A Gift from the Kitchen – Chocolate Fudge Sandwich Cookies

Holiday season used to be a pain for me. If the traffic jams and shopping madness weren’t enough, there are this events you can’t run away from, like the infamous OFFICE PARTY: too much to drink, to little to eat, and the consequent embarrassments that follows…

Not mentioning the secret santa, this fun game were you always lose, giving something great just to receive something, well, like a blouse too small for you, or a CD of some singer you don’t even like.

This year, however, everything is different: since my office has only one employee (me) there’s no office party, I’ve met all these great new people online and on Twitter (like Caroline from when adobo met feijoada, who was kind enough to send me a Martha Stewart Sweets magazine – any time now, Caroline!), and my secret santa was with food bloggers and crafters from all around the web.

I’ve made this sandwich cookies for my secret santa, who should receive his or her package tomorrow. I hope you like it, dear friend!

Chocolate Fudge Sandwich Cookies  (makes 40 ) – adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

This is another version of the now renowned homemade Oreos. I’ll share with you the chocolate fudge filling recipe, but you could fill the cookies with whatever strikes your fancy, like I did with some store-bought peanut butter and a dot of jam. Could be a dollop of Nutella, or dulce de leche, YUM…

For the Cookies

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup sugar, plus more for flattening the cookies
• 10 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg, room temperature

For the filling

• 1 cup dark chocolate, chopped
• 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter

Make the cookies

Preheat oven to 375° F. Into a bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of the electric mixer, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat to combine. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and beat until combined.

The recipe here asks to form balls with a 1 1/4-inch ice cream scoop, with I thought too much. I formed two teaspoon balls and flattened them onto parchment lined baking sheets, with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes or until they are firm. Let cool in the baking sheets over a wire rack.

Make the Filling

Melt chocolate in the microwave oven, in 30 second intervals, or over a double-boiler. Once it’s smooth, add butter and condensed milk, stirring to combine. Let cool.

Place the cream in a pastry bag fitted with a coupler (I used a ziploc bag) and pipe about 1 teaspoon of cream in the flat side of half of the cookies. Place remaining cookies on top, and press gently. Filled cookies can be stored in airtight containers for 2 days.

Ho Ho Ho – It’s Gingerbread Time!

I know I’m silly, but I spend the whole year looking at my Christmas cookie cutters: the gingerbread man, the reindeer, the tree, the snow flakes… well, all Santa’s GANG. And I sigh, thinking how much time there’s gonna be till I’ll get to use them again. When november comes, I just can’t help myself, and go straight to the kitchen to make gingerbread.

 

(soundtrack to get in the mood)

This is my Christmas tradition, so this is a perfect entry for the Flavor of the Month theme, which is… Traditions!

Every year I make gingerbread people for my friends, and a little gingerbread house I give to a special kid in my life I think is going to like it. It’s a little time-consuming, but a lot of fun to watch the reactions. I’ve had smiles of  joy,  jumps of excitement, and even an instant demolition from someone in a hurry to have a taste of the roof.

Honey Gingerbread Cookies (makes one small house or 25 six-inch cookies) – adapted from here

• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 large eggs
• 1/4 cups unsulfured molasses
• 1/2 cup honey

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.

In the electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, about one minute. Add molasses and honey and mix on low-speed, just to combine.

Add flour mixture and mix until all the flour is incorporated. Divide the batter in two and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 180°C/ 350°F. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick, and cut out using cookie cutters or a template for gingerbread house (this one from Martha Stewart is very pretty). Transfer the cookies to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and freeze for 15 minutes.

Bake until firm but not darkened (the time will depend on the cookie sizes). Transfer to a wire rack to cool before decorating.

For a really good royal icing recipe and step-by-step, check Bridget’s website, Bake at 350°, then you can see the other Flavor of the Month entries too.

 

The day I was featured on a magazine – Guava Roll Cake (Bolo de Rolo)

Yes, people, I was featured on a very important food/wine Brazilian magazine! It all happened because the columnist Marcelo Katsuki couldn’t find any Oreos around to buy, and they happen to be his favorite cookies… Of course I felt sorry for him (of all people, I can’t imagine living without my favorite cookies), so I sent him a tin of homemade Oreos. He must have liked them, because next I know here I am in the november issue of magazine Prazeres da Mesa:

The thing is, after the magazine was shown to everybody I know, including the news stand guy and the doorman in my building, I read the magazine cover to cover, and it is a GREAT issue.  The photos are fantastic, several great recipes and even an interview with Heston Blumenthal (see, Heston? We are magazine mates!).

But the story that really caught my attention was a beautifully written article about traditional northeastern (Pernambuco) Brazilian cakes. These cakes and sweets are so special they were even matter of  important sociological studies. There’s this one recipe, though, that is my all time favorite: the guava roll cake.

If you’ve never heard of it, let me try to explain: 13 layers of very thin buttery batter, baked very quickly, rolled with a Port wine and guava jam filling, served in very thin slices. For me, it’s one of the most delicate and gorgeous Brazilian sweets, and SO delicious you would become addicted to it.

It’s not an easy cake to put together, the one pictured here was my third attempt, and it’s not perfect. But I’m very happy with the results  because it had a taste of victory for me.

Guava Roll Cake/ Bolo de Rolo (adapted from Prazeres da Mesa magazine, November/2009)

Observations from someone who spent twi entire afternoons throwing fails away:

• The trickiest part of this is releasing the delicate layers from the baking sheets.
• Although the original recipe asks for a large baking sheet to bake the cake layers, I found it easier to deal with smaller pans, so I ended up with two smaller cakes (one of them filled with dulce de leche).
• As my friend Renato says, it’s crafty but not impossible to make this recipe. Just choose a day you are up for a challenge.
• If everything goes wrong, and you decide to throw the (kitchen) towel, just make little mounds (a teaspoon or two)  of the batter on a baking sheet, well spaced,  and bake for 8 to 10 minutes – you gonna have delicious cookies (you can fill them with guava jam…)
• It’s in Portuguese, but the blog Rainhas do Lar, has a great tutorial with pictures that might be useful.
• If you can’t find guava jam, you can substitute with any other jam, strained or processed.

Ingredients (for one 1,5 kg cake) – for measurement conversion, please check the calculator at the right side bar

For the guava filling

• 2 cups guava jam, or 1 tin of goiabada
• 3 tbsps Port wine

For the batter

• 250 g sugar
• 250 g butter
• 4 eggs
• 250 g all-purpose flour

Make the filling

In a bowl, mix the jam and the wine until smooth. If using goiabada, cut in little cubes and cook in a small pan with 1/4 cup water until it melts and gets liquid. Add the wine, stir and let cool before using.

Batter

Grease a large rimmed baking sheet with butter or cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Grease or spray the paper again.

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.

Place a clean kitchen cloth in a work surface and sprinkle generously with sugar. Reserve.

In the electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy and light. Add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition, about one minute. Add the flour and beat only until smooth.

With an offset spatula, spread a very thin layer of batter on the baking sheet. Make it the thinnest you can, but be careful it’s so thin you can see the bottom of the baking sheet.

This is a tricky part: bake for 3 to 5 minutes only. You want a baked but not golden or dry cake layer, otherwise it will not be flexible enough to roll without breaking.

After many lost layers, I found that its easier to release the layer if you let it rest for a minute or two in the pan. Turn the pan on the prepared cloth and peel the parchment carefully. Spread a very thin layer of guava filling and using the cloth, roll the cake.

Now… you do that  all over again! Place a new parchment on the baking sheet, spread the batter, bake and unmold.

After spreading the filling, put the already rolled cake over the new layer and roll again. Repeat this process until you finish the batter.

Wrap finished cake in parchment paper, close the ends like a candy and let it rest in the refrigerator for one day.  Trim the ends and serve at room temperature in thin slices.

Pear Walnut Muffins

When I started writing this post, I intended to talk about how easy this recipe is, how I love baking with pears, and how I decided to make these muffins in a lazy afternoon. But the truth is, while I was baking these, I couldn’t stop giggling about the employee of this cafe I used to go.

The place was very plain, nothing remarkable about the food or anything, I used to go there because it was near my office and they had nice muffins to go with the coffee. The only peculiar thing about it is if you ask for a muffin there, the  employee will look at you like you are a weirdo and reply  “You mean a MURPHY, right?”.

Of course, I live in Brazil, we speak Portuguese here, and, like I said to my friend Hilda, I catch myself talking very bad Borat style English sometimes. What I find very curious is the fact that more and more English terms are becoming part of our lives, and they can be totally transformed into more familiar sounds to our ears.

Just the other day, a friend emailed me a picture he took in a bakery that sells pretzels, and a little tag announced proudly: “PREDSONS”. Isn’t it just delicious?

Pear Walnut “MURPHYS” with Streusel Topping (makes 12 muffins)

This recipe is adapted from a pear walnut cake recipe from Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once. Very juicy from the pear bits, with a delicious walnut crunch, they are even better the day after they are baked.

Ingredients (For measurement conversions, look for the calculator on the right side bar.):

• 2 to 3 pears (used 2 Bartlet), peeled and cut into chunks
• 80 grams walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 250 grams plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (optional)
• 180 grams sugar
• 125 grams melted butter, cooled
• 2 large eggs
• 100ml milk

For the streusel topping

• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup plain flour
• 30 grams cold butter, cut in bits

Make the streusel

In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar and flour. Add the butter and rub with your fingers until the mixture resembles corse meal, with smaller and larger clumps. Reserve in the refrigerator while making the batter.

Make the muffin batter

Preheat  oven to 180°C/ 350°F. Butter a 12 cup muffin pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and nutmeg.

In a smaller bowl, mix eggs and milk.

Add pear chunks and walnuts to the flour mixture and toss with your fingers. Add the milk/egg mixture and the melted butter and stir with a spatula or wooden spoon until all the flour is incorporated. Divide the batter evenly between the cups and top with the streusel.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

Perfect for the Holidays, don’t you think?

Dona Palmira’s delicious pumpkin and coconut jam

Better late than never, here goes my entry, Bridget…
Pumpkin! When this month’s theme was announced, I knew I had to make the most popular dessert in Brazil – doce de abóbora com coco.

I had a hard time trying to figure out a name in English for it. Is it a compote? A preserve? Pumpkin in syrup?  With some help from my twitter friends, we came to the conclusion it’s a pumpkin/coconut jam or marmalade. Here in Brazil it’s eaten by itself, as a spoon dessert, sometimes served with fresh white cheese, and that’s the way I know it since… forever. If you asked me to get all creative, I think it would be delicious as a cake or cupcake filling, spread on a brioche toast or even as a waffle topping, why not?

Pumpkin and Coconut Jam (adapted from TV Culinária)

• 2 lb/ 1 kg pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and cut in cubes
• 1 lb/ 500g sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 cloves
• 1/2 cup grated coconut

In a large pan, mix pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon sticks and cloves. Cook over medium heat, always stirring, until the pumpkin starts to release juices and moist the sugar. Lower the heat to minimum and let cook, stirring every know and then, until the pumpkin turns into a paste, and a syrup has formed, 35 to 40 minutes. Add the coconut  and cook for 10 minutes more. Let cool and keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a week.

To the followers – Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Cinnamon/Almond twist

How curious: when I started this humble blog, I thought it would be a place where my costumers could see some photos of my work.  Next, I was writing about my life and thoughts, both in Portuguese and ENGLISH (what was I thinking). Oddly, a few readers started to live comments. Then I replied to the comments, and started a dialog with these people I’ve never met – real friends I miss when I’m not online. Not mentioning the crazy lady who hates me and leaves insulting comments every new post. Gotta love her. Everything very surprising to me.

And then, Twitter came into my life. You must have heard of it by now, right?  It’s that place where your name starts with a @ (I’m @thecookieshop there), people follow you, you follow people, and everybody thinks out loud in 140 characters.  Sometimes someone pays attention to something you say and reply or repeat to others with the letters RT in front of the sentence. I’m still trying to figure it out, though.

The thing became so popular, real celebrities are thinking out loud there. Ya know, Demi Moore’s family and stuff. What you don’t know is that the anchorman of the most famous newscast program in Brazil is on Twitter, and he asks his followers to choose the tie he’ll wear on TV everyday. Yes: he posts a twitpic of three different ties and the followers choose #1 #2 or #3.  Surreal? I think so.

If he can do it, why can’t I? So I asked my followers if they’d like a cake or a cookie recipe for this post, and they chose cookie, so cookie it is. I feel obliged to make one thing clear, though: if you want to follow me, that’s fine, but I have no idea where I’m going, ok?

Dorie Greenspan’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours) – makes 45 to 50

I have this book for a long time, made a bunch of the recipes, but had never tried the choc chip cookies yet. They are really, really delicious, thin, crisp on the edges and chewy in the middle, just perfect in texture. My twist was spice them up a bit with cinnamon instead of vanilla, and almonds substituting the walnuts, which I think worked pretty well, and made the whole thing kind of a chic cookie. These are best eaten the day they are made, and bestest still warm from the oven.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup/ 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp.
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (or 2 tsp ground cinnamon)
• 12 oz./340g chopped dark chocolate/ chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I used almonds)

Preheat oven to 375° F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl. With the electric mixer, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well (1 or 2 minutes) after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture, in three additions, only until smooth. Stir in the chopped chocolate and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 1 minute; carefully remove with a spatula to wire racks to cool completely.

Halloween Special – Dark Chocolate Rats and Eye Balls

In the dark of night, while everybody else was asleep… in the witch’s secret lab a very ghoulish ritual was taking place… A thousand human eyes were about to be thrown in a boiling cauldron, and an army of black rats was in its way to invade the streets and innocent people’s houses… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (click for sinister laughter)

All right, all right, I’m not THAT good in horror stories, sorry.

Halloween is around the corner and, although it’s not a tradition here in Brazil, has been celebrated more and more (just because it’s too much fun). Personally, I think the horror theme is great for parties any day, so prepare your horseshoe, garlic heads, iron stakes, knock three times on wood and learn how to make the terrifying…

“Dark” chocolate rats and human eye balls

With a very firm ganache, you can make both rats and eyes. The rats were inspired by the book  The Secret Life of Food, by Clare Crespo, which I love and recommend. This recipe makes 6 to 8 rats or 12 to 15 eye balls.

Ingredients for the ganache base

• 150g/5.3 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 tbsp (30ml) heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
• pinch of ground ginger (optional)

For the rats

• 1 cup cocoa powder
• silver dragèes (for the eyes)
• pink confetti sprinkles (nose)
• whole almonds (ears)
• brown paper or licorice strings (tail) *UPDATE: Our reader M. Chitwood left a great suggestion on the comments for the tails: candied orange peel, dipped in chocolate. Sounds perfect to me!

For the eye balls

• 350g/ 12.3 oz white chocolate or white candy melts
• green gum paste
• black confetti sprinkles

Make the ganache

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or microwave oven in 30 sec. intervals. Add the cream and spices and whisk well untill smooth. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Rats:

Slice the almonds in half. Place the cocoa powder in a bowl.

Using 2 tbsp portions of ganache, roll balls, then form “drop” shapes. Roll in cocoa and repeat with all the ganache.

Press the silver dragèes for eyes, one pink confetti for nose and two almond slices for ears. Place in paper liners and put the tails, or arrange in a box for gift giving. Just don’t forget to make a few holes in the box, so the rats can breath….

Eye balls

Roll out a small portion of green gum paste, as thinly as possible. Cut out circles with a 1-inch cookie cutter or pastry tip.

With the chilled ganache, form two teaspoon portion balls.

Melt and temper the white chocolate, or melt the candy wafers. Dip each ball in the chocolate, place in a large sheet of parchment paper, and then place a gum paste circle in the top of each ball, before the chocolate sets. With a toothpick, drop a small amount of melted chocolate in the center of the gum paste circle and glue the black confetti. Let set and put in paper liners.

Serve in pairs (kidding)

Whatcha looking at?

* No animals or people were hurt in the making of this post

A very pink birthday/ part 2 – Hello Kitty mission

Global financial crisis and all, birthday party at school is a great solution to celebrate low budget – all the best friends are already there, you know the party will be short and there won’t be any adults to feed

I’ve told you my kiddo is this pink girlie patch, so of course her favorite character has to be… Hello Kitty, who else? No complaints, cause I can’t resist the cuteness, either.

Her school asks the parents to bring simple cakes, without fillings or too much frosting. I chose the anthill pink cupcakes, then – the cake is moist and flavorful by itself.

For the Kitty toppers, I baked some sugar cookies (recipe here) and covered with store bought rolled fondant. I “glued” the fondant with a thin layer of corn syrup, brushed on the cookies. Use the same cookie cutter to cut the cookie dough and the fondant. You can cover the cookies with royal icing as well, letting it dry for 12 to 24 hours. If you don’t have a HK cookie cutter, please check this fabulous tutorial here.

I draw the kitten face with food coloring pens, after let the fondant sit for a few hours and cut some little flowers to the “hair”.

The rest of the menu: sfihas, cheese rolls and mini vegetable pastries. For drinks, apple juice.

But the real fun was the favor making. I made round stickers in the Photoshop using this font, and labeled chinese food boxes.

Inside the box:

• a little princess tiara
• mini soap bubble kit
• Hello Kitty Stickers
• a bag of pink mini meringues (homemade, and I made other label to seal the bags)
• a bigger HK cookie
• a little bag of heart chocolate candy

Brigadeiros

I don’t know if you are aware of this essential info, but here in Brazil it’s not a real birthday party without brigadeiros – a chocolate fudgy candy ball, rolled in chocolate jimmies. They are cute and delicious, but very very sweet, so we make them in very small size (maybe one-teaspoon portions).

Ingredients

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 tbsp butter

Mix all ingredients in a nonstick pan. Cook over medium fire, always stirring, until it boils. Reduce to low and cook, still stirring, until the mixture thickens and starts to pull from the sides and bottom of the pan (about 8 to 10 minutes).

Transfer to a bowl and let cool completely.

With your hands lightly greased with butter, form small balls and roll in chocolate jimmies. Arrange the candies in small paper liners. I put one little heart quinn in each brigadeiro, for girlie purposes.

http://thecookieshop.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/brincando-com-a-comida-iv/

A very pink birthday/ part 1 – The Strawberry Cake

So weird – It’s been already two years since I brought home that beautiful, tiny baby in my arms, with no clue how my life would be as a mom.

It was like that, in a blink of an eye, that she turned into this funny little girl who loves pink and her ballerina dress, twirling and laughing til falling down.

For her first birthday someone gave her a cake play set, with a pink birthday cake, plastic strawberries and fake candles – it became her favorite toy, and she spent the whole year throwing parties and singing “Happy Birthday” to her dolls.

Of course I could make no other than a pink cake for her second birthday, a replica of her toy. Couldn’t have chosen better: you should have seen her face looking at the cake that came true…

Helena’s Birthday Cake

For the Yellow Cake

• 150g/ 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs separated
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 180°C/ 350°. Butter two 20cm/ 9-inch round pans with butter, and dust with flour.

In a large bowl, sift together the cornstarch, flour and baking powder. Set aside.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the yolks, one by one, and the vanilla, and beat well after each addition.

Add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk. Finish with the flour. Beat until smooth. Add the egg whites and fold in the batter gently.

Divide the batter between the pans and bake for 35 minutes, or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the cakes comes out clean. Let cool over a wire rack completely to unmold.

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream (adapted from here)

• 3 egg whites
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 200g/ 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
• 1 cup strawberry jam, pureéd in a food processor
• pink food coloring (optional)

Place sugar and egg whites in the heat-proof bowl of an electric mixer. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are hot to the touch, about 3 minutes (if you have a candy thermometer, it should mark 71°C/ 160°F).

In a stand mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until mixture has cooled completely and formed stiff and glossy peaks, about 10 minutes.

Add the butter, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated after each addition. Don’t worry if the buttercream appears curdled after all the butter has been added; it will become smooth again with continued beating.

Switch to the paddle attachment, and beat in the jam and the food coloring until smooth. If using buttercream within several hours, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature in a cool environment. Or transfer to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator, up to 3 days. Before using, bring buttercream to room temperature, and beat on the lowest speed with the paddle attachment until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Filling

• 3 cups strawberries
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
• 240ml/ 1 cup very cold heavy cream

Reserve some strawberries for decoration. Cut the rest of the in half and toss in a bowl with 1/2 cup sugar. Let stand for 30-40 minutes to release juices.

Meanwhile, beat the cream with the remaining 2 tbsp sugar until soft peaks form.

Assembling

Level the cakes, cutting off any round tops. In the serving plate, place one of them and brush the strawberry juices. Arrange the sweetened strawberries over the cake, and cover with the whipped cream.

Place the other cake over the cream, frost with the buttercream and decorate with the whole strawberries.

Next post… A very pink birthday/ part 2: Hello Kitty Mission

It’s alive! – Dulce de Leche Flan

Time here has been short – and so will be the story today:

My hubby’s all times favorite dessert are in fact two: flan and dulce de leche.  He likes flan and dulce de leche so badly, he frequently eats both together – the custard completely drowned in the caramel colored sauce. Tell me about a sweet tooth.

Since I’m all about making people happy, I decided to try a little Dr. Dessert Frankenstein experiment, and put the two things together in one creature – the dulce de leche flan. All I can say to you is: “It’s alive!” -  silky, creamy, and the dulce de leche flavor is all there, only in flan form.

Of course Xandoca had to add an extra spoonful of dulce the leche, for “aesthetic purposes”. Ok, if you say so.

What about you: which desserts would you mix together in one “creature”?

Dulce de Leche Flan

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 790g/ 2 1/2 cups dulce de leche
• 1 cup milk
• 6 yolks
• 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

Caramelize a 20cm/ nine-inch round or tube pan:

Cook the sugar in a saucepan until it’s melted and light amber in color. While it’s hot, pour the caramel in the pan and try to distribute it  to the bottom and sides with a wooden spoon, before it hardens. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 200°C/ 390° F. Place there a large rimmed baking sheet and fill halfway through with hot water.

In a blender, place all the remaining ingredients and beat on high speed until well blended. Pour the mixture in the prepared pan and cover with foil. Place the pan in the baking sheet and bake for 2 hours, or until it’s slightly firm. If the water dries in the meantime, complete with some more.

Let cool and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Run a knife through the flan sides to lose it and turn the flan in a plate. You can heat the bottom of the pan in the stove for a few seconds to melt the caramel a bit.  Serve cold.