Mexican sweets

[kalypso]

Darienne, I think those reviews are on Chowhound where I post under the screen name DiningDiva. I believe I posted them in Home Cooking. Here's one of the links

I think there is another thread, but I can't find it.

[Darienne]

Thanks for the link, kalypso. Found it.

Today's production was something simple, but still delicious. Right in tune with my current discovery of the taste of piloncillo. So amazingly complex. Makes brown sugar look like a mere piker.

Nogada de Nuez / Piloncillo Candied Pecans from Fany Gerson's My Sweet Mexico.

Out they go tomorrow.

[kalypso]

I made the Tomatillo & Lime Jam Darienne mentioned above, yummy, tho' I thought it tasted more of lime than tomatillo. It was very good.

I made the empanada dough recipe from the Empanadas de Jitomate in My Sweet Mexic and used the jam as the filling. I did not egg/cream wash them before baking, I did glaze them with a powdered sugar and lime glaze after they had cooled. Fantastic, I'd make them again in a heartbeat.

[Darienne]

Received my copy of Fany Gerson's Paletas and made my first paletas: "paletas de coco rapidas" . A bit soft...new to us freezer may be able to be adjusted...a bit too sweet for me...I'm not much for sweet, my DH is not too much for tangy...I like lime: he likes sweet cream. However, still delicious.

It's a very sweet, creamy pop. Contains coconut milk, condensed milk, & half and half. No water or juice. Might explain why it is so sweet and not frozen very hard. Next I'll try the lime which is condensed, half& half, but with a good wallop of lime juice too. Should freeze more solidly.

[Darienne]

Have not made the lime paletas yet but have made the coconut again with great success and praise, including a few with Tequila added.

Then made the recipe straight into ice cream which worked out well, adding sufficient Tequila to please the grown up faction.

I found the entire ice pop event a bit too fiddly, the making, the careful placing in our always crowded freezers, and the decanting. Then just yesterday I FINALLY located some small 3 oz plastic cups...the kind the dental hygienist gives you to take a sip and spit...and with popsicle sticks, at least the decanting will be given over to the one who takes the pop only, and one at a time. I am speaking crowd control here. Plus you don't have to keep track of those piddly little plastic cover and stick thingies.

I have two sets of ice pops given to two sets of friends and now they have to make sure I get back all the stick thingies. Nuisance. Green, but a nuisance.

[threestars]

I tried a Mexican sweets just once all my life. I never get the name of that sweet but I liked it.

[Darienne]

I tried a Mexican sweets just once all my life. I never get the name of that sweet but I liked it.

Give us a description and someone...not me I wouldn't guess...will be able to tell you what it was.

[Jaymes]

Have not made the lime paletas yet but have made the coconut again with great success and praise, including a few with Tequila added.

Then made the recipe straight into ice cream which worked out well, adding sufficient Tequila to please the grown up faction.

I found the entire ice pop event a bit too fiddly, the making, the careful placing in our always crowded freezers, and the decanting. Then just yesterday I FINALLY located some small 3 oz plastic cups...the kind the dental hygienist gives you to take a sip and spit...and with popsicle sticks, at least the decanting will be given over to the one who takes the pop only, and one at a time. I am speaking crowd control here. Plus you don't have to keep track of those piddly little plastic cover and stick thingies.

I have two sets of ice pops given to two sets of friends and now they have to make sure I get back all the stick thingies. Nuisance. Green, but a nuisance.

The presentation might be a little too "retro," but if you recall the olden days (and I'm pretty sure you do), you might remember that the moms made popsickles in those aluminum ice trays. You buy some popsickle sticks, pour your mixture into the ice tray, pop a stick into each square, put the whole thing into your freezer. When it's solid, you just take out the tray and give that lever a lift. And voila, popsickles.

[Darienne]

The presentation might be a little too "retro," but if you recall the olden days (and I'm pretty sure you do), you might remember that the moms made popsickles in those aluminum ice trays. You buy some popsickle sticks, pour your mixture into the ice tray, pop a stick into each square, put the whole thing into your freezer. When it's solid, you just take out the tray and give that lever a lift. And voila, popsickles.

Nothing is too retro for this old lady, but seeing as I have a specific popsicle need for the Dog Weekend, and don't own any old fashioned ice cube trays...heck I grew up with an ice box...my current solution will probably do. I'll find a way to steady all the Dixie type cups for pouring and freezing (or get the 'guy' who is steadier than I am) to pour and then folks can get the popsicles for themselves and I don't need to bag them or decant them or anything.

You know when you are hosting a large event, with as many dogs which has a whole other set of considerations, you need to have everyone as able as possible to get coffee, beer, popsicles, etc, as much as possible. For one thing, you ALWAYS have those types who 'need help' as in 'I don't mean to bother you but...' 'here I come bothering you for another thing which I could have asked someone else for or looked for and found myself, yadda, yadda'. Notice how invariably they don't help to clear stuff up.

So the popsicles can be stashed in the garage, in the dog freezer, and thems what wants 'em, can get 'em.

And...we won't have melting extras hanging around.

Edited August 4, 2011 by Darienne (log)

[rancho_gordo]

Fany Gerson, who wrote My Sweet Mexico and Paletas, will be signing books at the Rancho Gordo store in Napa this Saturday from 2p-5pm. We'll also have Brian Streeter from Cakebread Cellars (author of the Cakebread Cellars American Harvest Cookbook) and we'll have snacks and Cakebread wine. Free and of course you can just come and meet Fany and Brian. Both are muy swell folks. 1924 Yajome Street.

[Darienne]

I am intending to make Palanquetas with panela and have found a number of recipes. Fany Gerson speaks of making them with honey or piloncillo, but her recipe calls for plain white sugar and corn syrup of all things.

Can I just slot in panela?

Does anyone have a tried and true recipe? Thanks.

[Darienne]

Well, the Palenquetas are made, and I subbed dark brown Piloncillo for white sugar. But then I added a bit more butter and a bit more nuts. And because Gerson's recipe called for cooking the white sugar until it was a golden caramel color...which I could hardly do, starting out with very dark sugar...I cooked until it was 135 degrees C and then poured it out. I picked 135 because it was in between what another palenqueta recipe called for at 117 and a toffee recipe called for at 145. Didn't know what else to do...

Turned out magnificently. Have already eaten far too much. Taking it tomorrow to my 'finally it's come' Mexican cooking class with a bona fide Mexican chef.

[Darienne]

Made the palanquetas a second time, but this time made them with an 'Indian' touch, using pistachios in the mix and ground cardamom. I adore cardamom in desserts. My Indian dentist loved them.

Today I went a step further. PanaCan who lives in Ecuador and just finished her wonderful blog, sent me a recipe for an Ecuadorian candy made with panela called Dulce de Mani.

As usual, making something for the first time, I screwed it up. Cooked it too long, thinking I was making a brittle...which I wasn't...and then after forming them into the called for balls, realized you could break your teeth almost chomping through the thickness of said balls.

So put the balls into the microwave and flattened them all into patties which is fine for brittle.

I think what I'll do in future is use a brittle recipe, with the Ecuadorian additions: roasted peanuts, lime juice and lots of finely shredded ginger.

The ginger is amazing! Thanks PanaCan.

[Genkinaonna]

Wow...that looks amazing! I'm planning on doing a canela and pepita brittle as a garnish for one of my thanksgiving desserts...I need to see if I can track down some panela. Oh no, I have to go shopping at interesting food stores...woe is me ...

[Darienne]

Found this recipe on Pati Jinich, Pati's Mexican Table for Salami de Chocolate. How strange and unusual I thought. Never heard of such a thing before.

...except that it's not originally Mexican at all...but rather Portuguese. And it's made pretty much everywhere in South America. And there are lots of recipes for it. All pretty much the same with minor variations.

So I made it. Ed loved it. Our friend Dawn agreed with me that it basically seemed to have no point. It's good...but...? Maybe I didn't get it right...

[Darienne]

24 hours later, straight out of the freezer sliced...I think it might just taste better today. My recipe didn't say anything about 'time' or 'ripening'...?