Merida’s famous avenue, Paseo Montejo, has recently seen some new and exciting developments at the beginning of the Avenue commonly called in Spanish, the “Remate de Paseo Montejo”. One of the more recent arrivals on the scene is Café La Bohemé, located between Calles 37 and 39. The intimate and unique Café La Bohemè has what owners Chris Wayne Ewen and Alejandro Martinez Rodriguez call “baked creations”, and lo and behold, their baked creations are the very things we internationals find ourselves craving…homemade brownies, apple pies and even one specialty that can make your mouth water at just hearing its name, Baked Lemon Cheesecake with an Oreo cookie crust!

Of course along with all these home baked deserts, one must pair their choice with one of the great specialty frozen or cold drinks or the Café’s very special coffee-  a unique blend from Veracruz and Chiapas made just for the Café, along with a good book and a great atmosphere, which is exactly what this little Café provides. Café La Bohemé offers one of the few café book exchanges with English and Spanish titles alike plus a special community bulletin board and customer loyalty program. Not feeling like desert? The Café also serves up homemade croissant sandwiches, paninos, fresh pasta salads and lasagna among several other delightful lunch items, all with the mindset of giving internationals a remembrance of their home and some of the tastes that can be difficult to find in Mexico and Yucatan, especially under the coolness of what is considered in Yucatan “the miracle of air conditioning”!

Chris Wayne Ewen, the designer of the “baked creations” commented that all of the recipes he uses are “family recipes” passed down through many generations, and everything is made from scratch. He shares a few useful tips for those of us finding it a bit difficult to bake in this 100^o climate, not to mention the difficulty in finding basic items like butter, brown sugar and baking powder. Chris confided that the best real butter can be found at Costco in Merida under the brand name Kirkland, and he suggests using raw cane sugar in place of brown sugar and baking powder can be found under the name “Spauda”. Flour can be another issue we face when it comes to baking.  Chris mentions that after several trial and error attempts, he found that using a much higher amount of flour than what the recipe calls gives a much better result.  You will  have to ask him directly just how much, which he is happy to share with you .  He can be found most days baking away at his café.  The normal hours are Mon. – Wed. 8:30am – 8:00pm, Thu. – Fri. 8:30am – 10pm and Sat. 8:30am -1:00pm and 6:00pm – 10:00pm.

And speaking of sharing, Chris has graciously done just that with his “Yucatan adapted” recipe for snicker doodles!  Please enjoy!

Snicker Doodles

2 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350^o F

Sift baking powder, flour and salt together and set aside

Beat together butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 4 minutes

Mix in eggs one at a time, reduce beater speed and gradually add flour mixture

Stir in sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl
Shape dough into 1 ¹/₂” balls and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture

Place on greased cookie sheet about 3” apart

Bake cookies for 15 minutes in 350^o F oven until edges are golden brown

Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet