Browsing Category

Desserts

Cajeta Chocoflan

I’m a few days late and a few dollars short, but it’s finally Fall!

It’s still 85 degrees here in SoCal, so lets crank up the AC for a few minutes and pretend the leaves outside are changing color.

Before we talk about the amazingness that is spiced pumpkin chocoflan, I wanted to share some quick resources for Mexico’s and Puerto Rico’s relief funds.

Mexico: Unicef, Save The Children, Cruz Roja Mexicana

Puerto Rico: United for Puerto Rico, Unicef, All Hands Volunteers

My heart hurts for everyone that was impacted by these natural disasters, and I encourage you to show your support whichever way you can.

Purchase my new cookbook Chicano Bakes:

I’m a sucker for all things pumpkin; pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream and those amazing Trader Joes pumpkin jojo’s (that I just recently tried to finished a whole box of) and last year, Billy made this spiced chocolate pumpkin loaf that was so moist and chocolatey with just the right amount of spice and pumpkin and I mentioned to him that I wanted to see how it would hold up in a chocoflan.

If you don’t know what chocoflan is, it’s basically a cake that consists of two layers, chocolate cake as the bottom layer and flan as the top layer. Some people refer to it as the “impossible” cake because when you’re making it, you add the batter to the pan first and then pour in the flan mixture and during the baking process they switch places! It’s basically a magic trick you can eat.

Adding pumpkin to the cake makes it really moist, and if you’ve never had chocolate and pumpkin together, you’re in for a real treat. It’s such a great pairing that you might have never thought to combine. The recipe calls for pumpkin pie spice, and I strongly suggest you check out Billy’s homemade recipe for it so you don’t end up using store-bought pumpkin spice that tastes super artificial.

With all the work potlucks that are going to be popping up in the next few weeks, add this dessert to your repertoire and impress everyone at work!

I have a few fun recipes that I’ll be sharing next week. Till then, grab a fork and enjoy a slice of chocoflan drenched in cajeta, y nos vemos pronto.

Coconut Café de Olla Popsicles with a Butterscotch Magic Shell

It’s #PopsicleWeek!

I’m really excited because it’s Billy’s 5^th year putting this on, but my very first year participating!

We were both living in Eureka, on our last semesters of College when he hosted his first Popsicle Week, and I’m so proud to see how far he’s come with this popsicle lovefest. This year Billy was given a spread in the summer issue of AllRecipes Magazine for popsicle week, and he also did a Facebook Live with AllRecipes where he made these really good ginger piña colada and blueberry cobbler popsicles.

If you’re interested in seeing what else everyone contributed, head here. There are over 120+ contributors this year!

Coconut Café de Olla Popsicles with a Butterscotch Magic Shell

There were a few ideas I had in mind for popsicle week. My initial idea was to make these paletas de vainilla which have become an icon in Colima. Unfortunately, I was only able to find the specific popsicle molds in industrial sizes so I’m going to have to wait until I go back to Mexico to look for said molds. My second idea was to create a café de olla popsicle, which is what we’re making today. If you’re not familiar with café de olla, you’re missing out. It’s one of my favorite things to have for breakfast whenever we’re in Mexico, especially when we’re dining at one of our favorite spots in Comala, Los Portales de Suchitlan, who happen to package their own fresh coffee on-site!

It’s an al-fresco setting and you basically dine in the middle of coffee trees and other greenery, and it makes you feel like you’re eating in the middle of a jungle. Depending on who’s making your café de olla, it’ll be typically made by brewing coffee with really good piloncillo, Mexican cinnamon and in certain places people will also include a bit of orange peel for aromatics. I decided to leave out the orange peel out of the popsicles because I’ve never been a huge fan, and I think I have those bitter strips of candied citrus peel on the rosca de reyes to blame.

In this recipe we’ll be adding coconut milk for an extra layer of flavor and then dipping them in butterscotch and if you’re feeling a little daring, add a pinch of sea salt before the magic shell completely hardens for that sweet, salty and creamy experience. If you’re looking for the popsicle mold I used, you can find it here.

Have a happy 4th of July!

Coconut Café de Olla Popsicles with a Butterscotch Magic Shell

How To Make The Best Gelatina de Leche (Mexican Milk Jello)

I can still remember how excited I used to get for Birthdays growing up. As kids, we never received toys—and it wasn’t because my parents didn’t love us, but because it was a luxury they could not afford. I grew accustomed to receiving socks/underwear and the occasional $20 for the occasional paleta or raspado pretty quickly because as you become more self-aware, you notice your parents are doing their best to provide you with everything they can.

When it came to Birthdays, my mom would always splurge and make us our favorite meals, and I (usually) always asked for the same thing; sopes, and gelatina de leche. Sometimes she’d just make gelatina de leche by itself, and other times she would layer it with a strawberry jello and top it with slices of strawberries.

My favorite of course, was just the gelatina de leche by itself.

Purchase my new cookbook Chicano Bakes:

When I posted the picture of the slice on Instagram, I didn’t realize that there’d be so many of you who also grew up loving gelatina de leche. I love connecting through food and sharing stories and it always makes me incredibly happy when others share their memories with me.

What is Milk Jello, or gelatina de leche?

The best way I can describe gelatina de leche, or milk jello, is as a more firm, slightly more flavorful panna cotta. We steep cinnamon in the milk, and top it with fresh berries to counter the sweetness. We’re also adding heavy cream to make the gelatina a little creamier.

It wasn’t until I was going through the pictures that I realized I had this red/white and blue motif going on which makes this perfect for your upcoming 4th of July gatherings. Step it up a notch and use a more intricate bundt pan for it and boom! you have a simple and very elegant dessert.

PS. This is the pan I used!

Vegan Churros with a Vegan Salted Caramel Sauce

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to be a guest on one of my favorite podcasts; the Tamarindo Podcast! I had been a long time listener, so when Luis asked me to be on I gladly accepted! I was so excited and slightly nervous and I couldn’t believe I was in the studio recording with them. If you love a good podcast, check them out! Whenever I listen to them or to Latinos Who Lunch I feel like I’m sitting en la sala hanging out con mis primos. They instantly become like family, and I love how relatable they are.

You can listen to the episode here.

—

When I posted the Vegan tacos Al Pastor on Tuesday, I had no idea I was going to get the reaction that I did. They went over so well! I had so many people tag me in their Insta stories who were making the marinade and I was living for it–Thank you for showing me so much love!

Keeping with the Vegan theme, we’re going to be making vegan churros with a vegan salted caramel dipping sauce today. The churro recipe comes from Eddie Garzas’s ¡Salud! Vegan Mexican Cookbook, which is one of the cookbooks I picked up a few weeks ago. This is a great book for anyone who’s Vegan and is looking for an authentic Mexican experience, or for those who like having alternatives for days when they don’t feel like eating meat.

I wish I were actually Vegan so I could truly appreciate the authenticity in these dishes. Eddie not only showcases modern Mexican cuisine, but he also focuses on spotlighting pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican dishes, taking it back to its plant based roots.

Today we’re pairing these Churros with a Vegan Salted Caramel dipping sauce because when I was visualizing what I wanted to do with the churros, I could not stop smelling cajeta. I kept picturing myself walking around El Jardín de la Villa being enveloped by the aroma of tacos de adobada, hot cakes with cajeta sizzling over a hot skillet, and the smell of dough being deep fried and being tossed around in sweet sugar and cinnamon.

Are there any vegan recipes you’d like to see in the future? Let me know! Non-vegans, we’ll be back to our regular recipes next week! See you then.

Older Posts

Newer Posts