Recipes

Tasty Tuesday–Chocoflan

I made fish tacos for dinner last weekend, and I wanted to make a delicious Mexican dessert to go with it. I had a vague recollection of watching Marcela Valladolid make a chocoflan back when we had cable TV, so I looked the recipe up while I was in the grocery store (what did I ever do before I had a smartphone?). It didn’t look too complicated, so I tried it out. I’ve never made a flan before, so I wasn’t sure everyone would like it, but I was pleasantly surprised, and the whole family loved it. They’ve demanded that I add it to my “permanent collection.” Ideally, you should make this a day ahead, although we did try it the first day while it was still warm.

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1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce
10 tablespoons butter, room temperature, plus extra to grease the pan
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

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

1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Put an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350.

Coat a Bundt pan with a little butter, then coat the bottom with 1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce and put 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 spread 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.

Carefully slide the pan into the oven, and bake about 1 hour (mine took a little longer), until the surface of the cake is firm to the touch, or an inserted toothpick comes out clean. When cake is done, 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, jiggle a little and flip over. Remove the pan and scrape any remaining cajeta from the pan onto the cake, garnish with chopped pecans and additional cajeta (if desired), chill 24 hours and serve!

Tasty Tuesday–Ideas for Afternoon Tea

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Today I finally got The Perfect Afternoon Tea Recipe Book, something I’ve been wanting to have for quite some time. Between the cost (being a nice, large hardcover with beautiful photographs, it’s was a little expensive), and a time when it appeared to be out of print, it took over a year for me to get it. I can’t wait to try out some of the recipes in it, but in the meantime, here’s some inspiration from the tea parties we’ve already had!

Our first real tea party was a very simple cream tea in celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (although we had an even simpler tea a year earlier, for the Royal Wedding).

Recipes:

Birthday Teas:

Other Themed Parties:

I’m sure there will be many more tea parties in our future…next, I hope to do something fun for fall!

Tasty Tuesday–Orange Poppyseed Cake

I tried this recipe on a whim last week for our tea party, and I’m so glad I did. It’s delicious, not too heavy, and was enjoyed by everyone, which makes it the perfect addition to our tea party rotation. I’m sure you could turn this into a lemon poppyseed cake if you so desired…I could also see adding an extra tablespoon or so of poppy seeds to the batter, if you wanted it to be heavier on the poppy seeds!

  • 2 tablespoons poppyseeds
  • 1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
  • 3 cups cake flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
  • Orange glaze (recipe below)

In a small bowl, soak poppyseeds in milk for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 325. Generously grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, gradually stir in sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in orange zest, vanilla extract, and poppyseed mixture. Stir in flour mixture and orange juice alternately in three additions, beginning and ending with flour. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool 15 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan and invert onto a cake plate. Spoon orange glaze over warm cake.

Orange Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh-squeezed orange juice

In a small bowl, combine sugar and orange zest. Stir in orange juice until smooth. Spoon over warm cake.

Tasty Tuesday–National Cheesecake Day

In honor of “National Cheesecake Day,” here are a few of my favorite cheesecake recipes!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Strawberry Margarita Cheesecake (possibly my very favorite!)

Bailey’s Irish Cream Cheesecake

Mint Oreo Cheesecake

Tasty Tuesday–Tostadas

This is my favorite tostada recipe. There are so many options out there, from different meats, like chicken and shrimp, to a wide variety of toppings, and it seems like we’ve tried them all! I like to keep things simple, so my dream tostada is topped with pork carnitas, jack cheese, and sliced avocado. Sometimes, if I’m feeling fancy, I’ll drizzle Mexican creama on top, too. Lettuce, tomatoes, and olives also make good toppings if you’re feeling adventurous!

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Tasty Tuesday–Strawberries and Cream Pie

This was the pie I made for our Pentecost celebration this year, and it was so delicious, Turkey decided that it’s now tied with the S’mores pie as his favorite!

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  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 3 tsp shortening
  • 1 Oreo or chocolate pie crust
  • 1 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 8 oz. tub Cool Whip
  • 2 cups fresh strawberries, halved

Melt chocolate chips with shortening over low heat. Pour into bottom of pie crust and chill until firm.
Beat cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour over chocolate in pie crust. Refrigerate overnight.
Before serving, arrange strawberries over the top of the pie. Drizzle with additional chocolate, if desired.

Tasty Tuesday–Sopapilla Cheesecake

I tried this recipe out for Mother’s Day, and it was delicious! I’m not claiming it’s authentic or anything, but it’s easy to make, and so good! It was also be good topped with whipped cream and fresh strawberries (neither of which I had on Mother’s Day…maybe next time).

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  • 3 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2 8 oz. cans crescent roll dough
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.
Beat cream cheese with 1 1/2 cups of sugar and vanilla extract until smooth.
Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape the each piece into a 9×13 inch rectangle. Press one piece into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture over dough, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough.
Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the top of the cheesecake. Stir the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar together with the cinnamon in a small bowl, and sprinkle over the cheesecake.
Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 45 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before cutting.

Tasty Tuesday–French Silk Pie

This pie is almost as good as the French Silk pie I used to love at Baker’s Square, although it is missing the chocolate curls because I don’t have the patience to make them. You will need to set aside a good 35-40 minutes just for beating the ingredients. How much whipped cream you use is up to you. I consider it to be an ingredient, so I put a thick layer over the whole pie. If you want it as just a garnish, feel free to use less!

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  • 1 8-inch pie crust, baked and cooled
  • 1 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 2 1 oz. squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 4 eggs
  • Fresh whipped cream

Beat butter and sugar until sugar is no longer grainy, 20-25 minutes at medium-high speed with an electric mixer. (Yes, that’s correct…20-25 minutes…that’s necessary for the “silk” texture.) Stir in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract. Add the eggs, two at a time, beating 5 minutes on medium speed after each addition. The filling should be a light, fluffy brown at this point. Spoon the chocolate filling into a cooled, baked pie shell.

Refrigerate at least 2 hours…overnight is best. Top with whipped cream before serving.

Tasty Tuesday–Irish Tea Cake

I tried this recipe for the first time a few week’s ago for our St. Patrick’s Day tea party, and it was a huge hit! It’s a nice, simple butter cake, delicious with a dusting of powdered sugar. You could easily double the recipe, though, and use it as a layer cake with frosting instead!

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  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9 inch round pan.
In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the batter alternately with the milk. If the batter is too stiff, a tablespoon or two of milk may be added. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack, then turn out onto a serving plate. Dust with powdered sugar right before serving.

Tasty Tuesday–Roast Potatoes

This is a super easy recipe, and not too hard to figure out, but just in case you were wondering how to make some awesome roast potatoes…

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  • Small red potatoes (or a mix of small potatoes–a variety of colors makes for a pretty side dish!)
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Cut up potatoes (I usually quarter them, unless they’re unusually big or small), and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle generously with olive oil and salt well. Sprinkle with pepper. Roast for 20 minutes, then turn potatoes, and add more olive oil, salt, and pepper as needed (you don’t want them to be dry!). Roast for another 20 minutes, or until browned and crispy on the outside. You can also add other seasonings like garlic or rosemary with the salt and pepper to change the flavor up a bit!