Pastel de Tres Leches

The one thing you always remember from traveling abroad is the food, regardless of where you go. Personally, I believe that food is one of the best ways to discover the country you're in...just ask Anthony Bourdain.

The first time I ever had a Tres Leches cake was in Costa Rica - December, 2008. My home-stay mother, aka "Mama Tica", brought it out to the dinner table one evening and I fell in love. The texture of the cake itself was indescribable. I used my best amateur Spanish (which had to be an amusing conversation) to find out the ingredients she used and the basics of the recipe.

Mama Tica and I

 The fascinating thing about Tres Leches is its disputed history. Its roots are clearly Latin American, but some say that it originated in Spain, while others argue its origin is in Nicaragua. The Nestle company even has staked a claim in developing the recipe during WWII - probably while they weren't engaging in forced labor practices in cocoa fields. Bottom line, if you're going to replicate a traditional recipe, I think it's worthwhile to understand the history.

And I've probably mentioned in previous blog posts that I like researching a variety of recipes, and combining the best parts of each (which is what I did here). Of course, I used Alton Brown's Tres Leches Cake recipe from the Food Network. I also used a few ingredients that I remembered from Mama Tica's recipe. In the end, this is what I came up with:

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 stick butter,  unsalted
• 5 eggs

Glaze:

• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup half and half **I used Soy Milk instead, duh** 

Frosting:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

 This is probably seems complicated because of the ingredient list and directions, but remember: 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and flour a 13x9 inch pan.
• Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
• Beat butter and vanilla, then add eggs one at a time.
• Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.
• Once the two mixtures are blended together, pour into the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.

** Two things: 1) This isn't going to look like a normal cake batter because it doesn't use a large amount of flour and won't fill up the pan much. Don't worry - this is what makes this dessert so special!! 2) I actually had to bake mine for about 40 minutes to get it to bake evenly. This may just be my oven, so baking times may vary.**

• Once it is thoroughly baked, let cool and poke holes all over the cake.

• After the cake has cooled completely, whisk together the glaze, aka "Tres Leches" and pour over the cake. It may seem like a lot of glaze but don't worry - the cake is porous enough that it will soak up the liquid without being soggy; that's the beauty of this dessert.

CAUTION: Do NOT slice your finger open on the can of sweetened condensed milk as you're throwing it away.

•  Wrap the cake and refrigerate. Some recipes call for it to be refrigerated overnight, but I only let mine sit for about 5 hours.
• Before serving, whip the ingredients for the frosting together until it forms peaks in the bowl. Suggestion: buy an electric mixer. I tried to manually mix mine and it didn't thicken. So I added flour obviously - always works for a quick fix!
• Frost the cake. (I left the milky glaze at the bottom of the pan, but you can drain this if you'd prefer).

 And you're done!

Of course, there are a plethora of ways to change up the recipe/make it easier. You can use a boxed white cake mix and just poke holes after it's done, although this is cheating and lazy and isn't as porous as the original recipe.

Or, you could use a can of frosting instead of making your own- which is also cheating (but who's judging).

Finally, put things away as you go. After I put the cake in the oven, I cleaned up my mess of a kitchen. This way, once you are finished with all three steps of the recipe, your kitchen isn't a disaster.

And with that, I'm finished.

Hasta luego, camaradas!

<3 Meg

Banana Nut Bread

Ok guys, I think I may have outdone myself this time...

So, you know how some smells remind you of past memories of your childhood? Banana Nut Bread does that for me. It reminds me of my grandma's kitchen. So, I thought it would be appropriate to try my hand at baking homemade Banana Nut Bread.

The first step to making a homemade banana nut bread recipe is to make it your own. I didn't want to use my grandma's recipe alone (because its a family secret) and I didn't necessarily want to use a recipe from a professional baker (that's stealing). So I took a few recipes I found online, from old-school church cookbooks, and threw in a few personal touches of my own. What we have below is a nice amalgamation of a recipe that combines the best recipes into one. Enjoy =)

Recipe:            Banana Nut Bread

Frosting:          A slice of butter will do the trick

Music:            Glee Soundtrack.

Ingredients Needed:

• 2 cups sugar
  
• 2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 medium eggs
• 6 ripe bananas
• 2 tablespoon milk (Vanilla Soy Milk, anyone?)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup walnuts

**This makes two loaves, soooo if you only want one loaf, just cut the recipe in half =)**

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

• Butter a loaf pan, or two.

• Cream the sugar and butter together - I would recommend using an electric mixer. I didn't have one.

• Add the eggs, beating well into the blend after you add each one.

• Add the milk, cinnamon, and vanilla.

• In a separate bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. WARNING: it gets messy, but the riper the bananas, the better. Set aside.

• Add the flour, baking powder, baking powder, and salt to the mixture and mix well. This time, mix this with your hands....Remember, it's always better to bake with love =)

• Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears. 

• Add walnuts, if you so desire. I made one loaf with them and one without them.

• Then, just pour batter into your pans and bake for about an hour. With my stove, it took about an hour and 15 minutes until the toothpick I inserted in the center came out clean. 

My little beauties baking in the oven =)

• Set aside to cool. Or just eat it while it's warm, straight from the pan. 

Like I said before, I may have outdone myself with this recipe. The loaves turned out perfectly and were just the right density. Because I made so much, I sent some home with friends and took some to our County Fair to enjoy with my family.

Variations? Next time, I might try banana nut bread muffins. Or using banana chunks instead of mashed bananas.

I'm not gonna lie, my grandma may have been jealous if she tried it...

Hasta luego Camaradas =)

Meg <3

Soy Milk Blueberry Muffins

After a few requests, I decided to post something that would be favorable for all of you health-conscious folk. I chose a Soy Milk Blueberry Muffin recipe, which included a few ingredients that you don't normally find in similar recipes.

First of all, this specific recipe uses honey as a sweetener, rather than sugar or artificial sweeteners. The good news is, it makes a much healthier muffin; bad news - it's not going to taste as sweet as you may expect.

Second, it calls for fresh rosemary - DON'T use dried rosemary leaves...it's just not the same. The fresh rosemary doesn't create such an obvious flavor.

Third, orange extract is used, which is brilliant. Just try it.

Ingredients Needed:

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine (I used regular butter, but Smart Balance will work just as well)
• 1 cup honey
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 2 eggs (or use an egg-white equivalent here)
• 2 cups wheat flour (wheat flour causes the muffins to darken a bit more, FYI)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup soy milk (SILK milk is the best!)
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds

 Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  You can line the pans with cupcake liners, or spray with oil/use butter. 
2. In a large bowl, mix together the butter, honey, and eggs until well-blended.
3. In another bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and rosemary. **Tip: If you coat the wet blueberries with this dry mix, it will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pan during the bake**
4. Add soy milk, vanilla, and orange extract to the egg mixture, alternating with the flour mixture.
5. Fold in blueberries and almonds gently =)

Next, spoon batter into the pans. Although I didn't, I would recommend sprinkling oats on top of the muffins; Healthy and visually appealing! 

Bake for 25 minutes, or until muffin tops are golden brown.

Do NOT - I repeat, do not, forget 

about these while they are baking.

 I had the unfortunate experience of forgetting about the muffins while they were baking, and had to deal with a smoky apartment and noisy fire alarm.

I had to take the pan outside because my apartment was a smoky, smelly mess.

But I must say that it may not have been entirely my fault - I received a phone call from a charming, handsome gentleman right when I put the muffins in the oven. Needless to say,  I was distracted and lost track of time. Using a 30-year old mini stove probably didn't help the situation much either. Or my general forgetfulness.

Alas, I had to re-make the batter which included a trip to Kroger for more blueberries. The second time around, they turned out much better.

In conclusion, I think the recipe itself is solid, but you may want to play around with the ingredients and temperature a bit. My second batch was still a bit dark on the bottom of the pan - although this could be a result of the type of pan I was using.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Hasta luego Camaradas!
<3 Meg