these cookies were first made. People used to heat them in molds that looked like small, curved boats.
Barquillos have many other names too! In English, they are sometimes called biscuit roll, cookie roll, crispy biscuit roll, egg roll, crisp biscuit roll, or even love letter. In Chinese, the name "蛋卷" (dàn juǎn) directly translates to "egg roll." But don't get confused! The "egg rolls" you might know in Western food are very different from barquillos.
What Are Barquillos Like?
Barquillos are thin, crispy wafers. They are made from flour, sugar, egg whites, and butter. After being baked, they are rolled into long, hollow tubes or cones. Sometimes, they are simply folded in half to look like a fan.
In Spain, barquillos were traditionally sold by traveling street vendors called barquilleros (or barquilleras). You would often see them at festive events. In Madrid, barquilleros are especially famous during the fiesta of San Isidro Labrador. They often dress in traditional castizo (or chulapo) clothes.
These barquilleros carry a special red tin called the ruleta de barquillero. It has a roulette spinner on top. Buying barquillos from them often involves a fun little game! You pay to spin the roulette. Depending on where the spinner lands, you might get one or two barquillos for the same price. You could also pay a bit more to keep spinning and get more barquillos until the spinner lands on one of four special golden spots.
The tradition of barquilleros almost disappeared for a while. But today, barquillos are super popular in Asia, where many people enjoy them.
Barquillos are usually eaten plain. But now, you can find them with different flavors like vanilla, cinnamon, grated coconut, or lemon juice. Many barquillos are also dipped in or coated with milk chocolate, or they have a chocolate filling. Because they look a lot like ice cream cones, they are often used to hold frozen treats like ice cream.
Other countries in Europe have similar cookies. For example, there's parizske pecivo from Czechoslovakia, pirouettes from France, and krumkake from Norway. Flat versions of these wafers include wafle in Poland, goro in Norway, and pizzelle in Italy.
Barquillos Around the World
Barquillos in Latin America
In Argentina and Chile, you can find cylindrical barquillos filled with sweet treats. These fillings often include dulce de leche, chocolate, or other yummy creams. In Chile, these are called cuchuflís, and in Argentina, they are known as cubanitos.
Barquillos in Asia
Barquillos in the Philippines look a bit different from the traditional Spanish ones. They are usually thinner and rolled into longer, tube shapes. Philippine barquillos are very famous in the city of Iloilo. The Deocampo bakery there has been making barquillos for sale since 1896!
A special type of Filipino barquillo is called barquiron (or barqueron). These are barquillos filled with polvorón (a crumbly cookie) and crushed nuts like peanuts, cashew nuts, or pili nuts. Barquiron also comes from Iloilo. Other Filipino barquillos can be flavored with ube (purple yam), pandan leaves, and carrots. These give them bright purple, green, and orange colors!
In Hong Kong, these biscuit rolls are made from wheat flour, butter, egg, sugar, and vanilla flavor. They are often sold in pretty tin cans.
Gallery
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A ruleta de barquillero from Madrid
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Flan con helado, a Spanish dessert with a barquillo
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Filipino barquillos
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Filipino chocolate-filled barquillos
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A syrup sponge pudding dessert with a biscuit roll from England
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Hong Kong love letters are commonly sold in tin cans
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See also
In Spanish: Barquillo para niños
