Pumpkin Pie

I forgot to take a picture of the pumpkin pie. It's a Paula Deen recipe and I followed it exactly. It was delicious and was quickly devoured by my family. It was a bit soft and after reading some of the reviews some people stated that instead of 2 cups of canned pumpkin it should be 2 cans. I may try it with 2 cans next time to see if it's firmer. But it was still amazing.

Pumpkin Pie

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups canned pumpkin, mashed
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, optional
• 1 piece pre-made pie dough
• whipped cream, for topping

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place 1 piece of pre-made pie dough down into a (9-inch) pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Put the pie shell back into the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, if using, and beat until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream.

Apple Cake

As I was scrolling through my Google Reader I came upon a recipe for Easy Apple Cake from one of my favorite baking blogs Bakerella. I am not much of a baker at all but when I saw this recipe I knew it was something I could pull off. Besides, I still have about 50 lbs of apples left!

Let me give you some fair warning that this cake is rich. Very rich. I love my sweets and could easily devour half of a cake on my own but even I had to stop at one piece.

I am quite sure that this cake would be just as delicious without the topping if you should so desire. I happen to love butter so I totally went for it and poured every last drop all over the cake. Was that necessary? Probably not.



But look at that cake. I wish that I was a better photographer because my lame-o pictures don't do this cake justice. You can see the bits of apples and dates....yum! You can even see how the yummy buttery topping glistens on the top and seeps down into the cake. Bakerella has better pictures. I'm just helping to spread the word!

Easy Apple Cake

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups oil
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups diced apples
1 cup chopped dates rolled in flour
1 cup chopped walnuts

Topping
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and cinnamon with a wire whisk and set aside.
3. Combine sugar and oil using a mixer until blended.
4. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing until combined.
5. Add flour mixture and mix well.
6. Stir in nuts, dates and apples. The batter will be very thick.
7. Pour into a greased and floured 9 X 13 pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until done.
8. Cool cake and using a skewer, poke holes in cake.
9. Cook topping ingredients on stove until mixture bubbles.
10. Pour topping over cake letting some seep into the cake.

Tres Leches Cake

I can still remember the first time I ate tres leches cake. We were in Charlotte, NC visiting my brother and sister in law and we had stopped at some place to eat what they claimed to be some awesome chicken. Yes, the chicken was really good but what they didn't tell us was how AMAZING the tres leches cake was.

That was about 4 years ago and I'm still thinking about it.

I have tried several other versions when I happen to see it on the menu and while they have been good I still longed for the cake from Charlotte.

Alberto's birthday was yesterday and I decided that I wanted to make him tres leches cake. I searched online for some recipes and even considered a couple of different recipes from some blogs that I follow. The only thing stopping me was that the cakes were made from scratch. I am not a baker. I decided to post on my local message board and lucked out with a recipe that started with a box mix.

My verdict: So, so, so good!!! You can, of course, make a sponge cake from scratch and I bet that it would be great. But if you're not a baker go ahead and use a box mix. I promise that I won't tell.

I baked my cake in a glass 9x13 baking dish. I left the cake in there and poured all of the milk mixture over the cake. It's going to look like too much. But have no fear. All of it will be absorbed into the cake. I promise. Some of the blog recipes that I was considering using suggested reserving a cup of the mixture to be used in coffee. Not a bad idea. One even had the nerve to suggest using only 1 cup of the mix and discarding the rest. I quickly closed out that tab. Use it all. Every.last.drop. You won't be sorry.




Tres Leches Cakes

Ingredients

• prepared yellow cake, cooled
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 can condensed milk
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• maraschino cherries to garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Using a fork, pierce holes all over the top of the cake.
2. Mix together 1 cup of heavy cream, evaporated milk and condensed milk.
3. Pour ALL of the milk mixture over the cake. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour until the mixture is absorbed into the cake.
   
4. In a bowl, beat remaining cup of heavy cream, sugar and vanilla at medium speed until it thickens.
   
5. Spread whipped cream over the cake cover and continue to refrigerate for a few hours but preferably overnight.
   

Strawberry Cake

Happy 4th of July!!

The babies are napping and while I am enjoying a cup of coffee I decided to share the recipe for a yummy Strawberry Cake that I made for a bbq at my dad's house yesterday.

I receive emails from kraftrecipes.com and as soon as I saw this cake I knew that I had to make it.



It was really easy to make and I wish that I had decorated it with some fresh strawberries right away instead of waiting. Yup, you guessed it, the strawberries were eaten. Oh well, it was still delicious.

The only thing that I do question on the recipe is the amount of oil vs water. I wonder if it's a typo. I made it exactly as the recipe states and it turned out great but I think that next time I will make it with less oil.

Strawberry Cake

Ingredients

1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix

1 pkg. (3 oz.) JELL-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin

4 eggs

1 cup oil

1/4 cup water

1 cup mashed fresh strawberries, divided

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

Directions

HEAT oven to 350°F.

COMBINE cake mix and dry gelatin mix in large bowl. Add eggs, oil, water and 3/4 cup strawberries; beat with mixer until well blended. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-inch round pans.

BAKE 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans 10 min. Remove from pans to wire racks; cool completely. Meanwhile, drain remaining strawberries.

BEAT cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in sugar. Add drained berries; mix well. Whisk in COOL WHIP. Stack cake layers on plate, spreading 1 cup COOL WHIP mixture between layers. Frost top and side with remaining COOL WHIP mixture. Keep refrigerated.

Happy Holidays!!

I hope that everyone enjoyed their holidays. I know that we did. It was very low key but that's how I like it. I cooked dinner and spent Christmas Eve with Alberto, Stephanie, Eva, my father, my sister Kristina, my stepmother, my brother Fran and Alberto's daughter Julieta. This year Alex spent Christmas Eve with her father and I picked her up in the morning.

For dinner I made pernil (roasted pork shoulder) and arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas) and for dessert we had dulce de leche cheesecake. YUM!!!

The links above will bring you to the actual recipes I used. What I posted below reflect any changes that I made to any of the recipes.

Roast Pork Shoulder (Pernil al Horno)

Ingredients

1 bone-in, skin-on pork shoulder (mine was 7 1/2 lbs)

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp. minced garlic, or 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tsp. adobo with pepper

2 tsp. lemon juice

2 packets Sazon with coriander and annatto

1 tsp. oregano

¼ tsp. ground black pepper

1 tsp. salt

Directions

1.	In a bowl, mix together the olive oil, garlic, adobo, lemon juice, sazon, oregano and black pepper; set aside.
2.	Using a small, sharp knife, make a cut on the side of the roast where the skin meats the flesh. Continue cutting, separating the skin from the flesh, leaving one end of the skin attached. Using the knife, make ½” deep incisions in the flesh, under the skin. Place the pork on a tray. Using your hands, rub spice mixture over flesh, pushing some of the mixture into the cuts. Place the skin on top of meat; wipe the skin clean. Rub skin with salt. Cover tray with plastic wrap; transfer to refrigerator to marinate at least 4 hours, or overnight.
3.	Heat oven to 350°F. Transfer pork, skin side-up, to roasting pan; bring to room temperature, about 1 hour. Pat skin dry. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil. Cook pork until meat is fork-tender and internal temperature registers 145°F, about 2 1/2 hours; discard foil. Increase oven to 450°F. Cook pork, uncovered, adding water in ¼ cup measures if pan becomes dry, until skin is brown and crisp, 20 - 35 minutes, checking pan every 10 minutes.
4.	Transfer pork to cutting board; let rest 20 minutes. Remove skin and cut into pieces.

Crispy, Crunchy Chicharrón After cutting the skin off the pork, if you find the skin isn’t as crispy as you’d like, simply transfer it to a foil-lined baking sheet, increase the oven temperature to broil, and cook, rotating the pan once, until crisp, about 10 minutes. Then, discard foil and oil. My verdict: So freaking good!! Next time I will take more time in making slits in the meat and shoving more of the marinade inside and instead of marinading overnight I will do it for 2 nights.

Arroz con Gandules (Rice with Pigeon Peas)

Ingredients

• 6 tbsp Goya Sofrito
  
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 packets of Sazon with coriander & annatto
  
• 3 cups uncooked rice
• 1 (15 ounce) cans pigeon peas, drained
• 5 cups boiling water

Directions

1. Place 3 tablespoons olive oil and 6 tablespoons sofrito in an 8 quart saucepan. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes to release oils.
   
2. Pour one can of tomato sauce and the Spanish seasoning packet into the saucepan, mix well. Add 3 cups rice to the mixture and stir until the rice is coated.
   
3. Stir pigeon peas into the mixture and add boiling water. Cover the pot with aluminum foil and a pot lid. Reduce heat to simmer and cook about 25 - 35 minutes or until rice is tender.

My verdict: It was good but a little bland. I think that next time I will season it with some Adobo. The original recipe called for 15 oz of tomato sauce but upon reading some reviews I decided to use 8 oz and I'm glad that I did. I also only used 1 can of pigeon peas because I only bought 1 can. I think it was fine. Also keep an eye on the rice. The original recipe says to cook for 45 minutes so I left the kitchen to put on my make up and the rice started to burn. Thankfully only the bottom was burned and it didn't affect the taste of the rest of the rice. Turn off the flame even if you still see a bit of liquid. Keep the lid on for a bit and it will absorb into the rice.

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

Ingredients

1 pkg. (7 oz) Goya Maria cookies

1/2 cup butter, melted

4 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened

1 can (14 oz.) 50% less sugar sweetened condensed milk

4 eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 bottle (14 oz. – 15.8 oz.) dulce de leche, divided

Directions

1.	Heat oven to 325ºF. Place cookies in bowl of food processor. Pulse 30 seconds, or until finely ground. (Or, place cookies in zip-top bag and using the bottom of a heavy skillet, pound cookies until finely crushed); transfer cookie crumbs to bowl (there should be about 2 cups). Add butter, stirring until combined. Transfer cookie mixture to 9” spring form pan. Using your fingers, press cookie crumbs evenly onto bottom and sides of pan. Bake until firm and fragrant, 7 – 10 minutes; cool.
2.	In bowl of electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add condensed milk; beat until smooth, 1 minute. Beat in eggs, vanilla and 3 tbsp. dulce de leche until combined, 3 minutes. Pour filling into prepared crust. Bake until golden brown and set, but still wiggly in the middle, 45 – 55 minutes. Turn off oven; partially open oven door. Let cake sit in oven until room temperature, about 1 hour. Transfer cake to refrigerator; cool completely at least 4 hours.
3.	Remove cheesecake from pan. Place remaining dulce de leche in zip-top bag. Using scissors, snip small hole in corner of bag. Applying even pressure on “pastry bag,” make swirly designs on top of cake; slice and serve. My verdict: YUM, YUM YUM!! The only thing I did differently was to not add the dulce de leche on top. I cut the hole too big on the bag so I ended up just squirting some on the plate.