Chicano Eats

Banana Sheet Cake with a Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting

Thanksgiving is in 3 days, and I can’t wait!

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving are the desserts; pumpkin pie, pumpkin chocoflan, and pumpkin cheesecake, it’s the only day of the year when I want to binge on all things pumpkin. This year, I’m doing things a little different, I’m bringing this banana sheet cake with a dulce de leche cream cheese frosting to the table!

Banana Sheet Cake with a Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting

I had bought a bunch of cans of dulce de leche (you can find it at some Target locations, but all Walmart locations should carry it) and a big bag of pecans to use for another post, and was left with a ton of leftovers, so I figured, why not use incorporate them in something else? I had been wanting to do a sheet cake for a while, so after some brainstorming, and a few ripe bananas later, this baby came to fruition. It’s like banana bread, but waaay better. It’s a really moist banana sheet cake, with a dulce de leche cream cheese frosting, topped with a sprinkle of cinnamon candied pecans. The candied pecans are totally optional, you can swap them out for regular pecans, but I did find that they added a really nice crunch to the cake.

I’ve got one more dessert recipe coming up on Wednesday, but if you’d like to add this cake to your Thanksgiving line up, Id suggest throwing a few bananas in a brown paper bag to start the ripening process!

¡Nos vemos pronto!

Banana Sheet Cake with a Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting

Conchas (Mexican Sweet Bread)

I have conchas to share with you today!

These babies were a labor of love. I started developing the recipe for back in August, and because they need a good amount of attention, I only got to test them a few times. There are a few things I learned, and I’m happy to share the knowledge so you can easily make these at home.

One of the more important things I realized, especially after making pan de muerto last year, is that you need to take your time with bread, don’t take any shortcuts and don’t rush your process. Give the yeast plenty of time to proof, and give your dough enough time to really rise.

Conchas (Mexican Sweet Bread)

The quality of your ingredients also makes a difference. Fresh ground spices will give you a more flavorful bread. I like to use the milling blade from my nutribullet to grind down cinnamon, and cloves, and then I just use a microplane to grate fresh nutmeg. If you happen to have any vanilla bean paste, vanilla beans, or high quality vanilla extract, use it instead of imitation vanilla extract. Be sure to keep imitation vanilla out of the streusel though or you’ll end up with a something that tastes like play-doh. I used imitation extract the first few times and It took me a while to realize it was really messing with the taste.

When it comes to equipment, you can easily score the streusel topping with a knife, but if you’d like a concha cutter, you can purchase the one I used here. I also suggest using food coloring gel instead of liquid food coloring if you decide to add some color to your topping, as the liquid will make your topping really sticky and you’ll need a lot of it to get good color payoff.

I know they are a bit of a process but I promise they’re so worth it! Be sure to share your pictures with me if you happen to make them!

Nos vemos pronto!

Click here for more pan dulce recipes!

Classic Tres Leches (Pastel de Tres Leches)

Polvorones Rosas (Mexican Pink Sugar Cookies)

Tamales with Del Real Foods

Hola Hola! I hope you are having a great week, today we are talking about tamales!

The Holidays are fast approaching, and since we’re still in quarantine and probably won’t have the opportunity to travel, I wanted to share my thoughts on store bought tamales!

Del Real Foods reached out to me to share some of their new tamales with me, and I was very excited for them to arrive. When I was in college I was just starting to learn how to cook and Del Real Foods was typically my go-to for things like carnitas, refried beans and rice because their recipes just tasted like home, so I knew I wasn’t going to be disappointed.

When the tamales arrived, I was pleasantly surprised! Their tamales come in a dozen, and one of the things that really stood out to me were the tamal wraps. Each tamal is wrapped in a sustainable wrap! What does it mean? It means that Del Real Foods does not use Corn Husks for their tamales. The sustainable wraps prevent mold and bugs, is environmentally sustainable, and helps save over 10K gallons of water weekly because these wraps don’t need to be rehydrated!

The tamales come in 5 different flavors, Pork in Red Sauce, Chicken in Red Sauce, Chicken in Green Sauce, Cheese and Green Chili Tamales, and Beef in Red Sauce. I got to try the Chicken in Red Sauce tamales, and they were absolutely delicious. One of the things I really appreciated is that you are able to steam these tamales to reheat them. I’ve had other tamales where you can only reheat them in the microwave and I find that doing that just dried them out. In terms of taste, the tamales were really moist and flavorful, and let me tell you, the ratio of meat to dough was amazing! I’d say the tamales were equal parts masa to meat, it wasn’t just a small glob in the center surrounded by a brick of masa.

If the thought of making tamales on your own gives you anxiety, definitely try Del Real Food’s Tamales. They are going to be the best option for those who don’t live with family and won’t have the opportunity to visit them for the Holidays this year and are looking for something fresh, flavorful and authentic.

Head over to their www.delrealfoods.com to find them at a local grocery store near you.

Rajas con Mac & Cheese

Some of my favorite recipes that I’ve made over the past year have all come from me finding something random in the pantry that needed to be used right then and there, like the concha bread pudding or like the mac & cheese were making today!

I had a bag filled with poblano peppers that I had used for a shoot earlier in the week that I didn’t know what else to do with, until Billy pointed out that we had a big bag of pasta sitting on the counter..and this mac and cheese came to fruition a few minutes later. It’s soooo cheesy, so easy to throw together, and the roasted poblanos and pickled jalapeños add some nice smokiness and heat. I love mac and cheese, and this is probably the only way I’m going to be making mac and cheese for the rest of the year.

I have a few recipes I’ve already shared on Instagram, that I’ll be uploading to the blog throughout next week, like the vegan pambazos, berry bionicos and the kiwi cucumber margarita, so have a great weekend y nos vemos pronto!

Rajas con Mac & Cheese

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