Dulce de Heaven.. uh, I mean Leche

I've recently learned to make alfajores (the Uruguayan type) and so have been obsessed with finding/making the perfect filling for them... dulce de leche. For those of you unfortunate souls who have never had the opportunity to enjoy this sumptuous treat, my condolences. Dulce de leche is like caramel but SO much better! It's spreadable or you can eat if right off the spoon if you prefer, which I do! SO so good... seriously.

Anyway, the best dulce de leche in the world is this stuff:

My family in Uruguay owns part of the company, so I may just be a teeeensy bit partial, but still... most of Uruguay will agree with me, this is the best of the best!

Since I can't get that here, I've tried a few alternatives. The first was a ready-made dulce de leche my mom told me about. She warned it it would never live up to my expectations, but I decided to try it out.  This stuff:

She was right, it fell way below the bar... In consistency its just about right, but the flavor is all wrong. Yuck.

I started looking online for easy to make homemade recipes, knowing that the traditional way of making it was going to be a pain. If all else failed I would have to do it, but there was still another option left to try. Tinkering with this stuff:

If you pour this out into a pie plate and bake it long enough, it turns into ooey-gooey caramel! While it was good tasting caramel (seriously good) it didn't taste exactly like the dulce de leche I love. Consistency turned out pretty close though.

Alas, after all these failures, the time had come to go the whole hog! I was rather hopeful but still dreading the process, as I've watched many of my aunts and family friends spend long hours over the stove making this stuff. My dad tried it once... it wasn't pretty... The disaster stories had been enough to deter me until now, but when you're on the quest for the Holy Grail of dulce de leche, you just have to do what you have to do, right? So I rolled up my sleeves and got to work:

 

This is about an hour in. Basically just whole milk, sugar, vanilla beans, and baking soda bubbling away.

 This is 2 hours in... notice the slight color change!

This is 3 hours in... definite color change now! Starting to thicken up.

 This is 4 hours in... crucial point when timing is everything. The longer it boils at this stage, the thicker it will be. However, let it go too long and it will harden as candy, NOT what you want...though it would taste great!

 TADA... the finished product! As you can see (or maybe you can't, I don't know... depends on how you like your DDL) I didn't let it boil long enough, GRRRR!!! It's got the consistency of pourable caramel. I was aiming for thicker (like spread) but I was afraid if I let it boil any longer (4 1/2 hours seems like an eternity when you're hovering over a pot constantly stirring) it would be rock hard when it cooled. Alas, I chickened out. However, the flavor is SPOT ON!!! Hallelujah! 

So... the verdict? Homemade is definitely worth it when it comes to taste! I bet if I did this enough times I could get the consistency down really well too, but since this takes about 5 hours to make, it's hard to know when I'll next be able to make another batch.... I won't be able to use this for my alfajores, but it will make for some good toast-spreading delight! :)

Caramel Corn Disaster!

My sister-in-law Tiffany makes the BEST caramel popcorn. So good that I dream about eating it on occasion... seriously. Today was one of those days and so I decided to try my hand at caramel popcorn making... after all, how hard could it be, right?

I should have just called her and asked for the recipe...

Instead, I just went to one of my go-to cooking websites, Our Best Bites thinking all caramel popcorn recipes would be the same, minus the added bells and whistles like nuts, etc. The recipe in itself wasn't difficult to follow but things just didn't turn out quite right... first the sugar seemed to be overcooked ( I followed the exact time... I believe my microwave's "high" is a lot higher then hers) and then when I added the baking soda it turned the wrong consistency. ( marshmallow jet-puff instead of thick yet pourable) I plugged on, hoping it would be alright in the end. However, instead of being soft and gooey it got rock solid before I was even able to get it mixed in well. By the time I was done, it had hardened into a huge ball of not so yummyness. I could have cracked someone's skull open with it... not to mention some teeth, so with not much coaxing from Ben, into the trash it went. *sigh*

I then decided to try another recipe altogether. One that calls for you to melt everything on the stovetop rather than our crazy microwave. I was surprised to see how much these recipes varied! (I was happy to see that this one didn't call for baking soda) I am about 90% happy with this recipe. It turned out gooey and soft like I wanted it too but we'll see how it hold up overnight. If it's still soft tomorrow I will consider it a success.

Tiff's definitely tastes better though... I will still have to beg her for it!

ByeBye Carrabas :(

Yesterday was my birthday, and so Ben wanted to take me out to dinner at my favorite restaurant, Carrabas. I was sooooo excited, we haven't been there in months (probably closer to a year, actually) since we've been on the Dave Ramsey plan, paying off debt and whatnot. Anyway, so I'm just estatic, right? I was already imagining all the nummies I was going to eat... (their Mezzaluna is just esquisite!)
On our way up there, we stopped by Ben's parents' house and when they asked where we were going to eat and we said, "Carrabas!" thats when my whole day was ruined...

"But they closed down."

............. WHAT?!?!?!

*sigh*

I guess we have no choice but to make the 2 hour trip to Tulsa now, since that's the only place Carrabas still exists here in OK. Back in the day when the OKC location wasn't open, we'd take long weekend trips up there mainly for that. Oh, the lengths I'll go to for some good Italian food... I just hope we can make it up there before the Tulsa one closes down too! :/

Other than that, my b-day was relatively uneventful. We had our first assessment at work and I scored a 96%, woohoo! (Who likes to take tests on their birthday, ugh!) Ben came up for lunch (yay!) and after I got over the shock and grief of no Carrabas, we had a nice dinner at Texas Roadhouse. :)

Food so good, it'll make your dog sing!

One of the reasons it is sometimes a challenge to have 3 pups is that finding a kind of dogfood that they ALL like(and can keep down) is nearly impossible! Sirius is our "picky eater" (odd, you might think, seeing as how he's the fat one!) and Mini is our "sensitive tummy." I think we've tried almost every brand/type of food out there and we have FINALLY found one that all 3 enjoy and can keep in their tummies! Ironically, it happens to be PetSmart's off-brand DIET food! Sirius actually likes it, its amazing!

Now, about the singing... Mini has started doing this really funny thing every time we feed them this new food. She gets all excited and then when she approaches the bowl, she quiets down and starts "singing" to herself! It's hard to describe, but its like a "hmmmmmmmmm hmmm hmmmm hmmmmmmmmmmmm hmmm hmmm hmmmmmmmmmmmm..." So I guess "humming" is the better word, but you get the idea. It's HILLARIOUS! She does this every time, without fail! It's really quiet, but sometimes you can even catch it between bites.

Ahh, good times, good times! ;)

Argh, I hate baking failures!

So I was making a batch of Kolacky cookies today for our work lunch tomorrow and they were a complete disaster! I don't know why... I followed the recipe to the T! I baked the first bunch and when I took them out, already they just looked a bit sketchy... After they cooled off I tasted one and all I can say is BLEGH! I altered the second batch in hopes that they'd turn out better but oh no... still BLEGH! I scrapped the 3rd batch and gave up... Guess I'll just bake a boring old box-cake. *Sigh* I hate being so boring... oh well, so much for experimenting!

Marshmallow Fondant- How To!

Here is the LINK to a very helpful website that gives you not only the recipe, but also a pretty detailed tutorial complete with pictures. Good luck and have fun!!!
Oh and just a few tips from me that I wish had been in that tutorial... when working with this fondant, keeping it the "right" temperature is the key! If its gets too cold/hard it will crack and not roll out well. To fix that, stick it in the microwave for increments of 5 seconds, until its softer and easier to knead/roll. CAUTION: Remember, this is 1/2 marshmallow, and when marshmallows get hot they turn into GOO! Overheat this stuff and you'll have a gooey glob... IF that happens, no worries, set it down for a few minutes, it will firm up again. Also, grease your hands (Crisco) and then cornstarch them, it will help keep the MMF from sticking to you.
Alrighty people, get baking! :)

Hey Duff, got any openings?

As many of you know, I'm a Food Network junkie. One of my absolute favorite shows is "Ace of Cakes" which is about Charm City Cakes, a famous bakery in Baltimore that makes crazy cakes! I have long been harboring a deep dark secret which is: if we were rich and didn't have to worry about paying our mortgage, bills,debt etc., I'd quit my job in a heartbeat and run off to culinary school to become a pastry chef! I've always loved baking and working with sweets, so working at a bakery such as CCC (or having my own!) would be pretty dang cool, if you asked me!

Back to reality though... unfortunately I can't quit my day job to become a crazy cake maker and compete in Food Network "Extreme Cake Challanges" so in the meanwhile, I've decided to take the self-taught road and just see where that takes me. Its fun, its messy, and above all... its SO yummy! I absolutely LOVE cake!

Yesterday I decided to try my hand at decorating a cake in MMF (Marshmallow Fondant.) It was a BLAST! Really really sticky, tricky, and frustrating, but I did it!!! I survived! My cake survived! Granted, the fondant tore here and there and its not exactly Ace of Cakes worthy... BUT its edible and looks pretty dang good for a first try, if I do say so myself! (I really am very pleased with myself, if you couldn't tell!) Ben and I stayed up to almost 2 AM getting this little sucker all done (yes, you read right... 2AM!) and when I woke up this morning I was very pleased to see that it hadn't cracked, settled funny, or fallen apart during the night! (This is a very common problem for begginers in the world of fondant) Oh, and cudos to Ben, the best fondant roller and leaf cutter in the world!

So... without further ado... presenting... MY EASTER CAKE! :)

Hooray for Summer!

Not so much because of the heat... but because of all the yummyness that comes up out of the ground at this time of year. One such reminder of this was today when one of our patients came in and announced that he had brought everyone some freshly picked squashes from his garden! (No, not as payment!) Yummy, ripe, yellow squashes- homegrown! Very cool. I got about 6 of them to bring home and had some for dinner, oh yuuuuuuuum. ;) Not sure I'll be saying this after my 5th or 6th day of consecutive squash-eating, but we can't let them go to waste, now can we? So anyway... hooray for summer and all her nummy bounties!

Not to toot my own horn or anything...

BUT man, I made one mean batch of garbanzo beans Monday night! We had some leftovers and decided to have something else last night and then finish up the leftovers tonight. However, all I've been thinking of since Monday night was those garbanzos... yesterday it was a struggle to not go in the fridge and eat them all up. This morning I just couldn't handle it anymore... they were calling out to me! I tried to just eat cereal, but to no avail, my tummy would not be appeased... and so, I did the unthinkable... cold garbanzo beans... for breakfast.... yuuuuuuuum! ;)

C is for cookie...

A terrible thing has happened to me today... I've lost my cookies. (Lost, people, NOT tossed... thanks to Shannon, I now know the importance of stating that clearly, heehee...) When I packed my lunch there was a bag of cookies present... when I walked out to the car, there was a bag of cookies present... but alas, when I arrived at work and reached over to pick up the said cookies... they were gone.
Somehow, somewhere between home and work my delectable little morsels of chocolatey yumminess vanished! How? When? Who took them? I have no idea... I even checked under the seats... no cookies. I think I have an invisable Cookie Monster living in my car... *sigh*

Edible Heaven

Behold... the alfajor! Here is my favorite version of it, the merengue covered kind. Tonight I ate my last one and now I am in a state of mourning... who knows when will be the next time I have the pleasure of biting into this scrumptious treat... *sigh*

Happy New Year!

So the holidays are over and here we are at the start of a new year. Today I had my first (of many, I'm sure) "ah crud" moments when you write out the date and realize the year is wrong because its no longer 200_, its now 200_+1! January is quite annoying because of that every year! Maybe I'll start writing 2008 on everything next December to prepare me for the switch next year... oh wait, that won't work- dang it!
My mom was down here for Christmas and New Years and it was quite fun! The house had to be *perfect* and so the days leading up to this momentous visit were full of last minute cleaning, organizing, and panicking! But alas, all turned out well and we had a grand ol' time! Along with presents (ooh!ooh! I have a creme brulee set now, ramekins, blowtorch and all!) she also brought some tasty treats that I can't find anywhere here. Sad thing about Oklahoma is that its not very diverse... well, unless you're Mexican. Lots of shops and international markets here for those of that heritage and culture, but nothing-zip-nada if you're of any other decent. Uruguayan and Colombian cuisines are absolutely NOTHING like Mexican so I am forced to rely on my mom to bring/send me yummy treats and condiments to cook with.
One such treat were my Alfajores! They are traditional Uruguayan cookie things that have Dulce De Leche (caramel) in the middle and are dipped in chocolate or merengue powder... mmm mmm gooooooood! Ben hates them (too sweet for him) which means more for ME! She also brought me my favorite Italian cookies! No, I'm not Italian, but Uruguay's cuisine and culture is very much Italian influenced b/c thats where pretty much everyones' ancestors are from, if not from Spain. And living in NYC there are scrumpdidlyumptious Italian bakeries everywhere and oh my gosh, I love their food!!! By the way, Shannon, did you read my comment on your Chimichurri entry? Its good stuff, very common in Uruguay too!
Now my mom is gone and although I miss her, I am glad to have life go back to normal. Its nice not to have to play hostess all the time and well, I know we're boring, so I'm sure she's glad to be home too. Sirius misses her quite a bit and goes to the guest room and lays on her bed and cries every morning, its quite a sad site to behold.