Conference turris::cooks

Mexican desserts!

The theme is well supported by a selection of fresh tropical type of
fruits served with a dip if you like or just as a compote with some
coconut flakes.  You can also serve bread pudding - which can be
made with cubes of cream cheese and lots of raisins  -  "Americanized"
version of the Mexican dish, caproadota (spelling is really in
question on this one), or you can make a flan.  This one is easy.
I suggest you use Kahlua as the "carmel" in the custard dishes...

Simply get ANY cookbook and look up the recipe for a baked custard.  In
place of milk, use CANNED milk (yep, Carnations canned milk works
real well).  Place 3 - 4 Tablespoons of Kahlua liqueur in each single
serving custard cup and place the cups in a pan .  Carefully ladle
the milk/sugar/eggs/vanilla mixture into the cups, fill the pan
with water half way up the custard cups, and bake at 350
degrees until a knife inserted into the custard comes out clean.
You can make one big custard by baking it in a glass dish with a
rounded bottom....add enough Kahlua to cover the bottom of the
dish.  Bake in a water bath, etc.  The trick is the presentation:

Chill the custard well.  Run a knife around the edge of the dish
to break the custard loose, cover the dish with a plate or flat
bottomed bowl and invert to turn the custard out.  The kahlua will
be a coffee flavored sauce for the custard.  Serve with dollops
of whipped cream.  In the event that something does not come out
of the baking dish(es) neatly, simply chop up the custard into
cubes in the sauce, place in a pretty serving dish, add whipped
cream and present it with a flourish - just like you always wanted
it that way.  [Sneaky trick of the experienced cook]

    
    Rep .0
    
     I second the flan idea which is the classic Mexican dessert.
    My favorite is an orange carmel flan. You make the carmel by
    melting 1/2C white sugar in a heavy pan over moderate heat and
    when it turns a nice carmel color add either 3Tbsp of orange
    flavored liqueur <grand mariner, curacao, ...> or frozen orange
    concentrate. Mix well with the carmel and then place 2Tbsp of
    carmel in each cup. Let the carmel cool and then add the custard
    mixture and bake as in reply one.
    
    -mike
    

    
    PUMPKIN EMPANADAS
    -----------------
    
    1 16-oz. can pumpkin
    3/4 cup sugar
    1 tsp. ground allspice
    4 cups all-purpose flour
    1/2 cup sugar
    1 TBS plus 1 tsp. baking powder
    1 tsp. salt
    1 1/3 cups shortening
    1 cup milk
    Milk
    1/4 cup sugar
    1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
    1 egg white, lightly beaten
    
    
    Combine first 3 ingredients; stir well, and set aside.  Combine
    flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt; cut in shortening
    with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Sprinkle
    1 cup milk evenly over surface, stirring with a fork until dry
    ingredients are moistened.  Shape into a ball; roll to 1/8-inch
    thickness on a lightly floured surface.  Cut into 4-inch circles.
    
    Place 1 TBS pumpkin mixture in center of each circle.  Moisten edges
    with milk; fold in half, and press edges together to seal.  Combine
    1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon.  Brush empanadas with egg white, and
    sprinkle with sugar mixture.  Place on ungreased baking sheets,
    and bake at 450 degrees for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown. 
    Yield:  About 3 dozen.
    

    
    DULCE CON NUECES (Brown Sugar Pralines)
    ----------------
    
    2 cups sugar
    1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
    1 tsp. baking soda
    1/8 tsp. salt
    1 cup buttermilk
    2/3 cup light corn syrup
    2 TBS butter, melted
    2 tsp. vanilla extract
    1 1/2 cups pecan halves
    1 tsp. hot water
    
    
    Combine sugars, soda, salt, buttermilk, and corn syrup in a small
    Dutch oven, mixing well.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring
    occasionally, until mixture reaches soft ball stage (234 degrees).
    Remove from heat; add butter and vanilla, stirring until mixture
    begins to thicken.  Add pecans, and stir until mixture is thick
    and creamy.  Stir in water.  Working rapidly, drop mixture by rounded
    tablespoonfuls onto wax paper; let stand until firm.  Remove from
    wax paper, and store in an airtight container.  Yield:  2 1/2 dozen.
    
    

    
    MEXICAN COOKIES
    ---------------
    
    1 (3-incn) stick cinnamon, broken into fine pieces
    5 cups all-purpose flour
    2 cups sugar
    1 TBS baking powder
    1/2 tsp. baking soda
    Pinch of salt
    2 eggs, beaten
    1 tsp. vanilla extract
    2 cups shortening
    Cinnamon sugar
    
    
    Roast cinnamon in a skillet over medium heat 2-3 minutes, stirring
    occasionally.  Combine cinnamon pieces, flour, and next 4 ingredients
    in a large mixing bowl; stir well.  Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.
    Knead in shortening until mixture forms a dough.
    
    Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls; place on ungreased cookie sheets.
    Slash top of each cookie with a shallow X.  Bake at 350 degrees
    for 15 minutes.  Cool slightly on cookie sheets; dip tops of cookies
    in cinnamon sugar.  Let cool completely on wire racks.
    
    
    

    
    I just looked in the cookbook where I got the recipes posted in the 
    previous 3 replies, and I have a recipe for Capirotada (Mexican
    Bread Pudding) which was mentioned in .1.
    
    CAPIROTADA
    ----------
    
    1/2 (1-pound) loaf French bread, toasted
    1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
    1 cup water
    1 (3-inch) stick cinnamon
    1 cup sliced cooking apple
    1 cup raisins
    1 cup chopped walnuts
    8 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, cubed
    
    
    Break toasted bread into bite-size pieces, and set aside.  Combine
    brown sugar, water, and cinnamon stick in a small saucepan; cook
    over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves.
    Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes.  Remove and discard cinnamon
    stick; set aside.
    
    Layer half of bread, sliced apple, raisins, chopped walnuts, Monterey
    Jack cheese, and brown sugar syrup in a 13 x 9" baking dish.  Repeat
    layers, ending with syrup.  (Make sure bread is soaked with syrup.)
    Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Serve warm with ice cream.
    (Makes 8 servings)
    
       

    I saw a program called "Great Chefs of the West" last week.  A small
    Mexican restaurant, family-run, made a dessert which was very similar
    to the French "Floating Islands", but used Sopapillas as a base
    for the meringue layer.  I don't have the recipe, but you can find
    Sopapillas here, and can check for "Floating Islands" in the file.
    
    Fill baking pan with vanilla custard, drop in cooked Sopapillas,
    top with meringue.  I think they then placed the baking pan in a
    larger pan of water and baked in a moderate oven just until meringue
    was heated through, but I can't be sure.  I saw a lot of cooking
    shows that day, and I may be confused!
    
    
    You can also make a Flan, if you are looking for an easy dessert.
    
    

    
    
      Open a can of guava and throw a chunk of cream cheese on it
    and you've got something easy and great tasting.
    
    John (or you could take the fruit out of the can and put on plate)

    
    re .10: whilst I will bow to your interpretation in the present
    context, I would have to say that in other areas it has a broader
    meaning. Here (in Britain) a flan is an open topped pie with a soft
    sponge casing. It can be filled with custard, or for example whipped
    cream and fruit...
    
    /. Ian .\

Ian,

what's a "soft sponge casing"?....amazing to me that British and American
citizens claim the same language - yet we have a hard time communicating...

				bemused,

				   D

    
    Let me see... :-)
    
    well its called a "flan case" (and if you are lazy you can buy them
    ready made in the supermarkets here), and it is made from the sort
    of yellow sponge that madeira cakes are made of, as a rule. Rather
    like a pie crust [base] made from sponge cake batter...
                                                    
    I guess i should have phrased it "casing of soft sponge", but then
    as you appear to agree with Churchill, the British and Americans
    are indeed a divided by a common language...
    
    /. Ian .\

    I would suggest that a British flan is a little like a hollowed-out
    American Angel cake - that kind of texture.

    Ian, what you described in .11 sounds more like a trifle...
    
    					andrew

    
    ah, but, ... you can make a trifle in a serving bowl, with no support
    medium (except the bowl)...
    
    as for the angel cake - yep that's right.
                            
    /. Ian .\
    

This is a kind of recent dessert very typical in Mexico City's
fancy restaurants.

If you can't find Cajeta ( goat's milk carmel ). You can make
a very close "look-alike" and "taste-alike" from condensed milk.


For the cajeta:
You need CONDENSED MILK, not evaporated. Condensed is the kind that
is VERY sweet and thicky. Put water to boil and drop the can closed
for 20 or 30 minutes. There must be enough water to completely
cover the can. Open it, but don't let this to cool down to much
before serving (otherwise pour in a plastic container and use the
micro-wave oven).

Meanwhile, make regular crepes and fold them twice making triangles.
Place three of those in a dish an pour the warm Cajeta on top.

Decorate with some crushed walnuts and/or powder sugar.



Cajeta in Mexico is used for many things: Ice Cream, Sandwiches, 
fruit, coffe, capuccino, etc. In fact for kids it takes the place
of Peanut butter, which BTW in Mexico is not very appreciated...

Enjoy cajeta!...

Also, if you are going to offer this to an Argentinian guest, call
them Crepas de Dulce de leche instead... They don't like the word
Cajeta mixed with food... but that's a different story ;-)

Gerardo

    
    
    Wait!  Are you saying to put the unopened can of condensed
    milk in to a pan of boiling water, and boil for 20-30 minutes?
    
    It's been years since I've made this dessert, but I am reasonably
    certain that boiling an unopen can is dangerous-the can might
    explode.
    
    If I remember this recipe correctly, open the can, cover with
    aluminum foil, and cook (I seem to remember putting the can in
    a pan of water and processing in the oven.)
    
    I really liked this dessert.  If you find the recipe should be
    corrected, will you enter the corrections here?  I'd like to
    try this again some time...
    
    Deb
    

No I have never had that problem, nor my mother from who I
learned this... ;-)

That's why you use the boiling water... In fact, mom uses
a pressure cooker for this (to make it faster). I do not think
there's enough presure to explode a can like that...

I imagine that doing it your way, could still work, just 
make sure there are no leaks...that would be a waste...

Gerardo

    re -2
    
    Cans are sealed before processing in factories.  They are heated
    under pressure to ensure that all the nasty bacteria from the very
    centre of the can are killed.  There are complicated equations to
    calculate the time required.  So - don't worry about heating an
    unopened can.
    
    Linda 

    Cans are sealed and cooked in a pressure cooker at the factory.  If you
    heat them to 212F on your stove I would not be surprised if they did
    explode.  The pressure cooker could have helped them remain intact.
    
    One of my former jobs.
    
    ed

   This contribution has little to do with cooking, but it struck a chord
   that I thought it was worthwhile to shear with you. In any case I ask
   for your forgiveness for this filo-logical subject.

   In most Latin American countries, what you call here "Cajeta" is called
   "Dulce de leche" (Spanish) - "Doce de leite" (Portuguese), meaning
   milk jam. It is a dessert coming from the times of the colony and
   it used to be the pride of the household to have a good "dulce de 
   leche". The etymology (sp) of "dulce de cajeta" or "cajeta" seems to
   come from the word "caja", box, since this jam used to come in a 
   small caja or "cajeta".

   In Argentina (where I come from) and Uruguay, and may be other Latin
   American countries besides Mexico, the word "cajeta" has very dirty 
   connotations, describing certain parts of the anatomy of the daughters
   of our mother Eve, and I wouldnt dear to ask in Argentina for "dulce
   de cajeta"...

   Dulce de leche, I believe, would also be understood in Mexico, and 
   would certainly be easier with other fellow Latin Americans.

   (I had once Mexican guests at home that embarassed my wife with their
   "strange" requests...)

   Regards,

   Juan-Carlos Kiel