Tag Mexican recipes

Parties That Cook Gives Santa Something New with Mexican Chocolate Chipotle Cookies

0 comments By The Kitchen Whisperer Filed in Entertaining, General, Menus & Recipes, News & Events Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , December 23rd, 2010 @ 3:58 pm

This week’s blog is dedicated to our favorite Gleekster, Brittany S. Pierce, who brings being blonde to a whole new (hilarious) level. Up until a couple of weeks ago, she still believed in Santa Claus! Now we can’t just let this holiday season slip by without giving you a new cookie to leave for the big guy. If you would rather not leave a plate out at night, feel free to give some of these scrumptious Mexican Chocolate Chipotle Cookies to your Secret Santa, that guy in the red suit at the mall, heck, even I WILL TAKE THEM! The spice in these cookies is not overwhelming –just enough of a kick to keep Santa on track for the rest of the night!

Mexican Chocolate Chipotle Cookies
This recipe can also be found in our Holiday Recipes Section!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground dried chipotle pepper (can sub. 1/8 teaspoon cayenne or smoked paprika)
6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup sugar crystals or can substitute granulated sugar
Parchment paper

Methods/Steps
Preheat oven to 325ºF.

Prepare Baking Sheet: Cut out parchment sheet to exactly fit the baking sheet.

Sift dry ingredients: In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, black pepper and chipotle pepper.

Cream Butter: Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar for 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until blended. Add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed just until incorporated (but don’t over mix).

Shape Dough: Shape the dough into a 12-inch log and wrap in parchment or plastic wrap. Put dough in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm the dough.
Put sugar crystals in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Roll the dough log in the sugar, pressing the sugar into the dough to coat the log evenly and thoroughly.

Make Cookies: Cut the log into slices ½-inch thick and bake on parchment-lined baking sheets until the cookies are no longer soft to the touch, about 10 minutes. Let them rest on the baking sheet for about 1 minute to firm them, then transfer to a rack with a metal spatula.

Serve: Cool completely, and serve cookies on a platter.
Serves/Makes

Serves 24

Check out our Holiday Recipes Section for similar recipes!

I mentioned the Parties That Cook Cookie Exchange in Tuesday’s post as a teaser for today. This cookie exchange photo recap is for those of you out there who, like me, take the holidays as a pass to bake and eat whatever your heart desires (or doesn’t desire, actually).
The Feast.

Bibby’s buttery cookies

Erin’s chocolate dipped macaroons

Traci’s macadamia nut, butter and cranberry cookies

Susanne’s key lime cups

Rosie’s coconut macaroon thumbprints
with homemade plum jam

Carolyn’s shortbread bars
with chocolate and nuts

Beth’s pinwheel cookies

Rebecca’s peanut butter blossoms

Michelene’s chocolate mint cookies

Erin’s chocolate turtles with pecan legs and chocolate shells
Yes, she made 2 kinds of cookies!

Cassandra’s chocolate butter cookies OF DEATH
Terribly delicious recipe courtesy of Paula Dean

Two late submissions did not get photographed, but were definitely worth the wait! Chef Jill stopped by with mint macadamia nut cookies, and Crissy brought in Mexican Wedding Cookies the next day! It was probably better to have some time between cookie binges. Overall, this Holiday Cookie Exchange was such a success! Not a bad cookie in sight. We even managed to avoid duplicates despite a rebellion against a proposed sign-up sheet. Though I sure am glad that we didn’t show up with ten varieties of chocolate and mint! Happy Holidays from Parties That Cook!

Culinary Tour of Mexico Part 2: Cooking Lesson with Reyna in San Miguel, Mexico

1 comment By The Kitchen Whisperer Filed in General, Menus & Recipes, Menus and Recipes Tagged with , , , , , , July 7th, 2009 @ 4:26 pm

I recently took a series of cooking classes while on vacation in San Miguel Mexico. My first cooking class was so much fun that I left wanting more. I chose a class in the home of a local San Miguel resident named Reyna.

Reyna picked me up at my hotel and drove me to her home which is about 15 minutes from the center of San Miguel.  At first, I was disappointed to find the whole class revolved around cactus (nopales).  But curiosity got the best of me when I saw that she was going to make a dessert out of cactus!

I had never worked with cactus before and was intrigued.  For years, I had seen it in the produce section at Whole Foods but shied away from it simply because I had no idea what to do with it.  When you buy it at the market, the prickles are still intact.  You have to carefully remove them by going the opposite direction with a sharp knife (you might even want to use thick rubber gloves or a plastic baggie to protect your hand).

Cleaning the Cactus

If the prickle is pointing to the right, cut underneath it going to the left.  Once all the prickles are removed, you can cut it into strips.  Inside is a gooey substance with the texture of aloe.  Sauté the strips in butter or olive oil until all of the liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes.  The cooked cactus has a meaty texture like a thick roasted pepper and a slightly acidic taste (like a Poblano chile topped with freshly squeezed lime juice).

We started the class with a refreshment called Agua de Jamaica (Ruby Red Hibiscus Flower Water) For a fun twist, Yolanda added red wine turning it into Sangria.  Hey I’m on vacation – why not have a morning cocktail!

Ruby Red Hibiscus Flower Water

We made 3 dishes using the cactus.  Ensalada de Nopalitos (Cactus Salad), Fajitas De Arranchera Y Nopales Cocidos En Molcajete Caliente (Flank Steak Strips and Cactus Cooked in a Hot Traditional Stone Mortar) and for dessert, Pastel de Nopal (Cactus Paddle Cake). A few fun cooking tricks I learned… coat the salad by putting olive oil in a spray bottle and spray the ingredients lightly.

Salad

For the Fajitas, she heated a large molcajete (mortar) up-side-down on a gas flame. Once heated, she turned it upright and the residual heat cooked the meat.

Meat Cooking in Molcajete

Lastly, she made the cake base in a blender and then transferred it to a mixing bowl where she added Aunt Jemima Pancake mix.  I gotta say, I was very skeptical about the texture and taste of this cake but it was light, fluffy and delicious.

Cactus Paddle Cake

Back in San Francisco, we are fortunate to have stores where we can easily get these ingredients so it should be easy for me to recreate these recipes. Take a local trip to Mexico by heading over to the Mission where these ingredients are on sale for half the price of Whole Foods! Check out:

La Palma Foods: http://www.lapalmafoods.com
Rincon Latino: http://www.rinconlatinosf.com
Casa Lucas Market: http://www.yelp.com/biz/casa-lucas-market-san-francisco-2#hrid:m4X3h6_4PoKx8zUkKz5XLw/src:search/query:latin%20markets

Walking through the markets makes me long for Mexico.  Can’t wait for my next trip!


Read more recent entries