Cachitos are Venezuelan pastries shaped like crescents and filled with ham. They are made with a rich dough similar to dinner rolls rather than the flaky pastry of croissants. The dough is made with butter, shortening, milk, sugar, salt, flour, eggs and yeast. It is kneaded and allowed to rise before being rolled out, filled with thin strips of ham, and rolled up to form crescents. The filled crescents rise again before being baked to a golden brown color.

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Cachitos

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About Cachitos
Cachitos are little ham-filled, crescent-
shaped rolls. Quite popular for breakfast in
Venezuela, they are sometimes called
Venezuelan croissants, but they have the
rich texture of a dinner roll rather than the
flaky texture of a true croissant. They are
also much easier to make than croissants!

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Ingredients
 1/2 cup sugar
 1 tablespoon instant yeast
 2 eggs
 4 cups flour
 1 pound thinly sliced deli ham
 4 tablespoons butter
 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
 1 cup milk
 1 teaspoon salt

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Preparation
 Cut butter and shortening into small pieces and place in a heat
proof bowl of a standing mixer. Bring the milk just to a boil in a
saucepan over medium high heat.
 Pour hot milk over shortening and butter and stir until melted.
Let cool slightly.
 Add sugar, salt, and 1 cup flour to butter/milk mixture and stir.
Add eggs and stir well.

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Preparation
 Add yeast and mix well. Add rest of flour and mix.
 Using dough hook attachment, knead dough until smooth and
stretchy, adding more flour if necessary. Knead for 5 minutes.
Dough should be soft, and slightly sticky.
 Place dough in a lightly greased bowl and let rise in a warm
place until double in size, about 2 hours. (or chill overnight in
the refrigerator).

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Preparation (Cont.)
 Punch down dough and divide into 4 pieces. Roll one piece out
into a 10 inch circle. Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into 6
equal triangles, or pizza slices.
 Take 1/4 pound of the sliced ham, and cut it into thin strips.
Divide the ham among the 6 triangles, placing it on top of the
wide part of the triangle.
 Roll the triangles up toward the point, keeping the ham inside,
and place the rolls point side down on a baking sheet, curving
them slightly to form a crescent shape.

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Preparation (Cont. 3)
 Repeat with remaining dough.
 Brush rolls lightly with melted butter, then let rise in a warm place until
doubled.
 Preheat oven to 375. Mix egg white with 1 teaspoon sugar. Bake rolls for
10 minutes. Remove, brush with egg white mixture, and return to the
oven. Bake about 10 minutes more, until golden brown.
 Serve warm or at room temperature.