El Borracho- Rum Soaked Tres Leches Cake

Some things in la vida ( life) are so good, it would be a shame if they were missed.  That's exactly how I feel about Tres Leches Cake, it is a sweet, moist sponge cake soaked to the gills in three milks. Hence the name Tres Leches, which is Spanish for just that - three milks.

If the saying goes " American as Apple Pie, then the saying for our vecinos ( neighbors) below the border would be Latin as " Tres Leches Cake".

That is where this yummy cake originated.  The actual birthplace of this Latin dessert is disputable between tres paises diferentes ( three different countries). Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico. All three lay claim for this Queen of Pastel ( cakes) being native to their countries. 

The jury may still be out on who invented this cake, but I give mil gracias ( a million thanks) to my amigo Chulo who introduced this pastel delicoso to me!  Although I'd like to believe that I already knew a lot about Latin culture before him, me being a " Gringa-Latina" ( American girl with an amor for everything Latin). 

Chulo really opened my eyes to so many more awesome traditions, arts and culture within America Latina.  There is nothing like spending time with someone who grew up within a culture , to help give you a taste of what it's really like and bring you closer to yummy, dulce, out of this mundo (world) cakey goodness like Tres Leches Cake!

 

adapted from : Marcela Valladolid, Mexican Made Easy

My version of this cake has a little rum, a traditional tres leches cake does not contain alcohol. In many Latin American countries the addition of alcohol to the cake changes the name to a

" Pastel Borracho" meaning drunken cake.

Ingredients

Nonstick cooking spray, for the cake pan

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the cake pan

1 tablespoon baking powder

4 large eggs, separated

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup whole milk

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk

2 cups heavy cream, divided

3 tablespoons Bacardi Gold Rum

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

 

optional:

maraschino cherries

strawberry jam

 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray and flour a 10-inch cake pan with 2-inch high sides and then line with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper.

Mix the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites until frothy. With the mixer running, gradually add the sugar and beat to stiff peaks. Beat in the yolks, 1 at a time, blending well after each addition. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the whole milk in 2 additions.


Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool the cake slightly, about 10 minutes, then invert onto a platter with 1-inch high sides.


Pierce the top of the cake all over with a thick skewer. Mix the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, 1 cup heavy cream and  the Bacardi rum in a medium bowl. Pour the mixture over the cake while warm. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 3 hours or overnight.

Combine the remaining 1 cup heavy cream and powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Spread the whipped cream onto top of the cake and garnish with maraschino cherries, strawberries or even peaches.

 

Optional: I wanted a little filling in my cake, so I made a little extra whipped cream mixed with strawberry jam to create an extra sweet center to the cake. You can use any flavor jam that sounds yummy : passion fruit, guava or mango sound pretty delicioso to me as well!

Salsaghetti & Eyeballs- Halloween Chocolate Apple

As a little chica I was what I like to affectionately call myself a "scaredy gato (cat) there was a song that had me scared out of my cabeza.

Every time I heard it, there wasn't many places in my casa that I could go alone for at least 2-3 hours.....True Story! I scurried down the halls, as soon as I walked into my bedroom I would take a flying leap from the doorway onto my bed. You don't even want to know how many lights would be required to even think about entering the bathroom!







  I had a top 5 list of the most scariest things ever invented, these were things that from the age of 5 years old I never, ever, ever, wanted to see and or do. Are interested to hear my list?....Well here it goes: 1. The Incredible Hulk 2. Elevators 3. Daddy Long Leg Spiders 4. The movie Carrie and I lost endless nights of sleep on this one 5. Freddy Kruger.

Oh and this song, it always seemed to keep me alert as I turned corners. I don't know if it was the moving creatures on the wall in the back round or the fact that it reminded me to heighten my already super sense of awareness. This song sent chills up my little 5 year old spine. Obviously now I'm all grown up and I realize that all these things are truly not " that scary" and these fears have left my mind....ahem, well I'm technically still scared of one of these things. I'll leave it up to you to guess which one.

Anyway as I was gently submerging orange moon colored eyes into the softened chocolate dipped apple,swirled with mango flavored gummy spaghetti ( obviously, this is not real spaghetti, but it is a mango flavored licorice with a hint of spicy yumminess, with a side of tamarindo "spagehtti sauce") I could hear that spooky song playing in my head. And for just a split second I thought about peeking over my shoulder, but I shook my head...nahhh, nothing to be scared of anymore....Right!

Ingredients

4 Granny Smith Apples
1 bag of melting chocolate ( Wilton, Merckens, or you can also use a bag of semi-sweet chocolate)
2 packages of Lucas Salsagheti Mango or Watermelon Candy( I purchased mine at my local Mexican tienda, you can also purchase them online here .
1 package of gummy eyeballs
4 cookie pop or Popsicle sticks
1 package of semi-sweet mini chocolate chips (these were used as warts)


Recipe

Wash apples, remove stems, and insert wooden craft sticks into the area where you removed the stems. Press firmly to fit the craft stick into the apple.
Melt chocolate wafers or semi-sweet chocolate. Melt the chocolate using the double-boiler method, or via microwave making sure to cook at no more than 45 second intervals or chocolate will burn. I have a chocolate candy apple maker that melts both chocolate and caramel. Of course you can use this maker as well if you have one. Stir the chocolate to make sure that it's fully melted.

Take an apple by the stick and dip it into the melted chocolate, rolling it in a circular motion until the entire apple is coated. Continue this process until you have coated all apples with chocolate.

 

Allow chocolate to set and cool for about 3-4 minutes and then roll the chocolate covered apple in mini- chocolate chips. Place the gummy eyes where you'll think they'll look the scariest, I liked mine all in a row. Then string on the salsagheti around your gummy eyeballs.

 

 Next place the apples on a Crisco sprayed cookie sheet or piece of wax paper to set for about 30 minutes.

 

When apples are set you can wrap them individually in cellophane and tie with a cute decorative bow!

Finger Lickin Good - Creepy Halloween Chocolate Apples

Nothing like severed bloody body parts, wrapped in cellophane stuffed in cardboard coffins happily stacked on store shelves to let us know that the ghoulish days of Halloween are among us! 

Halloween is one of those holidays that just screams for a fiesta, the themes for a Halloween fiesta are sin fin ( without end): pumpkins, witches, scarecrows, ghosts, black cats, mummies and please let us not forget our beloved vampires! ...... Go Team Jacob!, Is there really a choice? Edward will just ruin your whole life forever.

(Uh...umm, okay back to the fiesta)........ I mean c'mon do you really want to spend all that money for your little diablos costumes just to use them one time?!  I actually look forward to the extra invites that my chicas receive from their amigos for a wickedly fun party filled with ghouls and goblins.

I also await the paper from school announcing the date and time of their Halloween party, their school holiday party treats are almost as important as the one's I bring in for their own cumpleanos ( birthday).

It's so much fun choosing between cupcakes with neon vampire teeth and red hot butter cream tongues sticking out the middles or  midnight black ooey gooey chocolate graveyard cakes with nutter butter peanut butter cookie tombstones.

The fact that I have three chica's who still are young enough to party during school hours is a super plus, not to mention the fact that I get three chances to create separate goodies unique to each one of them! 

When I spotted these severed body parts , I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. Visions of dark brown chocolate dipped apples surrounded by bloody fingers and bloody feet and toes splattered with red chocolate "blood" danced in my head. Despite the scary massacre look of it all, I think they came out eerily cute! What do you think? ♥

Ingredients

4 Granny Smith Apples
1 bag of  melting chocolate ( Wilton, Merckens or you can use chocolate chips)
1 bag of  Red melting chocolate
1 bag of bloody severed fingers and feet
4 cookie pop sticks ( I prefer wooden you can use paper or popsicle sticks)


Recipe

Wash apples, remove stems, and insert wooden craft sticks into the area where you removed the stems. Press firmly to fit the craft stick into the apple.

Melt chocolate wafers or semi-sweet chocolate. Melt the chocolate using the double-boiler method, or via microwave making sure to cook at no more than 45 second intervals or chocolate will burn. I have a chocolate candy apple maker that melts both chocolate and caramel. Of course you can use this maker as well if you have one.  Stir the chocolate to make sure that it's fully melted.

Take an apple by the stick and dip it into the melted chocolate, rolling it in a circular motion until the entire apple is coated. Continue this process until you have coated all apples with chocolate.

 

Place the severed limbs all around the base of the apple and let set for about 5 minutes, next melt a cup of red chocolate wafers, once melted place in piping bag and pipe the red chocolate  with an up and down motion to resemble dripping blood.

Place the chocolate dipped apples onto a flat baking pan or cookie sheet lined with wax paper. I sprayed a little Crisco onto the wax paper for extra ease of removal.  Place the pan in the refrigerator for 30 to 45 minutes to allow the chocolate to set. Take out and enjoy!  To make the apples fiesta ready wrap them individually in cellophane bags, tie with a decorative ribbon.

 

Foodie Pen Pal Reveal Day- September

Well another month has flown by, which means all the waiting, suspense and excitement that surrounds the group I joined called Foodie Pen Pals has taken me over once again!

Seriously I had no idea when I joined that this would be so exciting, and I have to say it is just as exciting receiving my package as it is preparing my package to send away. Actually, I think the sending part is a little more exciting, it's like Christmas Day when you think you've chosen your carino ( loved one) the most perfect gift ever!


You can't wait to see the smile and surprise on their face when they finally get to open their package. I have to be honest I kind of squealed like an 9 year old muchacha when I opened my package this month.I was pretty thankful last month but this time I was completely over the Luna (moon) with what was inside.


It was as if I was walking right there along with my pen pal and I had chosen everything myself!  Karen who has an incredible blog all about being healthy, you should check it out by the way right here.  Karen let me know this was her first month as a foodie pen pal. In her letter she said she may have gone a little overboard, ahem....I'm not saying that she didn't, but I am super happy she had so much fun shopping for me!




This package was filled with so many cool things, would you like to hear what?!  Well here it goes!

♥ Bear Naked-vanilla almond crunch granola, which I have been putting in my yogurt every morning, a nice addition.

♥ Blue Diamond Oven Roasted Dark Chocolate Almonds- ummm, did you read the name of these I think that perfectly describes how delicioso these were!

♥ Justin's Organic Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups- I am saving these for a midnight chocolate craving, since their organic they have to be healthy right?

♥ A Bottle of Pure Virginia Clover Honey- have I mentioned that I absolutely love honey and only honey on my buttermilk biscuits. How did she know ?

♥ Peeps Halloween Pumpkins- they were sugar free, my kids dug right into them and had no idea they were sugar free! Ha!....oh and Karen they wanted to say thank you for thinking of them.

♥ Baking Cups in Halloween colors- perfect for the treats I will be sending into my chica's class this Halloween!

♥ PB2- powdered peanut butter, this was by far the coolest stuff I've ever seen! I had no idea that they had powdered peanut butter. I 'm thinking of sprinkling some on the top of chocolate cupcakes just to give it a try.

♥ Casa Mexicana- Chicken Chipotle Tacos and Beef Taco Seasoning- So these are two of the three things that evoked one of the biggest squeals. I am always looking for new Mexican cooking products and they have nothing like this where I live. I can't wait to use them, I've been waiting for
"Un Dia Muy Especial" ( a very special day)

♥ Green & Blacks  Maya Gold- chile and orange spiced dark chocolate- okay no cue in the last and final squeal!  This was like the most perfect gift I could have received, during a recent trip to Atlantic City I saw this chocolate but somehow passed it by. I had regret that I didn't buy it, but it was destined to be mine! ♥

Now you can see how and why I was so elated with all my goodies.

 Gracias, Karen for everything you really did make my day! ♥

Best Ever Chocolate Mexicano- Mexican Hot Chocolate

Parting is such sweet sorrow......no truer words were spoken, especially if you are part of a ultra fun cooking club.

 I found the I heart cooking club by chance, what are the odds that a cooking club that features many different chefs at any given month was featuring the chef I idolize as a " culinary rock star" during the month I stumbled upon it?! I have no question that it was meant to be, especially since I've been meaning to give Rick Bayless' recipes a try but somehow other recipes have gotten in the way. So now the end is here and the cooking club is moving on to a new chef, I will continue my lance de amor pron: lohn-say day- ah-more ( love affair) see doesn't lance de amor sound so much sweeter than just a plain old love affair!



Upholding my belief that everything sounds so much better en Espanol! Okay with that said, here are a few of my favorite Rick recipes so far. This last one is my final entry, which is hands down my favorite one. It's simple and sweet, no fuss no muss just a super easy recipe that leaves you thirsty for more.......literally.

I have always heard how rich and delicious Mexican Hot Chocolate was, but perhaps the fact that I didn't own a molinillo (a traditional turned Mexican wooden whisk) was a deterrent.

I felt like to make an authentic cup of Mexican Hot Chocolate the molinillo was a must, but I finally conceded and decided to give it a try. With my wooden spatula in hand, I stirred the huge cinnamon infused chocolate tablet until it transformed into hot froththy wonderfulness.

Estoy tan feliz(I'm so happy)that I did, my chicas couldn't stop drinking it and giving me praise for all my hard work!

With the last drop sipped, and the chill of fall in the air,we as a familia dubbed Mexican Hot Chocolate our official winter drink...but not until one my chicas suggested that we add a few marshmallows and a splash of cinnamon..leave it to my chicas to add a little American flair! Maybe their on to something.....next time perhaps I will add a little American spirits! Salud ♥

Mexican Challah Grilled Cheese, this was so rich and creamy, I can see this sandwich showing up muchas veces ( many times) in my casa!

Raspberry Rosita- Raspberry-Lemonade Corona helped sweeten my relationship with beer, a refreshing summertime sipper you won't want to put down!

I love the taste of this Dulce Cajeta, it's suave (smooth), dulce (sweet) and perfect on almost anything!

Adapted from Rick Bayless’ Mexico One Plate at a Time (Mexican Hot Chocolate)

  Ingredients

2 1/2 cups milk or water

1 tablet 3.3oz Mexican Chocolate -( Ibarra or Abuelita, found in the Hispanic grocery aisle)

Optional- Marshmallows and sprinkle of cinnamon


Recipe

Combine 2 ½ cups milk or water and 1 tablet 3.3oz of coarsely chopped Mexican chocolate, such as Ibarra, in a 2-quart saucepan; stir over medium heat until mixture is steaming hot and the chocolate more-or-less dissolved (there will still be small pieces). Pour into a blender or you can usea hand held immersion blender and tall pitcher. If using a blender, loosely cover or remove lid’s center piece to eliminate pressure build-up; blend until mixture is foamy, about 30 seconds. Pour into cups. Serve immediately.

Makes 2 1/2 cups approx or four 6-ounce servings.

Chocolate Chip Cajeta Pretzel Bars

Chocolate Chip Cookies solitas ( all alone) are unquestionably my absolute favorite dessert.....ever. If I'm at a party with one of those super cool, absolutely delicious buffet style dessert tables, my eyes always scan the length of it looking for a soft and chewy brown sugar chocolate chip studded yumminess.

Somehow my feelings about chocolate chip cookies have advanced into a new kind of  amor (love) just by adding two simple ingredients....... Salted Pretzels and Cajeta. Now you may remember a few weeks back I made my own homemade  Mexican Cajeta, if you've never seen it you can find the recipe here. 

So believe it or not as enticing as it was, I still had a little bit of cajeta left  over. I couldn't bare to see it go to waste so I came up with a quick recipe to put it to good use, the result was a rich bar of, sweetness with a creamy gooeyness in the middle, spiked with a salty crunch.

Ummm and did I say all of this was stuffed in the middle of a chocolate chip cookie. No mas palabras necesario ( no more words needed) just a boca ( mouth )full of happiness!

This time I kept it super easy and used my most favorite ready made cookie dough in all the land!  This cookie dough tastes so good, it has been known to cause epic arguments in my casa about who ate the last batch....true story!


If you have a go to chocolate chip cookie recipe feel free to use it, if not here is one that sounded pretty good to me!

Ingredients

1 batch of chocolate chip cookie dough

1 cup of crushed salted pretzels

1 jar of Mexican Cajeta, dulce de leche or caramel sauce


Recipe

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees , grease brownie bar pan and set aside ( you can see a picture here)

2. Place a spoonful of cookie dough in the bottom in the bottom of your brownie pan.

3. Next sprinkle a handful of crushed pretzels, then a spoonful of cajeta, another spoonful of cookie dough, spoonful of cajeta and a final handful of crushed pretzels.

4. Bake for 12- 15 minutes, remove from the oven right before it's golden brown

5. Cool completely, than carefully remove from brownie bar pan, I like to lay down a piece of wax paper and turn my pan upside down and give a little tap on each cavity to assure easy removal from the pan.

Mexican Challah Grilled Cheese

You may not know this but I'm a culturist......yea, I'm not quite sure if that is a "real" word or just a term that I invented in my head? Just in case this is purely made up my me, I will clarify a little bit about what I'm trying to say. 

I am very fascinated by different cultures, they intrigue me, I love hearing people talk about their lives spent and growing up in different countries. The things that they ate, the things they would never eat, but perhaps they do now because it's part of life here in America. I love hearing about the fiestas, parades and holidays that are celebrated at certain times within the year. For example, my oldest hija (daughter) came to me and demanded that I watch the new show on TLC called "Breaking Amish".

We sat there intently and watched as they illuminated there homes with hanging lamps activated by lighters, absolutely no electric appliances anywhere in sight. We listened as they spoke in awe of having ice made in a convenient machine that produces buckets full of ice on que, no need for them to wait for the " ice man" in order to make their purchase.  She and I questioning the fact that many of them spoke about being "shunned" just for having a video camera in town, both of us keeping tabs of how many times they each said the word.

The amount of times so significant that we decided " being shunned" on their fear scale was the equivalent of the terror we would feel if we went to the bathroom in the middle of the night on Friday the 13th.  Looking in the mirror as your washing your hands then seeing Freddy Kreuger's knife ridden hand lunging at you, out of shear panic you loose your balance fall backwards into the shower right into Mike Meyers arms!......, soooo maybe this is just a little bit over dramatic but a horrendous thought none the less! 

Alright, so back to the show.... by the time the end credits rolled, both of us took a look at each other and said" Let's be Amish"! Obviously we weren't serious......we equally like modern conveniences way too much, and were not ready to trade in our skinny jeans for long black wool skirts. 

However, where some may shy away from these type of experiences, not so willing to openly accept anything different from their own "norm". I run to the experience, to the newness the difference the opportunity to see the world with different eyes and maybe learn a few new things all at the same time. 




Last weekend their were two big cultural holidays: Rosh Hashanah- the beginning of Jewish new year and El Dia de Indpendencia ( Mexican Independence Day)- Mexico's celebration of their independence from Spain.  I have amigos queridos ( dear friends) from both cultures that tell me so much about how they celebrate these days. Their stories influenced me to make a little something of my own inspired by los dos culturas ( both cultures).

It's an avocado, queso fresco, tomato grilled cheese with spicy chipotle mayonessa, I used Challah bread ( a Jewish braided bread, eaten on the Sabbath and during holidays), and all the colors in the middle of the bread represent the colors of the Mexican flag. 


Coincidentally, the idea for this sandwich came just in time for the I Heart Cooking Clubs entry of the week, which included recipes from Ricky Bayless which would be great to have in your lunch box on the go! This one is Perfecto ♥

Viva Mexico &  Shabbat Shalom ♥


Ready for another recipe easy as: uno, dos, tres? .....Well here it goes!


Adapted from this Rick Bayless recipe, I think next time I may add a little chorizo and a few black beans to make it even more of a Mexican Grilled Cheese de verdad!
Ingredients

loaf of Challah bread
1 ripe avocado
queso blanco or chihuahua cheese
1 tomato
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp of adobo sauce
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
2 tbsp of butter

Ok, primero (first) the recipe for the Chipotle Mayonnaise

Directions

1. In a food processor or blender, combine the mayonnaise, chipotle chilies, and adobo sauce. Pulse until smooth and well blended. Store in the refrigerator until needed

Ahora (now) the sandwich!


1. Slice your avocados, tomatoes and your cheese, set aside on a plate nearby

2. Heat your non-stick skillet to 325 degrees

3 Cut two slices of Challah bread, be careful not to cut them to thick or it will be more difficult for the heat to get to the insides to melt the cheese before the bread browns. Lightly butter the outside of the both slices of bread with butter.

4. Next, place one side of bread butter side down in skillet and stuff with avocado, tomato and your cheese. At this time you can take out your Chipotle Mayonnaise and spread some on your other slice, then place on top of your sandwich.

5. Cook on each side until cheese is melted and bread is golden brown ( my cheese didn't melt, queso blanco has a taste like mozzarella but it doesn't melt the same, if you want a melting cheese you can use chihuahua cheese) slice and Disfrutalo! Enjoy ♥