As American as...Cupcakes?

Y'all ate up my last batch of cupcakes so I decided to share some more!  I made these for some friends yesterday just before watching certain film starring Will Smith and some aliens.  No, not Men in Black...that other one.  What's it called?  Oh yes, Independence Day! 

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays.  Playing by the pool, fireflies, watermelon...it just feels like summertime.  This recipe truly captures the pure, innocent joy of summertime.  It's fun and simple.  Also, it happens to be reduced fat/reduced sugar!  Be sure to bookmark this one for your barbecue next year...it's a big hit!

Liberty Cakes
Source: Inspired by fellow Foodbuzz Featured Publisher, Omnomicon

Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix
12 oz Sprite Zero (sorry...I live in Atlanta)
LOTS of gel food coloring
8 oz Fat Free whipped topping

Directions:

Preheat oven according to cake mix package directions.  Line cupcake pan.

Mix together white cake mix and Sprite Zero according to package directions.

Looks like cappuccino froth!

Pour one third of the batter into a small bowl.  Pour another one third into another small bowl.  Add blue food coloring to one bowl and red food coloring to the other.  I like to add three drops, stir, and repeat until I find the desired color.

The prettiest dirty dishes ever

Place one heaping tablespoon of blue batter into each cupcake liner.  Then place one heaping tablespoon of uncolored batter directly on top of the blue, as though forming concentric circles.  Then top each cupcake liner with one heaping tablespoon of red batter.  Repeat until you're out of liners (I made 2 dozen with this much batter).  Don't worry if your cupcakes look a little lower than usual...this stuff rises a lot!

Bake according to box directions.  Let cool completely.  Once cool, top with whipped topping and a blueberry.  Serve with sparklers and patriotism.

Pequeño Cheesecake

If you think I enjoy cooking, you should see me with a cake pan and a hand mixer.  I like to cook, but I love to bake!  This particular recipe has absolutely nothing to do with Cuban cuisine or my general gringa theme, but I just had to share!  My cousin introduced me to this Martha Stewart recipe (love her...both my cousin and Martha, that is) and it's been a big hit every time I've made it for friends!  I'm sure you'll have the same reaction.  Not only is it delicious, it's simply adorable.  Are they cupcakes?  Are they cheesecake?  Who cares!

Martha Stewart's Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes

Ingredients:

42 Oreos, 30 left whole, and 12 coarsely chopped (I put them in a gallon bag and released the aggression of studying for boards)
2 pounds cream cheese, softened (let them sit out for a while at room temperature, or zap them in the microwave for 30 seconds or so)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.

Yes, I got a new camera,  Yes, it has a food setting.  You're welcome.

With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. You might need to do this pretty often if you don't have a super high mixing bowl.  My mixing bowls are pretty short and Miss Corgi kept waiting for sweet creamy batter to go flying her way.

 Anticipating.

Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.

Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.

Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22-25 minutes. Cool completely. Refrigerate overnight. Remove from tins just before serving.

 Look how cute!  (Source)

I've always been your biggest flan

Also nominated for blog post title: "you should have put him in custardy."  If you know where these references are from, you are my new hero.

Flan is a type of custard.  You may find savory varieties throughout Europe, but flan is dulce in Latin America.  And it is good.  There are only six ingredients in most recipes, yet flan can be very difficult to make.  In fact, I have been quite intimidated by the flan for quite some time.  It doesn't help that my future in-laws make fabulous flan...such big shoes to fill!

Fortunately, I have a friend who, too, is a gringa.  We met through our men, as her husband is also a Cuban Knight (that is, he is of Cuban descent and attended the University of Central Florida).  We figured with our gringa powers combined, and with the help of her suegra, we could tackle the most daunting dessert in all the land!

Here you have it, folks.  Flan, courtesy of Señora M:

Ingredients:

Flan:
1 can condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
4 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Caramel:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Directions:

Combine flan ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Sra. M cracking some eggs

Next, combine sugar and water in a medium pan over medium-high heat.  Do not over-stir.  Just make sure the entire mixture is the same color (no dry sugar allowed).

This next part is hard.  Just watch that pan and let it sit there.  Do not touch it.  While you are waiting, get a water bath going, as you would for cheesecake.

Sra. M's mother-in-law told us to "wait until you can smell it" or "until it turns golden brown."  Well, that's the kind of vague, mystical instructions that I feel most gringas can't handle.  I'm a scientist!  I need numbers!  I want exact amounts!  A few minutes later, we started to smell it, but it still wasn't the right color.  As we debated what to do next, the mixture magically changed color to golden brown...almost instantaneously.

Magic.

The boys can smell it.  Don't they look like meercats here?

That step is the trick.  If you get that part right, you're good.  Next, pour your new caramel into an ungreased loaf pan.  ¡Cuidado!  This stuff is hot!  Tip the loaf pan back and forth so that the caramel covers the entire bottom and as much of the sides as possible.  This is tricky too, because the caramel cools quickly.  It's much easier to move liquid around than it is to move molasses around, so try to work quickly.  Every time I've had flan with my future in-laws, it's round.  This was hard enough to get it in a loaf pan, and I think it would be much more difficult to cover a round pan effectively.

Our covered pan

Next, pour your flan batter over the caramel.  Place in a roasting pan and pour the water bath around it.  Place in the oven and bake at 400˚ for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

When it's done baking, it should look like this:

Yes.

Let it cool overnight in the fridge.  Serve it cold.

Custard's last stand...for it shall soon be eaten.

The Great Plantain Ripening Experiment

I've heard that you can get plantains to ripen faster by placing them in a brown paper bag with an apple.  I've also heard that you can get plantains to ripe faster by placing them in a brown paper bag with an orange.  Maybe I've been working on my research study too much, but I felt like experimenting last week.

the control, condition A (apple), and condition O (orange)

I didn't have any brown paper bags around, so I used these grocery bags from Trader Joe's and stapled closed.

1 week later: not much of a difference between the control and the two conditions

So there you have it.  A failed experiment that left me with nothing but an overripe orange.  In conclusion, you can't alter time.  That only works on Lost.

The Southern Belles' Midwest Invasion: Tres

What meal would be complete without dessert?  I've never made cheesecake before, and I have to admit I was a little intimidated with the water bath and whatnot.  You know what?  It turned out pretty darn good!

Chocolate Chunk Nutella Cheesecake
Source: adapted from La Fuji Mama

Crust:


Ingredients:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup ground almonds
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, softened to room temperature
1/3 cup cocoa

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In small mixing bowl, beat together ingredients until dough forms.  Press into springform pan.  Bake 12 minutes and cool completely.

Filling:

Ingredients:

3 8 oz. sticks of cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup Nutella
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Begin to boil a large pot of water.

Combine cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl and beat until smooth.  Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next.  Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula between each egg.

Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and Nutella and blend until smooth and creamy.  Stir in the chocolate chunks.

Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring air bubbles to the surface.  Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan.  If cheesecake is not airtight, cover the bottom securely with foil before adding the water!

Bake 45 minutes, until it is almost done.  Look for the cake to hold together but not have a lot of jiggle to it!  Turn the heat off, with the cake in the oven, and let cool for about an hour.  Chill in the fridge for several hours (at least 4).

Well, there you have it!  What are your favorite dishes to make for dinner parties?

By Request: Platanos Maduros

A plantain is a fruit that likes to impersonate a vegetable.  It's kind of like a banana mixed with a potato.  They can be served a million different ways (stay tuned for follow-up experiments), but one of the most common ways is sweet and fried (as though they were after my Southern heart).  They go great with just about everything, and it's guaranteed to dazzle dinner guests by introducing them to exotic flavors that they may not be accustomed to.  The best part is that it's really easy to make!

First, buy some plantains.  There is much debate surrounding yellow vs. green plantains.  I've found that green plantains are more savory and more difficult to peel, while yellow plantains are more sweet and easier to peel.  Regardless of your preference, you need to allow 5-7 days for the plantains to ripen.  The Spanish word maduros actually means ripe.  And we're not talking about a-few-brown-spots-ripe; these ain't bananas.  Your plantains need to be nearly black, like so:

To cook three large plantains, you will need 1/2 cup of canola oil and 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar.  You can make more or less plantains; my skillet just happens to hold three.

 

Next, peel your plantains.  Unfortunately, this isn't as easy as peeling a banana, but slicing off the tips is a good trick to get you started.  Once peeled, slice the plantain into 3/4-inch thick slices, on the bias.

                     

  

Pour the brown sugar into a small bowl and give the slices a toss in there.  You don't have to coat each slice in brown sugar as you would with flour when frying chicken.  Just a little dusting will suffice in order to improve the caramelization process.

Heat your oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Once it's good and hot, gently place your slices in the skillet.  The key to the cooking process is to be gentle.  If your plantains are as ripe as they should be, they'll be very delicate...and you don't want to mess up that pretty shape that you created with your perfect bias slices!  I've found that using plastic tongs helps (metal is too harsh and a plastic spatula is too cumbersome).

As your plantains cook, minimize contact between slices.  That brown sugar is going to make for a sticky situation.  You'll know it's time to flip them over when you can see the crispy caramelized bottom creeping up the sides of each slice.

When you flip them over, they should look just slightly crispy, like this:

 

La perrita gringa recognized this smell and, the eternal optimist that she is, truly believed that today was the day she would finally get to try platanos.  Wrong.

 

Once both sides are cooked evenly, place on paper to cool/get rid of some of the grease.  Make sure it's parchment or wax paper, and not paper towels.  Hey, I'm still learning too!

Have you ever had plantains before?  What's your favorite plantain dish?