These are also from the Atlantic coast, and are like the Egg-filled Arepas, but with a little sugar and no egg. Delicious with hot chocolate or café con leche – that is how we had them before school as children.
Place the cornmeal, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix with a fork. Add the water and Aguardiente*, and mix with your hands for about a minute, or until you have a soft homogenous mixture.
Divide into 12 to 14 equal balls of dough.
Place the balls between 2 sheets of plastic and with a heavy pan or pot cover flatten to ¼ inch.
In a deep heavy pot, heat the oil to 325 F. Add the arepas one by one so that they don’t stick to each other. Cook about 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Remove them from the pot with a slotted spoon and drain over paper towels. They should look golden brown. Serve immediately!