Category Archives for Recipes

Crab Rolls Sliders Recipe

Crab Rolls Sliders Recipe

A super delicious Crab Rolls Sliders Recipe. So easy to make and so tasty.

Prepare an all star summer sliders recipe, perfect for picnics, pool party or to just make the day special. This Crab Rolls Sliders Recipe is amazing! It’s packed with flavor and goes well with any cool drinks. You can also use lobster instead of crabs for this recipe, check out my lobster cooking time tips.

Here’s how to make this Crab Rolls Sliders Recipe:

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Tres Leches Cake Recipe

Whether you’re celebrating Cinco de Mayo, a birthday or just crawling out of bed, Tres Leches Cake (3 milk cake) is the cake to do it with. If you’ve never eaten or made a Tres Leches Cake it may sound a little strange; especially if you look at the recipe and see the cake only uses 3 ingredients. I promise you this cake is amazingly delicious and probably the moistest you’ve ever tasted.

Tres Leches Cake

I adapted this recipe from the one found on Chow. I omitted the rum and coconut since my 10 year old detests coconut and I’m not too savvy on giving him rum that hasn’t been cooked down.

Tres Leches Cake

This cake is a major hit and people will be begging for more. I made a mess here just for your viewing pleasure – imagine all of this milk soaked up into the cake – de-lish-us!

Tres Leches Cake

 

Tres Leches Cake Recipe
Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: Mexican
Author: Amber
Ingredients
  • [b]Cake[/b]
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 6 large eggs, separated
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • [b]Tres Leches[/b]
  • 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup evaporated milk
  • 1 cup half & half
  • [b]Frosting
  • [/b]1 1/2 cups heavy whippingcream
  • 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Heat the oven to 325°F. Coat two 8 inch cake pans with butter. Set aside.
  2. Place the flour in a small bowl and whisk to aerate and break up any lumps; set aside.
  3. Put the 6 yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the sugar to the yolks and beat on high speed (use the paddle attachment) for 3 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl; set aside.
  4. Wash the bowl and put the egg whites in. With the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites until medium peaks form, about 1 1/2 minutes.
  5. Use a rubber spatula to stir a third of the egg whites into the yolk mixture. Gently fold in the remaining whites. Sprinkle the flour over the egg mixture and gently fold it in, until you no longer see the flour. ([b]Do not overmix.[/b])
  6. Pour the batter into the cake pans and bake for 25 – 35 minutes, until the cake is springy and cooked through.
  7. Whisk together the 3 milks and place in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use.
  8. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes.
  9. Turn the cakes out onto large plates. Use a wooden skewer or straw to poke several holes on top of the cakes. Slowly pour the milk mixture over the cakes.
  10. Refrigerate the cakes overnight for maximum absorption/moistness.
  11. Place the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla in large bowl and whisk until medium peaks form. Be careful not to overmix or you’ll have butter.
  12. Coat the top of 1 cake with the whipped topping. You can top with sliced berries if you like. Carefully slide the 2nd cake on top of the frosted cake and finish frosting.

 

Churros Recipe – Must Have Cinco de Mayo Dessert

Have you ever had a truly authentic Mexican dessert? What’s you favorite? Mine is a toss up between Tres Leches Cake and Churros. If I had to choose one o have it would probably be – drumroll please…

Churros!

churrios

I’m a total sucker for churros. They’re so simple yet amazing. The fact that they’re super easy to fix makes them even sweeter – and I mean that quite literally. The only problem I have with making them is using a pastry bag to form them. It may just be my recipe, but getting the dough through a tip is almost impossible. I had to make John do it since he has the muscles in the family.

Churros1

I eventually had to change out the star tip for an open round tip. Even he was straining and we were a little worried the bag would bust.  Eventually I just started playing with the dough, making churros balls and pulling/stretching it to make thick Churros Logs. 

They may not have been the prettiest things, but my were they yummy. This recipe makes a perfectly dense churro that has just the right amount of bite without being too chewy.

Churros-1

Churros
Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: Mexican
Author: Amber
Ingredients
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • Cinnamon Sugar (1/2 cup sugar + 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon)
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat your deep fryer or a heavy pot with 2 quarts of oil. Add the cinnamon sugar to a large bowl and set aside.
  2. Whisk together the flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, water, baking powder and salt. Add the 2 tablespoons of oil and mix together to form a ball
  3. Put the dough in a pastry bag with a star or round tip (you can bypass the tip if you prefer.)
  4. Pipe the dough out, around 6 inches at a time (you will need to cut or tear the dough to remove it from the bag). Carefully drop 3 or 4 churros into the hot oil and cook until golden brown.
  5. Remove from the oil and immediately roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture, tapping off any excess.
  6. Serve with your favorite chocolate dipping sauce or plain.

Pork Tamales Recipe – Authentic Mexican Cinco de Mayo Tradition

I love going down the ethnic aisle in the grocery store. There’s so much inspiration there. My latest grocery store endeavor left my pantry filled with the goodies I need to practice for my Cinco de Mayo festivities. Yea, I have a month to go but I need the practice. I want to make traditional Mexican dishes so I’m reaching out to some awesome Latin friends for those recipes.

Tamales-

I have a Latin background, with my father being Puerto Rican, but I want to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with true Mexican foods. I asked my friend, Julia, what some of her favorite foods were and the first thing she mentioned was tamales. I have never made tamales before, so when she told me it was a lot of work I kind of brushed it off. Let me just say, making homemade tamales is a lot of work!

Making-Tamales-Recipe-1

I found everything I needed to make homemade tamales in the ethnic aisle. I even found a tamalera, which is basically a steamer used for cooking the tamales. It’s also great for seafood and canning – a nice investment I can be proud of. I also picked up a bag of tamale flour and just followed the directions on the back for that.

Tamales-1

While the tamales did take a while to prepare and cook, the process wasn’t complicated. I’ll definitely be adding this to our Cinco de Mayo menu and hopefully bringing others in to help make them.

Pork-Tamales-

Recipe Type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Mexican
Author: Amber
Ingredients
  • [b]Dough[/b]
  • 2 cups masa harina
  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup shortening
  • [b]Filling[/b]
  • 1 pound pork tenderloin, cooked
  • 1 clove garlic, diced
  • 4 dried California chile pods
  • 2 cups water
  • [b]Other[/b]
  • 16 dried corn husks
Instructions
  1. Set the corn husks in a bowl of warm water to re-hydrate them.
  2. Mix a tablespoon of stock and the shortening in a medium to large bowl. Mix in the masa harina, baking powder and salt. Continue adding stock until you get a sponge like dough. Set aside.
  3. De-seed and de-stem the chili pods. Simmer in a saucepan with 2 cups of water for 30 minutes. Allow to cool.
  4. Use a food processor or blender to puree the chilies and water. Strain and add the salt.
  5. Shred the cooked pork tenderloin in a large bowl and stir in the chili sauce.
  6. Remove the corn husks from the water and allow them to dry a bit. Spread them out and spread the dough on top, leaving a 1/4 inch space on the outer edges uncovered.
  7. Add a tablespoon of the meat mixture and spread it out a bit over the dough mixture. Fold the husks in, starting with the sides, and flip to close.
  8. Place the tamales in your steamer and allow to steam for 1 hour. Carefully unwrap the husks, remove the tamale and enjoy.

White Chocolate Hot Cross Buns – Easter Tradition with a Twist

Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns! One ha’ penny, two ha’ penny, Hot cross buns! If you have no daughters, Give them to your sons…

I love, love, love me some hot cross buns. Waking up on Easter morning, running into the kitchen to see Hot Cross Buns in the oven was life altering. Something so simple and easy yet so irresistibly good – how could they not change lives?!

white

Of course we always had them on Good Friday, but us kids didn’t really understand what that was. But boy, when we got tucked in and told we were having Hot Cross Buns in the morning it was like Christmas Eve.

You remember that anticipation that kept you from closing your eyes for more than a few minutes at  a time.

White-Chocolate-Hot-Cross-Buns

I love that my son gets to embrace this tradition today, and I imagine he’ll share it with his children too. Or at least marry someone who will. Everyone has their own way of making hot cross buns, and I’ve added a little twist to mine. My mom used to use raisins  her mom used currants, I use white chocolate chips. Don’t judge me, they’re soo good!

white chocolate I make my Hot Cross Buns pretty big, but we like ’em big. Truth be told, they would probably bake better if they were smaller. We’ve never had enough leftovers to need to freeze them, but I imagine they would keep for a couple days at least. What do you think?

How do you like your Hot Cross Buns?

White Chocolate Hot Cross Buns
Author: Amber
Ingredients
  • 5 tsp dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups warm (not hot) milk
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 4 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
  • 2 eggs, plus 1 egg beaten
  • 4 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or stick with cinnamon if you prefer)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips, plus 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Pour 1/2 cup of the warm milk into a small bowl. Add the yeast and allow it to bloom for 10 minutes.
  2. Whisk in the honey, 2 eggs, butter, pumpkin pie mix, salt and white chocolate chips. Mix in the flour, slowly. While mixing, carefully add the 1 cup of milk.
  3. Once the mixture is dough like, dump it onto a counter and knead 4 times. If it’s too sticky add a little flour to smooth it out. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to double in size; about 20 minutes.
  4. Lightly flour your work surface and place the dough on it. Pull off pieces about the size of a baseball (or your preferred size) and make them into balls. Place the balls on a parchment lined baking sheet. Continue until all the dough is used. Cover again with plastic wrap and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. I like to sit my buns on the oven to rise while it’s preheating. This take between 10 and 15 minutes.
  5. Uncover the buns and cut crosses into the tops. Brush the tops with the beaten egg and bake for 20 minutes or until browned.
  6. To ice the tops I melted 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips and piped the crosses on with that. Yummy!

 

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