España Style Hot Chocolate

There is nothing that compares to a hot chocolate in Spain. Churros con chocolate after wandering around a beautiful city. Perhaps Barcelona, Madrid or Sevilla? Regardless of where you go in Spain, if you go in the winter time, you will try their churros and you will try their hot chocolate! You will most likely fall in love with both. :)

They do hot chocolate very differently from how we do in the United States, or from how I've tasted in Venezuela. It is a much more decadent affair. The chocolate is thicker, a bit darker and amazing in taste. Also, because of the richness of this version, a small cup is the perfect amount!

As usual, I am always on the look out for recipes to recreate culinary experiences I have tasted over seas. This recipe hits the mark perfectly! A big thank you to May I Have That Recipe for providing the basis.

Enjoy.

Ingredients:

5 Tbsp of high quality cocoa powder (I use Trader Joe's brand or Ghiradelli)

3 Tbsp of sugar

1/2 Tbsp of cornstarch 

1 tsp of vanilla

1 cup of water

Recipe:

Combine cocoa powder, sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Pour cold water, vanilla and cocoa mixture into a small pot and start cooking over medium low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk. Continue cooking and whisking until chocolate thickens. Then turn off heat and serve immediately in two cups.

** A note on using milk:

I tried this recipe once with milk and it did not come out as good! Use water, trust me on this one. It seems counterintuitive, but if you use milk, it comes out much more like a pudding. You'll enjoy a much more authentic and delicious experience sticking with water. 

Perfectly Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 pepper

*any other spices you may like
Possible extras:
honey and cinnamon to bring out sweetness
or
garlic powder, cayenne pepper, thyme


Instructions:

Wash and scrub the sweet potatoes, then pat dry. Cut each sweet potato in half, then each half in 4 and each 1/4 into little cubes. Place all other ingredients (olive oil, salt, pepper, and any extras) in a plastic bag, mix it up. Then place sweet potato cubes in bag and mix around to make sure each cubes is fully coated.

Prepare baking dish with parchment paper, then dump sweet potato cubes in baking dish, drizzling any left over mix on top.

Place in oven at 375 F for 25-30 mins until crispy, flipping half-way through to get both sides golden.

Pan Dulce (Sweet Bread Recipe)

In Venezuela, we call this sweet bread -- Pan Dulce. It's typically eaten in the morning or mid afternoon with a cafecito. Or, with a glass of milk.

Ever since I was a little girl, this was one of my favorite treats to get in Caracas when I visited my family in Venezuela. They sell them freshly made in all of the bakeries around the city, called panaderias. 

For years, I had tried to find a recipe that might replicate the delicious soft, sweet and delicate nature of this bread, but I had never found one, until now. I will forever be grateful to the blog Living in Alabama because she gave me a recipe that I was able to use here in the United States, and the results were perfect!

Here I leave you the recipe in English.

Enjoy!! :)

Ingredients

1 cup of cold buttermilk (mix one Tbsp of white vinegar in a cup of milk and let sit for 5 mins)

4 tbsp of butter (room temperature) - I used Kerry Gold

1 egg (room temp)

3 1/4 cups of Bread Flour (If you only have All Purpose, this is fine too!)

1/3 cup of sugar

1 tsp of salt

1/4 tsp of baking powder

1 packet of ActiveDry Yeast

Directions

I'll be using a bread machine to make the dough, but if you don't have one can always kneed by hand!

If you have a bread maker machine...

Pour each of the ingredients into the bread maker in the same order that they appear in the list of ingredients. Then choose the "sweet" bread option on the bread machine.

Once the dough has come together and made a ball, turn off the machine and let the dough rest for about an hour. Let the dough double in size.

Now, we remove the dough from the bread maker, and with melted butter or a butter spray, we put some butter on our hands and begin pulling pieces of the dough apart forming balls about double the size of a ping pong ball. Place the balls in a glass pyrex (13x9 or so), leaving some room in between the dough and the edges of the pyrex. About 15 balls should form.

Cover the pyrex with a damp towel and let the dough rest for about another hour, letting the dough grow again. You will know the dough is ready when you can lightly press into the dough and it does not make an intent with your finger.

If this happens, the dough is ready to go into the oven! Place the pyrex in the preheated oven at 375 F, for 12 mins. 

At 12 mins remove the pyrex and check the sides and bottom of the glass to see how the golden color is forming. If you like it darker place it back in the oven for 3 more mins. If not, paint the bread with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar on top. Then pop in the oven for 1 more min.

Then its done!! Remove from the oven and enjoy! :)

Of course you might want to wait a couple mins to cool down, but I think its still best enjoyed warm.

Let me know in the comments or on my Instagram if you have any questions. Or if you tried it out for yourself send me a picture! :) I'd love to see how it came out.

xo

First Place Slider Recipe!

So a little while ago, I won my first chef's competition! :)

Can you see that smile?? I was really excited. It was a "Slider Throwdown" that my college put on and a good friend of mine really pushed me to do it. I was pretty hesitant but went anyways and I'm so glad that I did! I think a lot of times we have to push ourselves to get just a bit outside our comfort zone and that is where some really awesome things start happening. And sometimes we need a smart friend to be the one to do that pushing ;)

It's a pretty simple list of ingredients that comes together quickly but the flavors together make for something more complex and definitely more exciting than your typical hamburger.

Without further ado.... here is the winning recipe!

Ingredients:
Hamburger Bun
Guacamole (Avocado, Tzatziki, Hot Sauce)
Ground Turkey Burger
Provolone Cheese
Spicy Mustard
Honey Mustard
Bacon
Roasted Red Peppers

Assembly Process:
The first layer is the bottom hamburger bun.
On top of the bottom bun will go your guacamole mixture. I had a limited number of options for ingredients in the competition and so I made what I can only refer to as a guacamole of sorts by mashing the avocado and then adding some tzatziki sauce for a cooling aspect and a little bit of hot sauce to give the guac a subtle kick.
Next goes the cooked turkey patty.
On top of that melt some provolone cheese.
On top of the melted provolone cheese, add a small dollop of spicy mustard and a small dollop of honey mustard of equal amounts.
Next goes about two slices of bacon, and then on top of that maybe three roasted red peppers.
Finally place your top bun!

Enjoy! :)


Also, as I mentioned before, this was a sliders competition... so everything was mini! But this tastes just as good, if not even better in its full sized form :)

If you try this recipe out, let me know in the comments how you liked the recipe!

Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce

This is a recipe that I had been wanting to try for a long time. I had seen it circulating on pinterest and while it looked pretty delicious in the pictures I saw... I was still very skeptical about the taste. I mean... an alfredo sauce made out of vegetables... was it really even possible? and the answer is YES! Absolutely possible and absolutely delicious, although don't go into expecting that it will taste identical to normal alfredo sauce, because it won't it's its own taste for sure but a really yummy one.
So without further or do, here is the recipe! :)

Ingredients:
1 large head of cauliflower (about 5-6 cups of cauliflower florets)
7 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of olive oil
6-7 cups of vegetable broth
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 cup of milk, heated
pinch of cumin

Recipe:

First sauté the minced garlic in some olive oil over medium low heat in a saucepan. Take care to move the garlic around frequently in the pan so that it does not burn. Once the garlic is translucent, turn off the heat and place the sautéed garlic aside.

Next, we'll work on the cauliflower. Bring the vegetable broth to a boil in a large pot. Cut the cauliflower into even sized chunks and then place all of your cauliflower into the boiling vegetable broth. Cook it covered for about 7-10 minutes, until the cauliflower tender. Turn off the heat, but do not drain the cauliflower.

Finally, transfer all of the cauliflower into a blender, add about 1 cup of the vegetable broth, 1/2 cup of milk, the sautéed garlic, some salt, pepper, and cumin, and blend it all up! Let it puree for a few minutes, adding more vegetable broth or milk until you get a nice creamy consistency. I also added a bit of left over grated pamersan cheese that I had on hand, but this isn't necessary. I just thought it gave it a nice flavor. If you can't fit all the cauliflower in the blender at once, do it in a few batches.

And... serve hot over a beautiful plate of pasta! :) Add any other veggies or spices as you see fit. I added some roasted red peppers to mine, but I could see this going really well with some sautéed spinach as well. I also of course had to add some extra parmesan cheese and finally a drizzle of olive oil.




This was so delicious and the best part was you could just keep adding more and more sauce to your pasta without any of the typical high calorie alfredo guilt. Definitely a fun alternative :) Hope you all enjoy, let me know how it turns out!

As an additional note, I thought this tasted so good that I ate a whole bowl of it straight later on. Kind of like a creamy soup. Yeah... no shame haha ;)




This version of the recipe was adapted from the recipe found here: http://pinchofyum.com/creamy-cauliflower-sauce

Homemade bread recipe (in the style of venezuelan bread canilla)

This recipe is a very simple bread recipe that is in the Venezuelan style of canilla bread which is very typical to eat and enjoy from "las panaderias."  Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do! :)

I found this recipe originally on:
http://www.miotroblog.com/2012/02/pan-baguette-al-estilo-venezolano-pan.html

This recipe makes two loaves of bread.
Ingredients
1 cup of warm water
2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tablespoon of melted butter
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast or 1 package of yeast
1 egg yolk (for decorating)
1 tablespoon of water (for decorating)

Recipe
First we need to activate the yeast. So dissolve and mix in your cup of warm water the packet of yeast, the tablespoon of sugar and the teaspoon of salt. In about 5 minutes the mixture should bubble indicating that the yeast is active, alive and ready for use!

Now place the yeast mixture and the melted butter in a large bowl. Add the flour to the yeast and butter mixture a little at a time using first a wooden spoon and then your hands. Mix until the flour is completely incorporated and there are no ingredients sticking to the side of the bowl. We want it all incorporated.

Next place the ball of dough on a lightly floured surface and continue working the dough until the dough is soft without lumps. The dough should be elastic and not sticky. Keep working until you get to this point.

Once the dough has gotten to this point, place the ball of dough in a bowl and cover the bowl with a damp washcloth. Wait until the dough has doubled in size about 35 to 40 mins.

When the dough has doubled in size we can form the dough into two loaves.
Place the dough on a surface and press down on the dough with your hand trying to remove all the air. Then cut the dough in half creating two parts and you will stretch each part until you form two rectangles about 15 by 30 cm.

Roll the dough on the lengthwise side of your rectangle until you have formed a loaf. Tuck in the two ends underneath the loaf. Do this with your second rectangle of dough as well. Then place them both on a nonstick baking pan (or a greased baking pan). Cover the loaves and let the dough rise for about an hour until the loaves have doubled in size. During this time you can preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

When your loaves have doubled in size, we're going to "decorate" them a bit by mixing the egg yolk and the tablespoon of water and then painting the loaves of bread on top with them mixture. This will make sure that your bread gets that lovely golden color. :)

Now you're ready to pop the loaves into the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes. Take them out when the bread has found a beautiful golden color. Let it cool a bit and then enjoy!!

This bread is best eaten on the day it's made. Since it's homemade it will lose its moisture overtime and after about the second day will get a bit hard. It is so good though that, the bread probably won't last that long anyways ;)

Carmelized Onion and Sweet Potato Tarte with Goat Cheese

Ingredients
1 medium sized sweet potato
2 large onions
Coconut oil
Goat Cheese
Pie Crust (I used Wholly Wholesome Whole Wheat Pie Crust)

Recipe

Before we assemble the tarte we have to ready the ingredients that will go into the tarte. If you're using a frozen pie crust (like I did), take the pie crust out of refrigerator to let it come to room temperature.

Next we prepare the sweet potato. Set the oven to 425 degrees Farenheit. There's no need really to preheat it. Just pinch the sweet potato about 3 times with a fork to let some steam out while its baking and pop the sweet potato in the oven directly on the rack. Leave it in for about 30 mins.

While you're waiting for that sweet potato to bake a bit. We'll caramelize the onions. To caramelize the onions, first slice the onions in nice long pieces. Try to get them as even as possible so that they will cook more evenly too.

Heat up your skillet or saucepan to medium high heat and add about a tablespoon of coconut oil. Add the sliced onions to your pan and let them get coated completely in the coconut oil. Make sure you're moving them around frequently so that the onions do not burn. Towards the end you could bring down the heat to medium. Add any additional coconut oil as you feel is needed. This will help make sure it doesn't burn ;) At the end your caramelized onions should looks something like this!

Now that we have the ingredients prepped, we're ready to assemble to tarte to go into the oven. Cut the sweet potato into chunks and mash the chunks down with a fork as the first layer onto of the pie crust.

 Add some goat cheese sprinkled in liberally in there.

Then add a layer of all the caramelized onion. Finish with a few more chunks of sweet potato cubes cut in half this time to by a bit thinner and add a final sprinkle of goat cheese on top.

Then place your tarte into the oven at 350 degrees Farenheit for about 45 mins. Take it out of the oven and let cool before serving.

Enjoy!! :)

Quesillo Recipe (The Venezuelan Version of Flan)

This is a recipe that is very close to my heart because it is one of the first recipes I ever learned from my grandmother! In Venezuela, we make a version of Flan that we call Quesillo and below I have shared my Grandmother's recipe for Quesillo. There is really very little difference in texture and taste, between the two but what I can assure you of is that I have never in my life tasted a Flan or a Quesillo that tasted as good as the one from my grandmother's recipe. The instructions may seem a bit intimidating, but taking it step by step its really very simple. I hope you take the chance to try it! I promise your taste buds and your friends will be seriously thanking you :)

Ingredients

For the mix:
4 eggs
1 can of condensed milk
1/2 can of milk (use the empty condensed milk can to measure this)
Splash of rum
Splash of vanilla

For the caramel:
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of water

For the pressure cooker:
1 1/2 water


The first step in the process is making a caramel that will top the Quesillo. We do this by putting the 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar in a "quesillera" pan (if you don't have this you can use any round pan about 8 inches in diameter) and letting that heat up over a low to medium heat on the stove. Make sure you are watching carefully to see as the sugar and water begin to change color into a rich caramel. Be careful not to let it burn! Because this process happens fairly quickly. Once you see that the sugar and water has thickened and changed to a nice color, turn off the stove, pick up the quesillera with oven mitts and move the caramel around the pan so that it coats all of the edges. You can now set that down and let it cool, while we move onto making the mix.

Making the mix is super simple! Just put all the rest of the ingredients in a blender and blend! You will use 1 can of condensed milk and then fill that empty can half way up with regular milk and add this to your blender. Add in the 4 eggs, a splash of rum and a splash of vanilla, and that's it!

Now you can pour this mix into the quesillera pan over the caramel.

Next close the quesillera lid over your quesillera (again, if you don't have a quesillera, you can simply use aluminum foil to cover as a lid over your round pan but make sure it's sealed tight!).

Now for the baking process, we are actually going to be using a pressure cooker! Which I know might seem a bit strange to many over you, but this is the way my grandmother has always done it, and it is the way that I learned how to do it with her. :) It is also a very speedy method compared to the oven and gives the flan a very nice consistency.

Put about 1 1/2 cups of water in the pressure cooker, then place the quesillera (or round pan) into the pressure cooker. Once the quesillera is in the pressure cooker, the water inside it should reach about 2 fingers up the side of the pressure cooker wall. Place the top on the pressure cooker and make sure it is tightly secured. Turn on the pressure cooker at about 400 degrees F. Leave it this way until you hear the top begin to whistle from the steam coming out. After you have heard this happen, move the heat to 300 degrees F and leave it this way for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, unplug the pressure cooker and let the Quesillo cool down inside the pressure cooker until you can move the top piece of the pressure cooker from side to side and hear no steam coming out. The key is that there is no longer any pressure before you open up the pressure cooker.

Now you can remove the quesillera carefully from the pressure cooker with oven mitts, taking care not to burn yourself (the sides of the pressure cooker will be hot!). Once you've removed it from the pressure cooker, you can remove the top off (or tin foil) your quesillera pan to let the Quesillo cool completely.

This is how the Quesillo should look after coming out of the pressure cooker.

When the Quesillo has cooled completely, place a plate on top of the Quesillera and carefully flip the pan over, letting the Quesillo slide out and onto your plate.

And voila! Cut a slice and enjoy :)

You've got an amazingly delicious Flan/Quesillo. Now that wasn't too hard to make, was it? :)

If you get the chance to try the recipe, please let me know how it comes out! I love hearing feedback!

Until my next recipe,

happy baking!

xx
Kismet Cooking

Healthy Banana Blueberry Pancakes (3 ingredients)

Alright, 3 ingredients. That is really all you will need to make these delicious pancakes!

2 Bananas
1 Egg
A pinch of Baking Powder

Optional:
A pinch of Cinnamon
Blueberries


Now you really only need the first 3 ingredients, really truly that is all and this recipe will come out really great. But... to up the game you've got to throw in that pinch of cinnamon and some blueberries. Because really everything is made better with cinnamon and blueberries.
Also I've tried other recipes like this before and I really think that it is the pinch of baking powder that makes the recipe, so make sure you don't miss out on that step, it's an important one.

Now for the instructions, also super simple.

First, mash up your bananas nice and smooth. You want it as close to a liquid as possible but make sure you don't stick it in the blender otherwise your pancakes will fall flat later on when you try to cook them.

Second, beat in your egg and make sure its nice and fluffy.

Next, mix in your pinch of baking powder and pinch of cinnamon.

Finally, melt some coconut oil (or butter if you like!) over medium heat on a heavy bottomed skillet or griddle. Then pour your batter onto the skillet. Throw some blueberries on top and wait for the pancake to bubble before flipping it over. Then cook it on the other side for about a minute.

And voila! :) You've got some delicious, ridiculously healthy pancakes. Your taste buds and your body will thank you! ;)

Try it out and let me know what you think.