Tiramisu

Ironically, for my first post in a very long time I'm adding a recipe that is neither mine, nor have I ever made it.

Easy Chocolate Mousse

I first searched for this recipe over two years ago when I needed a quick mousse to make, probably for having guests over. I've been dying to add to my blog because I use it all the time and because it's different than other types of mousse, at least the ones I've seen here in Portugal.

Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies

It’s week two of December and time for another round of Christmas cookies. These next ones are the perfect sugar cookies for cutouts. With the use of an actual vanilla bean to make the dough they have lots of flavor as opposed to the plain sugar cookie cutouts you’re probably used to.

Sandwich Cookies for Christmas

Warning: If you make these cookies you’ll probably end up making them every year for the rest of your life.

Double Layer Stout Cake with Chocolate Buttercream

Apparently, November 26th, is National Cake Day. Who knew?

I have no clue why and I am especially unsure why they would put this holiday anywhere near Thanksgiving, but that’s no excuse for not participating. And if you do, make this cake.

Apple Cake

I knew my mother was setting the bar high when she said someone proposed to her over this cake.

It was something of a joke, tossed out as “I will marry whoever made this cake”.  Regardless, it should be taken as a sign that 1) my mom is amazing baker and 2) this is a damn good cake.  So while no proposals emerged from my production of this cake, it still received lots of high marks from my friends for being moist and yet crunchy on top.

Orange Sour Cream Cake

It was an important evening for the Memeoirs crew.  After months of hard work at the Tech Peaks accelerator, they’d finally released the newest version of their amazing site which allows you to create a book from your emails.  If you’re an emailer, or know one, definitely check it out (www.memeoirs.com)!

To celebrate the new release we were having dinner at Ivan and Simone’s place (other Tech Peakers) and I knew that I should make a dessert.  I had some oranges on hand, leftover from something I’d wanted to make but never got around to, and decide to repurpose them for this recipe.

Fresh Fig Tart

I realize I haven't written in over three months, but this afternoon, as I searched for a recipe I hope to make soon, I remembered one of the reasons why I actually started this food blog.  I wanted a convenient way to recall the recipes I really liked and want to make again.  For me, it comes in handy that I can just type in the name of my blog, go to the Recipe Box where all the recipes I’ve ever posted are listed, and find what I’m looking for.  Now, I’ll add this delicious fig tart to the list.

More than a month ago we took a trip to Vicenza, to Giacomo’s parents house, to find a bounty of fruit and vegetables, all ripe for the picking.  The fruits, at this time, were the ones most begging to be picked and none more so than the dark delicious figs that hung from two tall trees next to the house.

Easter Surprise Cookies!

I can’t believe it’s almost Easter!  How did that happen?  It’s coming up in less than 2 weeks now so I’ve decided to pre-empt the Easter season and give you all this great recipe to try.

Cookie Dough Dip

The Superbowl. What is it all about to Americans? Obviously, eating. You thought I was going to say football, right? Well it’s not. At least not for this American. I’ve never been a huge fan of football but thanks to my good friend Kyle, I at least now know the logistics and can understand the game. But the food remains the most important part.

Chocolate Swirl Cheescake Brownies

I first made this recipe with Omar.  They were for a party we were going to and Chris, who could not be there, insisted that there would be a subset of people specifically looking for me just to see what I had made. I laughed at him but it turns out that he wasn’t too far off.

The 50th Post! (Chocolate Mudslide Cookies)

Report: first chocolate craving of the day
time: 9:58 am.
Solution: 3 chocolate chip cookies
resolved: 10:01am

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes with Homemade Marmalade

After making margaritas the other day I realized that we have triple sec just sitting around. By we I mean my friends whose house I bake at on a frequent basis. Minor correction. My friends had triple sec sitting around and who knew when we were going to make margaritas again. Too much lime squeezing for poor Migs to merit making them all the time.

Tres leches cake

It’s funny, I’ve heard Tres leches cake talked about often as a Mexican dessert, but before coming to Chile I can’t say I remember ever eating it.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I’ve gotten into something of a routine since coming here to Chile and as you can see from this post, it’s not always the healthiest.

Saturdays are my day to go to the market.  There I buy all the ingredients I need to cook for the week and a few extra things to do some baking for my friends.  This particular weekend was special, however.  My friend Chris had just returned from a trip to the States and aside from bringing me all the things I’d asked my mom to mail to his house, he brought me a couple surprises.

Cupcookies

Not cupcakes, not cookies, yes you read that right, cupcookies.

Lemon Sugar Cookies

A few weekends ago it was a fabulous day in Santiago, not simply because of the weather, though it was a fairly nice winter day, but because a day at the market produced the most wonderful results.  On a Saturday, I finally managed to make it out of the house at a reasonable hour, meaning there was time to go to La Vega Central, the huge fruit, vegetable, and all purpose market in the center of the city.

Pastéis de Nata (Portuguese custard tarts)

Now that I’ve graduated, now that I have my diploma in hand and I’m in the workplace, I can admit to the world what I’ve already admitted to most of my friends. I used my final presentation for Portuguese as an excuse to bake.

Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding)

Rounding out my El Comidista meal of Summer Lasagna, Roasted cauliflower and carrots with orange, and Quinoa salad with avocado and lima beans, I decided to divert from the theme a bit and make Arroz con Leche.  It’s a super easy, tasty dessert which won’t break the bank to make (especially important to me now in Chile).  The only thing I might have to worry about is super picky arroz con leche eaters, though I confess I don’t have too many Latino friends here who might be offended by my less than perfect arroz con leche.

While still a cold dish for my Comidista meal, I found this recipe not on Mikel López Iturriaga’s blog, but in my stash from the cooking school I had gone to in Madrid and from which emerged other delicious Spanish foods like, Tortilla de Patata.  I made this dish earlier in the school year for my first cook in my coop and not really been happy with the result, so I decided to make it again for this cook.  I also wanted to surprise my friend who loves arroz con leche.  While I was still not entirely pleased with the result (I need to make it a bit thinner for it to be true arroz con leche) I was glad to see that my friends really enjoyed it.

However, in order to find the desired consistency next time, I plan to follow the advice of Smitten Kitchen.  She suggests you cook this until a certain amount of liquid has been absorbed, I’d say all but 20 percent, and as it cools it will thicken.  This is especially true when you cool it in the fridge, which I recommend doing along with making it the night before.  That way, the arroz con leche has time to both thicken and cool down so the next day you're not waiting to serve your dessert.  As a final tip, I suggest using a very large pot for this recipe so the milk doesn’t accidentally boil over while the lid is on.  Just a piece of advice which I learned from experience...

Arroz con Leche or Rice Pudding (adapted and translated from Cocina Cayena)

Ingredients:
1 cup arborio rice (or other short grain rice)
5 cups of whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup of sugar
1 lemon peel
1 orange peel
1 cinnamon stick
ground cinnamon (for garnish)

Directions:
1) In a large pot, heat the milk, cream, sugar, the lemon and orange peel, and the cinnamon stick.
2) Once the milk boils, add the rice and let it simmer for about 20 minutes with the lid on, until the rice is tender.
3) Remove the lid and allow the rice to cool and absorb the rest of the milk and cream
4) Remove the lemon and orange peel, and cinnamon stick. Divide into individual bowls or cups. Top with ground cinnamon and serve.

Butterballs (also Mexican Wedding Cakes or Russian Teacakes)

At the end of last quarter one of my friends was having a pretty hectic cook in our co-op and I decided to help him out a bit by making dessert.  Knowing that we didn't have a lot of ingredients left at the end of the quarter I decided to go for a super simple cookie which would be quick to make.  So I made these.  It seems to have been a pretty great decision.