Tipsy Sombreros

[pistachio]

Good morning!

For my upcoming birthday I would like to have a little Mexican-style party with around 25 guests. Since there is a lot of food to cook I would like to prepare a part of the dessert a bit in advance.

Here is my idea:

I thought Sombrero-shaped muffins might be a cute idea. I would like to bake fruit muffins (e.g. with rum or tequila), cut the top off, scratch a bit of the dough out and partly fill them with a flavoured pudding. On top I would put a strawberry.

Here is my dilemma:

If I cut the top off the edges of the hat/muffin will dry up. If I put in the pudding filling the middle part of the muffin will get soggy.

I thought about putting a sugar or jam glaze on top of the muffin (after cutting before filling in the pudding) to prevent both at once. Do you think this could help?

Do you have any better/other/additional ideas concerning this problem or for the party in general? How much in advance could I prepare this dessert?

Yours,

Bine.

[Wendy DeBord]

If you are open to help, I'd like to suggest a different dessert. Mainly because-muffins are not a Mexican pastry and although I like the fact that your looking to do something visually cute for audience appeal.... I think you might find more 'wow's going down another more authnetic path.

Two of the most popular/well known Mexican desserts are flan and 3 milks cake. Both of these can be done in advance and are delicious. If you don't own individual ramikins flan can be baked in one large pan. You also can flambee it for a little 'wow'...after it's unmolded you pour liquour over the top and hit it with a match, it looks cool in a dark room.

But 3 milks cake would be the item I would choose to make in advance. The cake can be baked weeks in advance, then frozen. Take the cake out and let it defrost on the counter for 3 days (not covered in plastic wrap) to really dry out the cake. You mix up the 3 milks (which is rediculously easy, and it has a little liquour in it too) and pour it over the cake the morning you want to serve it. To decorate you can pipe whip cream on top and use exotic fruits to garnish.

If you want something cute how about decorated sugar cookies...theres alot of really colorful and fun images you could do.

Or if your not being a slave to making everything yourself....believe it or not I saw Churros in the freezer section at my local grocery store-serve them with the flan.

A another idea....you deep fry flour tortilas and while they are hot sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar. Serve this with ice cream (several flavors would work well)and caramel/duce de leache sauce.

Do you have a Mexican grocery store in your area? You might be able to buy (very in-expensively) some of the items you were going to make. You could make you b-day celebration a little less work -no harm in having fun on your day. For visuals there are many in-expensive decorations available to brighten your decor (from pinytas, to paper lanterns, flags, serrapas or serve a h.d. in a sombrero) or use the exotic fruits you see at your Mexican grocery store in bowls as centerpieces-turn your friends onto something new.

[pistachio]

Thank you very much for your response, Sinclair. I come from Germany and in my region there are no Mexican specialty stores available. I still can get nice decorations, but as for the food I will have to do it by myself.

I was aware of the fact that it wasn't an authentic dessert - just thought it might be a funny eye-catcher. I also wanted to serve Mexican brownies with a Tequila-Vanilla sauce. Is that not original either?

The frozen cake sounds good. I looked up a recipe which mentions several kinds of milk. Both consensed and evaporated milk are listed as ingredients. What is the difference? (i looked it up in the dictionary - but both translated to the same)

hasta luego,

bine.

[Wendy DeBord]

Ah telling me more about yourself I see you probably aren't as exposed to Mexican food as we are in the States....I'm actually supprised-I thought there were Mexican grocery stores everywhere in the world, because they are in all the bigger cities and their surrounding suburbs in the US. I guess I'm pretty nieve (so I learned something about Germany tonight).

Well there are times when you can play off a theme and not follow authentic foods. I think for example your mexican brownies is a good idea. I just personally don't find interest in the muffin concept....I don't think of a mufffin as dessert (in the States it's more of a breakfast item). Also I think you should do one authentic item otherwise is a faux Mexican meal.

But perhaps I'm miss understanding what you mean by a muffin. A muffin where I live is a dense cake similar (usually the same batter) to a fruit bread usually pretty loaded with calories, it often has fruits or chocolate chip in it. When you write "muffin", do you mean a cake or a small fruit bread?

To clarify, the 3 milks cake involves using all 3 milks, sweetened condensed, heavy cream and evaporated milk (do not use just 1 of these). The 3 are mixed together and poured over a dry sponge cake. This sweetens the sponge cake and makes the cake very moist.

Freezing this is something you can do ahead of time, but your not serving it as a frozen cold cake. I highly reccomend you trying this, it's so easy and it's pretty good too.

Sweetened condensed milk is very thick and sweet. Evaporated milk is thin and not sweet. Heavy cream is rich and somewhat thick. These types of milk are each different and can not be used interchangably.

[pistachio]

Even though - or just for the sake of risking heavy critique I would like to give you my "buffet list". It would be nice if you could comment on it.

Having a couple of authentic items will be nice - but i don't mind to offer some others too. I need to feed around 30 people (international mix) more or less on a student budget

---------- Platillos principales ----------

*Chili con carne (ground beef, jalapenos:I don't get many other kinds, vegetables,..)

*Empanadas with spinach and cheese (cottage or cream)

- are they rather from Argentina? i also read some articles about Mexican empanadas; that's why I thought it might be ok and I need a vegetarian dish which can be served cold and be prepared in advanced

*Chicken legs (lower part - don't know the technical term in English) with chili-honey salsa / dip

+Salad, Tacco Chips, Guacamole

----------- POSTRES -----------

*Mexican Flan (maybe chocolate/cinnamon version ?)

*Fruit salad

We also have very "light" muffins. What do you think of a variation of the "tres leches" cake. Mini-sponge cakes (baked in muffin shape), soaked with the three milk mixture? This way I could still make the sombreros... And people could eat it as finger food.

---------- DRINKS ----------

* Margaritas

* Agua loco (crazy water - got the recipe from a Mexican girl)

* Softdrinks

----------- ----------- -----------

Comments? Outrage? Suggestions?

Thank you very much for every input!

Pistachio

[pistachio]

Of course we have a wide variety of ethnic specialty stores - even in smaller towns, but rather from Asian/South or Eastern European/African countries.

On our international campus many students get their spices sent directly from their home countries.

In the big cities the choice is better - but I don't think I gonna make such a grocery trip for my little birthday celebration

[sandra]

pistachio,

considering you are in Germany, this menu is quite ambitious! I know what it is like not being able to get Mexican items - here in London I have 1 store and it is a hike! even so, there are no fresh items, everything is canned or bottled, even the tortillas are frozen... oh well, it's better than nothing, I suppose...

as for your menu, it sounds very nice...

Chilli con Carne, I would make some rice to go with it...it's more Tex-Mex, but it will pass nicely...

Empanadas, more of a latin thing, but they can be found anywhere - in Mexico we tend to do them more as desserts, but yours sound nice...

To serve along with the guacamole and chips you can also make a quick salsa with chopped tomatoes, onions, coriander (cilantro), jalapenos and lime juice.

I have a recipe for a coffee flan if you would like that, or a version that uses condensed milk and produces a firmer flan which is easier to make (blender) and serve...

The tres leches cake - it's not exactly Mexican, but it can pass, it's originally from Central America, Ecuador, venezuela, Honduras, but it does taste nice, I have never tried making it in individual portions, so not sure how it would come out...

I do like your sombrero muffin idea - I think the glaze would work to keep the edges from drying out, but I would not do the filling until before serving.

What's in the Agua Loca?

As an extra idea, you could also make some Chilaquiles - basically this is a dish that is served for breakfast but also at parties, it's layered tortilla chips with a tomato based sauce, sour cream, cheese and sometimes chicken, like a Mexican lasagna-type-thing....

Buen provecho!

[pistachio]

Hi Sandra,

thank you very much for your response and information. i found it hard to get information on the internet where the various meals originate from, since so many sources contradict each other.

The agua loca might not be traditional, but it was a standard drink for parties prepared by our former Mexican exchange students - not so fancy, but ok for the occassion:

It is a mix of 3-4 different alcoholic beverages (e.g. Tequila, Vodka, Rum - a bottle each) and about 15-20 liters of water.

Effervescent powder of your favourite taste is to be stirred in (they told me Mango - but we don't get that here - we took orange etc.) and several cans of fruit cocktail should be added (or fresh fruits).

It tastes primarily like water with a light fruity flavour - not too sweet, which is nice.

Alternatively I could make a sangria. (?)

As for the food listed above, I have a rough idea about the quantities, but if someone could give me advice how to estimate it, I would be very happy.

besito,

pistachio