I once read that Montezuma would pour melted chocolate over bowls of snow brought to him from the mountain tops. The image made me swoon though it has to be boiling outside for me to give up my scorching espresso or spiced hot chocolate. This weekend we actually did reach the boiling point so I decided to try it the Emperor’s way. Continue reading ‘Chocolate Covered Snow’
Archive for the 'Desserts' Category
Chocolate Covered Snow
Published 25 July 2010 Beverages , Breakfast/Brunch , Desserts , Drinks , General , Mexico 5 CommentsTags: Harold McGee, chocolate frio, iced chocolate, Mexican chocolate, On Food and Cooking, cacahuatl, Aztec drinking chocolate
Pastelitos de Dulce de Membrillo
Published 22 July 2010 Argentina , Bread/Baked Goods , Breakfast/Brunch , Desserts , General 4 CommentsTags: Jonathan Norton Leonard, pastelitos de dulce de membrillo, pastries filled with quince paste, Time-Life Foods of the World: Latin American Cooking, pastelitos de mil hojas, membrillo, quince paste, pastelitos criollos
I’ve always been drawn to recipes where you can manipulate an ingredient into an object or shape that more accurately captures its essence. It’s why I love retro dishes like fighting lobsters (don’t they look like they should be fighting?) or deviled eggs (yolks sent to finishing school). It’s what attracted me to these Argentinian pastries filled with membrillo and shaped into flowers. Fresh quinces have always remind me of perfumed apples so it’s fitting that boiled down with sugar and tucked into pastry dough, they bloom. Continue reading ‘Pastelitos de Dulce de Membrillo’
Taking Off, Cooling Down
Published 6 July 2010 Desserts , General , Mexico 2 CommentsTags: Paletas, Gaby Camacho, popscicles, heat wave, paletas de duraznos con miel, peach & honey ice pops
When the heat broke last week, I thought we’d finally been granted a reprieve from the brutally hot New York summer. Little did I know that it was only recharging. From the number of friends posting screen shots of the weather forecast on Facebook, I know I’m not the only one mildly hysterical at the prospect of a 102° week. At least I had rocket pops on standby.
Arepitas Dulces
Published 28 June 2010 Breakfast/Brunch , Desserts , Venezuela 2 CommentsTags: anise flavored arepas, anisitas, Arepas, arepitas dulces, arepuelas, melado, panela, papelon, Venezuelan desserts
It’s always the little things that trip me up. I was thinking of making arepas last weekend when I came across a recipe for Venezuelan arepitas dulces. Also known as arepuelas or anisitas in Colombia, they’re smaller arepas sweetened with melado de papelón and fried for breakfast or dessert. Infused with whole anise seeds, they seemed as soothing and comforting as the candies in your grandmother’s purse. Continue reading ‘Arepitas Dulces’
Panqueques Celestinos
Published 23 June 2010 Argentina , Basic Techniques , Chile , Desserts , General , Uruguay 7 CommentsTags: Ad Hoc at Home, Crepes, Dulce de Leche, Francis Mallmann, Jeffrey Alford, Julia Child, La Bonne Cuisine, Madame E. Saint-Ange, Mangoes & Curry Leaves: Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent, Manjarblanco, Maria Baez Kijac, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Naomi Duguid, panqueques celestinos, panqueques de dulce leche, pâte à crêpes, Peter Kaminsky, Santiago Soto Monllor, Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentinian Way, The South American Table, Thomas Keller
It’s hard not to be drawn to a recipe by a beautiful photograph. Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid’s Mangoes & Curry Leaves: Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent, and Francis Mallman’s Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way have all escaped from my kitchen shelves to my coffee table (where both the books and I feel they belong). Not surprisingly, Santiago Soto Monllor won this year’s James Beard award for Best Photography for Seven Fires. Continue reading ‘Panqueques Celestinos’
So Far, Yet So Near
Published 12 June 2010 Chile , Desserts , General 3 CommentsTags: miel de vino, red wine syrup, sémola, semola con leche, semolina pudding, semonlina
I am always looking for the best ingredients, but there are some things I just can’t find nearby and some I probably shouldn’t be able to find nearby. I try to stay local but the temptations of a jet-setting Prosciutto di Parma or a well traveled Chinatown dragon fruit can be difficult to resist. Still, it’s hard not to wonder what your missing when someone else does the picking and packing. The subtle differences between varieties and vendors that you can only discern when it’s close to home. That’s why, when trying a new cuisine, dessert can be the best place to start. I may not find the right Peruvian pepper or Argentinian zapallo, but milk, grains and sugar are universal and need little translation (or transatlantic travel). I’d been looking for a Chilean recipes to try and found several I wanted to include but kept circling back to this custard made with semolina and wine syrup (wine being the exception that was meant to travel the earth). Continue reading ‘So Far, Yet So Near’
Mexican Chocolate Crackle Cookies
Published 21 May 2010 Cookies , Desserts , General , Mexico 2 CommentsTags: Ancho Chile, Chocolate, Cindy Mushet, Mexican Chocolate Crackle Cookies, The Art & Soul of Baking
I hadn’t planned on re-posting this recipe until I my sister asked for Mexican Chocolate Crackle Cookies for a reading she was doing. It was a last minute request on a busy day. I gave good reasons for not making them and they were all accepted, then I decided to do it anyway. It was a chance to go through one of my favorite recipe posts and make sure I’d gotten it all down correctly, try some adjustments and maybe find some of the typos that play hide and seek when I first hit publish (though I rarely feel like playing). Click here for the original post.
A Mother’s Day Meringue
Published 9 May 2010 Basic Techniques , Cuba , Desserts , General 6 CommentsTags: Merengue con Crema de Leche, Meringue, Merengue, Leche condensada, Merengon, Cuban desserts
Many people have a hard time imagining their parents as children, but I very much see my mother in the little girl pictured above — sweet, expressive and indistinguishable from the cake set before her, in essence if not in form. Last year around this time, I asked my mother to show me how to make her merengue con crema de leche. A combination of meringue and custard sauce, it’s similar to a French île flottante but much, much sweeter — Cuban sweet. She always made it for special occasions, though never the same way twice. Used to feeling her way around until she got it right, I distracted her with questions. I tried to note everything down, but secretly believed she was making things up as she went along. When I caught her consulting with her chihuahua about the consistency for the syrup, I knew we were in trouble. Continue reading ‘A Mother’s Day Meringue’
Domino Effect
Published 4 May 2010 Bread/Baked Goods , Cuba , Desserts , General , Miami 6 CommentsTags: Baking From My Home To Yours, Cuban dominos, Dominoes, Dominos, Dorie Greenspan, Guava Petits Fours with Lime Glaze, King Arthur Flour, Petits fours
I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate my 200th post than with a game of dominoes. Growing up Cuban, we loved playing dominoes when we were kids. Our grandparents were happy to have us quiet and entertained for a couple of hours and we were happy to swirl the clacking tiles around the table, dunking oreos in milk between matches, and enjoying the late of hours of a Sunday afternoon. Then we got older and everything changed. Continue reading ‘Domino Effect’
Lesson Learned
Published 19 April 2010 Basic Techniques , Cuba , Desserts 5 CommentsTags: Bread Pudding, Bread Pudding with Walnuts and Dates, Caramelo, Dates, Datiles, Nueces, Pudín de Pan con Nueces y Datiles, Pudin de Pan, Walnuts
I never thought of myself as spoiled but since starting this blog, I am constantly coming across ingredients and recipes that I disliked as a child for no good reason. Pudín de pan is another example. It’s only crime against me was not being natilla, panetela or another of my grandparent’s desserts that I loved. I’d come to their house for lunch, excited to see the flan tin brimming with the tell-tale amber glaze, only to be disappointed when a caramel drenched bread pudding filled with dried fruits and nuts would arrive at the table. The adults were thrilled but the kids were underwhelmed. Where was the flan? Did that pruny pudding thing eat it? Continue reading ‘Lesson Learned’
