Chocoflan-tastico

I helped my mother make flan all the time when I was little. Our family recipe: Royal Flan!

I told you my mom doesn't bake. That's what Pan Queso* Lady on the beach is for!

Yes--as I have affectionately named her, "Pan Queso Lady." At the beach near my mother's home is a women who sells flan, cheesecake and pies. I love her. So much. The first thing I do when visiting my mom in Mexico is track down Pan Queso Lady so I can enjoy a slice of flan or pie while tanning on the beach.

You stuff your face while tanning in a swimsuit?

That is correct and I'm not sorry.

The last time I stuffed my face with flan on the beach in Mexico, I thought to myself, I could probably make this. And as it turns out, I can. I am 100% sure that you can, as well.

Flan is a traditional Latin caramel custard that bakes crustless and in a pie dish. Pan Queso Lady sells hers by the slice in a pool of caramel sauce. Chocoflan one-ups regular flan by adding a layer of moist chocolate cake to the dessert.

Caramel, custard, chocolate cake: take that Pan Queso Lady!



(Just kidding please don't ever stop selling baked goods on the beach, Pan Queso Lady.)

It looks so complicated to make, but trust me, the method for chocoflan is very straight forward. I searched far and wide for a good recipe, and found one that is moderately easy and fairly traditional. I know there are a lot of steps, but that is no reason to shy away from chocoflan! I promise, the results are worth every single second it takes.

Chocoflan
Adapted from Marcela Valladolid via foodnetwork.com
serves 10
What caught my eye about this recipe, in addition to its relative ease, is its use of buttermilk in the chocolate cake layer. Buttermilk has long been the secret weapon in my mother-in-law's chocolate cake as it produces extremely moist results. Make your life easier by measuring all your ingredients and prepping your baking pan before embarking on this culinary journey.

You will need:
• 12-cup capacity Bundt pan
• a roasting pan large enough to hold the Bundt pan
• Softened butter, to coat pan
• 1/2cup store bought cajeta, dolce de leche, or caramel sauce

For the cake:
• 10 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk

For the flan:
• 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For garnish:
• 1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce
• 1/4 cup toasted chopped pecans

Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Thoroughly coat your Bundt pan with butter, then coat the bottom with 1/4 cup cajeta. Place the Bundt pan in a large roasting pan. (The roasting pan will serve as a water bath during baking.)

For the cake: Add the butter and sugar to a bowl and using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa in a medium bowl. Beat 1/3 of the flour mixture, and 1/2 of the buttermilk into the egg mixture. Repeat, ending with the flour mixture. Blend until well incorporated.

For the flan: In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs and vanilla. Blend on high for 30 seconds.

Scoop the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan and spreading evenly. Slowly pour the flan mixture over the cake batter.


Cover with foil and add about 1-inch of hot water to the roasting pan.

Note: Don't worry about the cake layer being on the bottom of the Budt pan. The two batters will flip while baking so that when you invert your dessert onto a platter, the flan layer will be on top and the chocolate cake will be on the bottom, just as in my first pictures. If you have no idea what I'm talking about right now, just continue on with the recipe.

Carefully slide the pan into the oven, and bake approximately 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the surface of the cake is firm to the touch, or an inserted toothpick comes out clean. OVEN TIMES WILL VARY! Begin checking your flan with a toothpick at the 1 hour mark and continue to do so every 10-15 minutes until a toothpick, is indeed, clean when removed from your cake. Once the cake is done, carefully remove from the water bath and cool completely to room temperature, about 1 hour.

Invert a large, rimmed serving platter over the Bundt pan, grasp tightly together, giggle a little and flip over. Remove the pan and scrape any remaining cajeta or caramel sauce from the pan onto the cake. I add an extra 1/4 cup of the caramel once the cake is inverted for garnish. You may also add the chopped pecans to the top the cake at this stage, if desired.

Flan is traditionally served chilled, but I think it tastes just as yummy at room temperature!

*"Pan queso" refers to cheesecake in Spanish, or at least it does in my family.

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili and Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

I am SO behind in posting recipes! But guess what? I can get back to catching up and cooking now... We have a house. In our home country. And all of our kitchen appliances are out of storage.

Like the slow cooker.




And the ice cream maker.




I am a huge sucker for kitchen appliances. And since I'm starting law school in just a couple of weeks, you'll probably see a ton more slow cooker recipes from me. It's a super convenient appliance, especially if you aren't home all day and don't have time to get dinner started. (Yes, Kate, I turned our conversation into a blog post!) This chili recipe is as easy as dropping ingredients in the pot and turning it on, and what's better is that you can use up any leftover vegetables you have in the fridge, and the rest of the ingredients can sit in the pantry. Many a day has this been my go-to recipe when we're pressed for time or are too lazy to go shopping.

I bought Adam the ice cream maker as a birthday present when we were dating knowing full well that we'd probably get married and I'd get to use it too. It worked out exactly the way I planned!

And we actually use it quite a bit (when it isn't locked away in storage). Ice cream is one of those foods where it's easy to get fun and creative. Our greatest ice cream hits? Coffee toffee, browned butter pecan, and now fresh strawberry. But I can't take all the credit for making such yummy strawberry ice-cream; we happened to pick out really delicious strawberries from a farm stand that day and I think it made all the difference.

Here's the deal. If you have neither a slow cooker nor an ice cream maker, it's okay. You can come over to my house and eat homemade ice cream and you can stew the chili in a pot over the stove.

It's good to be in our own home in our own country. Get ready for law-school-wife-Andrea to take over this blog. Things might get really interesting!

Vegetarian Chili
Serves 4
I began making this recipe way back when I started cooking solo (i.e., in college without my mom). It started out as a Rachael Ray recipe and morphed and changed in my kitchen over the years... But that's the great thing about chili, right? It's so easy to make it your own. I'm going to give you a starter recipe that is great as is, and then some recommendations on other spices and veggies you might consider adding depending on who's coming to dinner and your own personal level of heat tolerance. We like our chili super hot, but if my in-laws were coming to dinner, for example, I might focus on making this recipe more smoky (extra cumin or smoked paprika, maybe) than hot in my mouth. Comprende? Just keep tasting your chili as you add the spices and you should be good to go.

• 1 medium yellow skinned onion, chopped
• 1 cup of chopped carrots
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
• 1 1/2 cups pale beer or vegetable stock
• 1 (14- ounce) can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes
• 1 (14-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed (goodbye extra sodium)
• 1 (14-ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup fat free vegetarian refried beans
• 1-2 chipotles en adobo
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons chili powder ( I really like Valle del Sol from Whole Foods)
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt

If you were me, you might also add:
• Several dashes of jalapeño based hot sauce
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

Other vegetables options:
• bell peppers
• celery
• zucchini
• corn
• or anything in your fridge you'd like to use up

Toppings and Bottomings for serving:
• 8 ounces (2 cups shredded or crumbled) cheese: I use Cotija (my favorite), but spicy monterey jack or smoked cheddar would be delicious too
• Chopped cilantro
• Mexican Crema or Sour Cream
• Blue and red corn tortilla chips or black bean tortilla chips, for dipping
• Baked or boiled potatoes--Adam's personal favorite
• Corn bread or muffins
• Extra hot sauce for the table

Stir all ingredients (except toppings and bottomings) together in the pot of a slow cooker. Turn slow cooker to low and simmer 6-8 hours.

If you don't have a slow cooker, you may simmer the chili a large pot on top of the stove for a minimum of one hour. Keep in mind however that the longer this chili stews, the more it's flavors will marry and the more delicious it will be by dinner time.

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma.com and Williams Sonoma Mastering: Frozen Desserts
Make sure you choose really fresh and delicious strawberries for this recipe.

• 3 cups half-and-half
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 cups sliced strawberries
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Puree 3/4 cup of the strawberries in a blender or a food processor.

In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the half-and-half until steam begins to rise from the surface, 4 to 5 minutes.

In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and salt until blended. Gradually (VERY VERY gradually so that you don't get scrambled eggs) add the hot half-and-half, whisking constantly until fully incorporated. Transfer the mixture to a clean saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or spatula, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it, 8 to 10 minutes; do not allow the custard to boil.

Pour the custard and the pureed strawberries through a fine-mesh sieve set over a clean bowl and stir in the sliced strawberries and vanilla. Nestle the bowl in a larger one filled halfway with ice and water and cool the custard to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour.

Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours.

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread

I'm still here. And we're FINALLY moving this weekend so hopefully I'll be able to get back into a more steady routine of blogging! Hooray!

In the meantime, I thought I'd share this


because my lovely second mama, Carrie requested it. Moist, yummy, banana walnut quick bread made slightly healthier with whole wheat flour and less sugar. You can even swap the oil for apple sauce to make the recipe lower in fat. Good deal, right?


Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread
adapted from allrecipes.com
serves 12
Whole wheat pastry flour is great for cakes and breads as it yields a lighter and fluffier result than regular whole wheat flour. You can substitute whole wheat flour in this recipe if you'd like, but be prepared for a more coarse and dense cake texture.

1/3 cup vegetable oil OR 1/3 cup applesauce for lower fat
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, beat oil, brown sugar and honey together. Add eggs, and mix well. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Stir in flour and salt. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter. Blend in chopped nuts. (You may save a few nuts to sprinkle over the top of batter if you'd like.) Spread batter into greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 1/2 hour before slicing.

Salted Caramel Candy Bars for my BFFA

My friend Jenny is studying for her medical boards and was in absolute need of some salted caramel candy bars. Because doctors (and soon-to-be doctors) need treats too, guys.

And let me tell you something about Jenny. She is practically my sister. We’ve been friends since 3rd grade. We were each other’s maids-of-honor. We’ve seen each other through some pretty rough times. We’ve seen each other through some pretty awesome times too. And she sent me cookies to my dorm during my first (lonely) year of college, so I’m merely returning the favor.

And let me tell you something else about Jenny. She has a salt-tooth. Just like me. If you ever met Jenny and me for happy hour, you’d probably walk in to find the two of us sipping extra-dirty vodka martinis with four or five olives. In fact, forget the vodka. We'd probably just be sipping brine.

So salted caramel candy bars seemed just perfect. Yes, these are Betty’s cookies (I have her on speed-dial), but with a salty twist. My inspiration came from one of my all time favorite places in the world for ice cream—Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco. They sell a super popular salted caramel flavor and it is beyond delicious. If you’re ever in the neighborhood, I suggest you give it a try!

These bars are layered with an oatmeal crumb bottom, a couple cups of chocolate chips and walnuts, a layer of salted caramel, another layer of the oatmeal crumb mix, and finished off with a healthy sprinkling of some good quality salt. Don’t worry, they won’t taste overly salty: you’ll take a bite, a little salt will stay on your lips, and it’ll only intensify the buttery caramel and super-sweet cookie and chocolate layers. Think salty like, chocolate-dipped-pretzels salty, only better.

See that yummy salt?

I say it all the time--salt makes everything taste more like itself, which is to say, it makes everything taste better. No, that isn’t an excuse for my salt addiction. Okay, maybe it is, but it doesn’t make that statement any less true.

Oh yeah. I know I said I was going to recreate my mom’s dishes from my trip, and I still will. Don’t worry, guys, I won’t forget!

Salted Caramel Candy Bars

Adapted from Bettycrocker.com

Make sure you use a good quality salt for this recipe. Kosher and fleur de sel will work well; I used pink Himalayan salt. Just don’t use iodized. The flavor is too harsh for these cookies.

Caramel filling:

1 bag (14 ounces) caramels

1/3 cup milk

½ teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

Crumb Bottom and topping:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt, plus ¼-1/2 teaspoon for sprinkling over bars

1 egg

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

Chocolate nut layer:

1 package (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup)

1 cup chopped walnuts or dry-roasted peanuts

Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches.

For the salted caramel:

Heat caramels and milk in 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth.Add salt and vanilla.

For the crumb bottom and topping:

Stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and egg in large bowl. Stir in butter with fork until mixture is crumbly. Press half of the crumbly mixture in pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Assemble:

Sprinkle chocolate chips and walnuts over baked layer.

Drizzle with caramel mixture. Sprinkle with remaining crumbly mixture and ¼-1/2 teaspoon of salt, depending on how bold you care to go! (I used around a third of a teaspoon.) Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 30 minutes. Loosen edges from sides of pan; cool completely. For 54 bars, cut into 9 rows by 6 rows.

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies and the Mama-land

I've made these brownies three times since my last blog post.

And yes, I know it’s been awhile. About that…

So much has been going on. Stressful things, fun things, happy things, scary things… The scary/stressful are long gone now, so let’s talk about some of the other stuff.

I went to Mexico to visit my mom and took a total of two, count em, TWO pictures on my iPhone over Mother’s Day. Adam also took one of me at a palapa-covered restaurant to make a third. These are them:

Buenos dias. I'll take two of everything.

How's that for a nice day?

My friend Dan, with a mango and his iPhone.

Guys, I was too busy eating cotija cheese and onion enchiladas, fresh seafood, and carnasa tacos to stop and take pictures. Also, I drank a lot of piña coladas… They were made with fresh pineapple and coconut—how could I not?

Oh I love the motherland for so many reasons. My mama is there, and I love my mama. Everything tastes so darn good. (It’s true. I constantly annoy my friends/hubby with squinty eeehh-I-don’t-think-so faces when they invite me to Mexican restaurants in LA. Most of them will never be good enough. Don’t get me started…) And I LOVE the weather. What can I say? My ancestors worshipped the sun.

And as excited as I was to see my mom and reunite with her cooking, she asked me to bake her something “yaammi-yaammi” before coming to her house.

I am the designated baker in my family, and that is A-OK with me.

So I baked peanut butter brownies because I had made them twice before my trip and they were a SMASH hit with my brother and my friends. And trust me guys, my brother would tell me if something I baked wasn’t top-notch. (And he has.)

Guess where I got this recipe? … Surprise! Betty Crocker, again. Yeah. I have trouble branching out once I’ve found a source of baking recipes I can trust.

Stay tuned for next time when I attempt to replicate my mom’s salsa and her cotija onion enchiladas! (I wish I had a cooking show.) But for now, make these brownies for your mom. Or yourself. My mother, the cooking guru that she is, ran around our beach village sharing them with her neighbors. They even kindly dismissed that hint of an American accent I can’t ever seem to kick, they were so impressed. That should tell you something.

Hasta luego, amigos.

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

adapted from Bettycrocker.com

Feel free to substitute all chocolate chips for the peanut butter or butterscotch chips. If you'd like, save a couple extra chips to sprinkle over the top of the brownie batter before baking for a prettier presentation. Also, these brownies need to cool completely before cutting or else they tend to fall apart. Lastly, this recipe doubles very well baked in a 9x13 inch pan. Brownies will be thicker and will require a slightly longer bake time, so keep an eye on them for doneness.

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

• 2 tablespoons milk

• 2 eggs

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup peanut butter (I used Jiff brand and doubled Betty's amount of peanut butter successfully)

• 1/3 cup peanut butter chips, or butterscotch chips

• 1/3 cup baking cocoa

• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease square pan, 9x9x2 inches. Mix sugars, butter, milk and eggs in medium bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt.

Divide batter in half (about 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons for each half). Stir peanut butter and peanut butter chips into 1 half. Stir cocoa and chocolate chips into remaining half.

Spoon chocolate batter into pan in 8 mounds, checkerboard style. Spoon peanut butter batter between mounds of chocolate batter. Gently swirl through batters with knife for marbled design.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely about 1 hour. For 16 brownies, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows.

Chocolate Pudding, but don't tell anyone it's made from tofu

Unless they're like me and think it's awesome that something so delicious could be remotely good for you. But here's the thing, a lot of people (uh like my dad or dad-in-law) would probably complain about this pudding before eating it if they knew its primary ingredient was tofu.

Better just to feed it to them, let them ooh and aah over how yummy it is, and THEN drop the tofu bomb.

Sorry parents. This is what you get for raising your children in California.

This pudding sets to a thick and silky consistency--some say it's more like mousse, but I think it's a little too dense to call it that. Creamy dark chocolate pots? Tofu pudding mousse? Vegan chocolate pudding cups? ... It doesn't matter. Just eat it. It tastes good.


Tofu Chocolate Pudding
Adapted from Alton Brown via foodnetwork.com
serves 6
I've seen this recipe done many ways, using the same ratio of chocolate chips to tofu. This happens to be Alton Brown's recipe with a few modifications: I reduced the coffee liqueur from 1/3 cup down to 3 tablespoons (everyone complained last time that the alcohol flavor was overpowering) and made individual pudding cups instead of one entire pie. If you happen to be in a pie mood, feel free to pour this filling into the pie crust of your choice.

• 2 cups good quality chocolate chips--semi-sweet or 60% cocoa, or a mix of both
• 3 tablespoons coffee liqueur
• 1 block silken tofu
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon honey (Note: if you want to make this recipe 100% Vegan, replace honey with 1 tablespoon of refined sugar.)
• fresh fruit and chocolate curls for serving, optional

Place a small metal bowl over a saucepan with simmering water. Melt the chocolate and coffee liqueur in the bowl. Stir in vanilla.

Combine the tofu, chocolate mixture, and honey in a blender jar or food processor. Liquefy until smooth.

Pour the filling into 6 4-oz molds and refrigerate for 2 hours, or until the filling is set.

Espresso Brownies for my favorite law student

One time I shipped Rochelle espresso brownies for her birthday because I figured she's in law school and could use all the extra caffeine she can get.

She cut them up, froze them, and took one to school every morning for breakfast. And when someone asked her if they came from Starbucks she became thoroughly offended and flatly informed them that they were in fact home-made brownies shipped all the way from California!

Rochelle came home yesterday and I drove out to visit her with more espresso brownies. She cut into them immediately... I think we hugged, then she then she ran to the kitchen with the brownies... In fact, I'm not sure she even used a knife she was in such a hurry. Rochelle, did you use your index finger cut these?

Rochelle and I graduating from college

She might have. Which is to say that these brownies are absolutely amazing. Espresso is the perfect accompaniment to chocolate, and in brownie form, the pairing is a total home-run. In fact, I always add espresso powder to my brownies and ganaches if I have it on hand; a little bit of coffee will always intensify the flavor of chocolate without over-powering it.

The original idea for these brownies came from Giada De Laurentiis, who added espresso powder, chocolate chips and a creamy espresso glaze to a boxed brownie. If you choose to make your brownies this way, might I suggest using Ghiradelli chocolate brownie mix? In my own at-home taste tests, I've concluded that these are hands-down the best boxed brownie.

I made these brownies from scratch, however, using my favorite Alton Brown cocoa brownie recipe. They bake up super dense and fudgy, which is exactly the way I think brownies should be.

Espresso Brownies
adapted from Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food and Giada De Laurentiis via foodnetwork.com
makes 1 8x8 inch tray of brownies
I like Alton's baking recipes because he includes the option to measure ingredients by weight, making for more precise results. If you have a kitchen scale, by all means, haul it out for this recipe.

• 4 ounces or 1 1/3 cups cocoa powder
• 3.5 ounces or 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/8 ounce or 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 large eggs or 7 ounces
• 1/3 ounce or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 7 ounces or 1 cup granulated sugar
• 8 ounces or 1 cup brown sugar
• 8 ounces, 2 sticks or 1 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons espresso powder
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons hot water

Place an oven rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 F. Prepare an 8-inch square pan by greasing it with cooking spray.

Sift together 2 tablespoons espresso powder, flour, cocoa and salt.

In an electric stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the eggs at medium speed until light. Add vanilla. Mix in sugars and reduce speed to medium-low, incorporating thoroughly.

Add the butter and the remaining dry ingredients in three alternating doses, starting with the wet and finishing with the dry. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Bake for 55 minutes or until toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it.

Cool brownies.

Make icing by dissolving 2 teaspoons of espresso powder in the 2 tablespoons hot water. Whisk in 1 tablespoon butter at room temperature, and 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar. Pour and spread evenly over brownies. Chill in fridge for 15 minutes to set before cutting.

Whenever Adam cooks

it involves a) meat, b) potatoes, c) French cuisine, and d) Jay-Z on repeat. And let me just say the product is always something amazing. No need to remind me how lucky I am to have a husband who cooks. I totally know.

Take my dad, for example. His idea of a good meal involves a salad (including dressing) and a main (spaghetti and meatballs?), usually leftovers, all wrapped together in a giant flour tortilla because, hey it’s all going to the same place, right? Yeah. That’s how my dad rolls. My mom always did the cooking.

So anyway, yesterday Adam made Mingnons de Porc a l’ail, which means something like, pork medallions with garlic. The meal consisted of pork tenderloin rubbed in roasted garlic and wrapped in bacon served with a chunky caramelized shallot sauce and roast potatoes and asparagus on the side. CHA-CHING.


And since I knew he was going to make dinner, I thought to myself what I nice wife I'd be if I made him some Schaum Tortes for dessert. In case you don't know what those are, Schaum Tortes (Austrian shaumtorten) are meringue shells filled with cream (or ice cream in our case) and topped with berries. Yum.


Feel free to drop in for dinner anytime you want.

Mingnons de Porc a l’ail
Adapted from Anothy Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook
Serves 2

• 1 heads of garlic confit, or roasted garlic (recipe follows)
• 1 pork tenderloin (12ounces)
• 3-4 slices of bacon
• 1 tbs olive oil, plus more for garlic confit
• 1 sprig of thyme, or a teaspoon dried
• 2 tbs butter
• Salt and pepper
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup white wine
• ½ cup dark chicken or veal stock

Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.

Make the garlic confit:
Break the head of garlic into unpeeled cloves. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and thyme. Wrap in aluminum foil and roast in the oven for 30 minutes. Allow garlic to cool slightly before popping the cloves out of their skin.

Use a fork to mash half the garlic cloves, reserving the rest. Rub the tenderloin with the garlic and wrap the bacon around it in rings. Tie with kitchen string.

Keep oven on.

In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil over high heat, add 1 tablespoon of the butter. When the butter stops foaming, season the pork, then add it to the pan. Cook the pork over high heat for about 6 to 8 minutes per side, after which the meat should be nicely browned. Place the meat in the roasting pan and cook finish cooking in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until meat reaches 160° F. Remove from oven and allow to rest on a plate.

Discard the fat from the pan and add the other 1 tablespoon of butter. Heat over medium-high heat, and then add the shallots. Cook for 2 minutes, or until the shallots are dark and caramelized. Stir in the wine with a wooden spoon, scraping up all the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Cook over high heat until the wine is reduced to a glaze consistency, then stir in stock. Allow stock to simmer and reduce to more than half. Whisk in the remaining garlic confit and an extra splash of white wine.

Slice the pork into 1 ½ inch medallions. Spoon sauce over meat.

Schaum Tortes with Stewed Berries
Adapted from Betty Crocker
Makes 4
Feel free to add strawberries to the fruit sauce.

• 3 egg whites
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ¾ cup sugar
• 3 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup water
• ice cream
• Whipped cream (optional)

Heat oven to 275°F. Line cookie sheet with cooking parchment paper or heavy brown paper. In medium bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar with electric mixer on high speed until foamy.

Beat in 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; continue beating until stiff peaks form and mixture is glossy. Do not underbeat. On cookie sheet, shape meringue into 9-inch round with back of spoon, building up side.

Bake 1 hour 30 minutes. Turn off oven; leave meringue in oven with door closed 1 hour. Finish cooling at room temperature, about 2 hours.

Combine the berries, water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until berries have given off some of their juices and the sauce is syrupy, about 10 minutes.

Assemble Schaum Tortes by filling meringue shells with a scoop of ice cream. Drizzle stewed berries and sauce over the top. Top with whipped cream, if desired.

Ban… off… ee?... I don’t… What is that…

Well if you don’t know, you should. Banoffee Pie is awesome. But hold onto your knickers whilst I explain; the recipe is beyond decadent.

Banoffee Pie is a traditional British pastry filled with a sticky toffee pudding and topped with rounds of sliced banana (hence the silly name) and freshly whipped cream. Some are made with a pastry crust; some with a cookie-crumb bottom. Some are drizzled with chocolate, some sprinkled with cocoa powder, and some with powdered coffee. All, however, are so wickedly rich and stick-to-your-teeth sweet that you might want to plan on hitting the gym after having a slice. Consider yourselves warned.

I made this delicious masterpiece for Thanksgiving after trying a slice at a local cafe… And yeah… I know... I made a traditional British dessert on an American holiday. My citizenship should be revoked for not posting a recipe for pumpkin pie instead.

But friends, I was planning on making pumpkin pie. And I was planning on telling you all about it. But alas, there is no canned pumpkin in London. I checked. And whole pumpkins (as in gourds that sprout up from the ground which require roasting and pureeing) weren’t available either. So I thought, when in Rome…

But before I give you the recipe, I’d like to talk a little about the toffee pudding filling. The first thing you should know is that in Latin America, the exact same filling is called Dulce de Leche. The second thing you should know is that there are A LOT of ways to make it. All, however, involve one key ingredient: sweetened condensed milk.

The most traditional way to make the toffee (and the most fun it seems), involves immersing entire sealed cans of sweetened condensed milk into a pot of boiling water and poaching for 2-3 hours. Like magic, the creamy milk within the can turns into a dark, rich toffee (or Dulce de Leche, depending on who you ask). British (and Latin American) cooks say this is the simplest method one can use.

There is one major problem with this method, however…. The cans occasionally EXPLODE. People say that if you keep the cans fully covered with water at all times, this wont happen. But because I still want to be friends with all of you after you try the recipe, I’m not going to recommend you do it this way.

There are other methods that involve pouring the condensed milk into a pan and baking in a water bath for 3 hours. There is also the Martha Stewart method of cooking the condensed milk on a double boiler and stirring every 15 minutes for FIVE HOURS. (Heck no!) Alton Brown also has a recipe that essentially produces sweetened condensed milk, then Dulce de Leche, by reducing 1 quart of milk and sugar to 1 cup of the sweet stuff.

I decided to go with another approach that seems to be somewhat on the rise, given that many cans have exploded in people’s kitchens, and given that it’s quite easy: sweetened condensed milk with dark brown sugar and butter boiled on the stovetop. Almost like making a caramel, only no candy thermometers or babysitting. Easy as pie, people. And no third degree burns.

English Banoffee Pie

Serves 8-10

Many Brits use a crumb bottom made of digestive biscuits. (Sounds appetizing, doesn’t it? They’re actually just lightly sweetened cookies.) I decided to use my go-to pastry dough. Make haste by purchasing a frozen pie crust or a graham cracker crust instead.

Ingredients

• ½ recipe pastry dough from Almost American Apple Pie recipe, enough for a single crust pie

• 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar

• ½ cup butter

• 3 large ripe bananas

• 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped semi-sweet chocolate

If using pastry dough, preheat oven to 400. Roll pastry dough into a 12-inch round and ease onto a 9-inch pie plate. Trim edges leaving a 1-inch overhang and crimp decoratively. Place pie in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.

Line pie shell with foil, and top with beans or baking weights. Bake for 10 minutes and remove foil and beans. Bake for 15-18 minutes longer, or until shell is golden. (If the bottom begins to puff up while in the oven, press it back down with a spoon.) Set aside to cool.

Make the toffee filling by combining the dark brown sugar and butter in a nonstick saucepan over low heat. Stir until the butter is melted and the sugar has dissolved. (It is important to use nonstick, as the mixture can brown along the edges and produce little brown bits in your toffee. It wont taste bad, but it also wont look as pretty.) Add the sweetened condensed milk to the mixture and raise the heat to medium, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils. The moment it begins to bubble, remove the pan from heat. Pour filling into prepared pie crust, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

Beat the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until whipped cream makes soft peaks. Slice 2 of the bananas into roughly 1/3-inch rounds and gently fold into the whipped cream. Top the toffee base with the whipped cream/banana mixture making sure to completely cover the pie. Slice the last banana over the whipped cream mixture.

In a heat-proof bowl, heat chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals over 50% power until melted, stirring at every break. Using a large spoon, drizzle over finished pie. Serve immediately.

Hungrymonsters

I come from a family of hungrymonsters.

My brother is 7 feet tall (no really, he's that tall) and that little hungrymonster above there is my nephew, Nathan. We have yet to confirm that he's not actually a clone of my brother.

Anyway, whenever we have my family over for dinner we plan the menu accordingly--there needs to be plenty of food.

My favorite dessert for feeding a crowd (or a small group of hungrymonsters) is bread pudding. I've taken a cue from my mom on this one, as she always likes to make capirotada on occasions that call for a lot of servings. (Capirotada is a Mexican bread pudding with cinnamon and piloncillo, by the way-- a recipe that I promise to post at a later date!) But tonight, in order to satisfy a week long craving for chocolate, I made chocolate bread pudding.

It's one of the easiest desserts I've ever made given the amount of praise it gets. See Nathan? That's chocolate bread pudding love. It's all over his face, his hands, his shirt (our floor, the top of Louie's crate for some reason), and I think a little even got in his hair. Yes--it's magic given that this pudding was made from day old bread (it's actually better when it's a day old) and given that most of the ingredients are things I already have in my pantry. I like to serve this melty chocolaty dish warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

adapted from (Southern Queen) Paula Deen

Ingredients
• 1 (1-pound) loaf French or Italian bread, cubed
• 3 cups milk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup coffee flavored liqueur, or brewed coffee
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon almond extract
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips for topping, optional
• chopped walnuts (optional)
• Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch baking dish and place the bread in the dish. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, cream, and liqueur. Using another bowl, combine the sugar, brown sugar, and cocoa powder and mix well. Add the sugar mixture to the milk mixture and mix well. Add the vanilla and almond extract, and cinnamon to the beaten eggs. Combine the egg mixture to the milk mixture and mix well.

Stir the chopped chocolate and walnuts into the mixture. Pour the mixture over the cubed bread in the pan. Let the mixture stand, stirring occasionally for at least 1 hour or until bread absorbs most of the milk mixture. Scatter chocolate chips on top of pudding. Bake for 1 hour or until set. Check pudding by inserting a knife through the middle and it should come out clean.

Serve the pudding warm with ice cream, or refrigerate and serve chilled if desired.

Almost American Apple Pie

I don't think I ever had a slice of homemade pie until I was invited for dinner at my husband's parents' during college. Sad, right? Well... not really, I guess.... I was too busy eating homemade carnitas and tamales to really know what I was missing.

Anyway, who doesn't love apple pie in the fall? My favorite version's a bit different though. It's made with Mexican pilconcillo (also known as panela or panocha in other Latin countries), boiled-down cane sugar juice that's been left to crystallize in a cone or disk shape. It basically tastes like deeply molasses-flavored brown sugar and, in this recipe, is boiled into a dark syrupy sauce in which the apples are drenched before baking. The result is a rich molasses and caramel flavored filling that turns the old American apple pie standard upside-down.

You can usually find Piloncillo in the "Latin" section of the regular grocery store here in California. (Sometimes they have a shelf of Mexican spices in bags, which is where I found mine, at Albertson's.) Otherwise, you're going to have to visit your local Mexican specialty grocer. It's also for sale online at Gourmet Sleuth, here.

And, see that pretty lattice top in my picture (which isn't very good quality--sorry--I took in on my iphone)? It wasn't as terribly hard to achieve as you might think. The trick is to never let your dough get warm. Yes, this takes time and tons of patience. You may have to run back and forth to the fridge if your kitchen gets warm. I'm telling you though, it's worth it. Happy Fall.

Lattice Apple Pie with Mexican Brown Sugar
adapted from epicurious
If the top crust looks too scary, halve your dough recipe (or purchase refrigerated dough or a frozen crust) and try an easy streusel topping instead: with a pastry cutter or two knives, mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup softened butter, 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon until crumbly. Sprinkle over pie. (Streusel recipe adapted from Betty Crocker.) Another great spin, per another epicurious user's delicious advice, might include adding a handful of rum-soaked raisins to your filling before baking.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound piloncillo (unrefined brown sugar; also called panela)

• 3/4 cup water

• 4 (1-inch-wide) strips orange zest

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

• 2 1/2 pounds medium apples (I used 2 medium Granny Smith, 2 medium Winesap, and 2 medium Honey crisp)

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• Pastry dough (for a double-crust pie), below

• 1 tablespoon milk

• 1 teaspoon sugar

Put a large heavy baking sheet in middle of oven and preheat oven to 425°F.

Bring piloncillo, water, zest, spices, and 1/8 teaspoon salt to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, covered, stirring occasionally until piloncillo has dissolved. Remove lid and boil over medium-low heat until syrup is thickened and reduced to about 3/4 cup, 6 to 10 minutes. Discard zest and cool syrup slightly.

Meanwhile, peel and core apples, then cut into 1/2-inch-wide wedges.

Toss apples with flour, then with syrup.

Roll out 1 piece of dough (keeping remaining piece chilled) on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 13-inch round, then fit into a 9-inch pie plate.

Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, and chill shell.

Roll out remaining piece of dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 16-by 11-inch rectangle. Cut dough crosswise into 11 (1 1/4-inch-wide) strips.

Stir apple mixture, then spoon evenly into pie shell. Weave a tight lattice pattern over pie with pastry strips. (If you've never woven a lattice crust before, watch a handy how-to video, here.)

Trim all strips flush with edge of pie plate. Fold bottom crust up over edge of lattice and crimp. Brush lattice (but not edge) with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake pie on hot baking sheet 20 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 375°F and bake until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, 50 to 60 minutes more. Cool pie to warm or room temperature, about 1 1/2 hours.

Pastry Dough

adapted from epicurious

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour


• 2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 7 to 9 tablespoons ice water

Blend together flour, butter, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps.

Drizzle 5 to 6 tablespoon ice water evenly over mixture. Gently stir with a fork (or pulse) until incorporated. Squeeze a small handful of dough: If it doesn’t hold together, add more water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until incorporated. Do not overwork dough, or pastry will be tough.

Turn out onto a work surface and divide into 8 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together, with a pastry scraper if you have one. Press into a ball, then flatten into 2 (5-inch) disks and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour.