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.

Secret Ingredient Vanilla Cookies

2 cups of flour

1 1/4 cup of sugar

2 sticks of butter

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 Tablespoon of vanilla

1 Egg yolk


Heat oven to 338 F.
Leave in oven for about 17- 20 mins. 
They will flatten out and be lightly golden around edges. 
Take out of oven, let cool on cookie sheet. 
Then use small heart shaped cookie cutout to make small heart shaped vanilla cookies.


Secret Vanilla cookies.

Sweet (Secretly Healthy) Blueberry Muffins

DRY
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
           (this could have been up to 1/2 cup wheat germ and then 1/2 cup flour)
1/2 cup oats
           ( I used 1 maple sugar instant oats packet, tried taking out as much sugar as I could and then topped the rest off with regular oats)
1/3 cup sugar (or less, should be half of 2/3)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

WET
6 ounces nonfat greek yogurt (I used one thing of Chobani strawberry Greek yogurt)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
1.2 tsp vanilla (I did a tiny bit more)
A splash of skim milk.
1/2 cup of blueberries (I dusted them in flour)


Heat oven to 350 F.
Combine dry ingredients (flour, wheat germ, oats, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt).
Combine wet ingredients (yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla).
Fold yogurt mixture into dry mixture, combine completely. Add just a tiny splash of skim milk.
Gently fold in blueberries.
Spoon into 8 muffin (cupcake) tins.
Bake until top is golden and springs back when you gently touch it. 20 -25 mins.
My was done at 20.

This recipe adapted from http://domesticatedacademic.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/power-muffins-blueberryoatmealyogurtpower/

Sweet Mango Pie

Ingredients:

Filling-
3 Mangos (skin pealed)
1 can of condensed milk
3 egg yolks
The juice of 3 little green limes

Crust-
3 heaping tablespoons of butter (room temp)
3 packs of Maria cookies (4 cookies per pack), 1 pack of all bran cookies, 1 or 2 packs of canelitas (6 cookies per pack)
A little bit of skim milk

Suspiros -
1 cup sugar
3 egg whits

For the filling -
Peal the skin off the mangos, then cut mangos into little pieces.
Blend together all ingredients of the filling in a blender until you have a smooth consistency.

For the crust -
This is really more to eye than anything else. Start off with several pack of crushed cookies then add 3 heaping tablespoons of butter (no more!). At this point you should work this combination until it becomes dough like. You will know if you need to add more crushed cookies packets or, like I needed to do, add a bit of skim milk to the mixture to get a good texture.
Squeeze the mixture in your hands, then press hard onto the surface youre working on. Finally when you see you have enough, work the dough into the sides and bed of the 10 inch diameter pie dish.


Pour the filling into the pie dish (that should already have the crust situated). Pre heat oven 350 degrees Farenheit and pop it in the oven for about 25 mins. It could be a little less time, but very unlikely for it to be more. For me it took 25 mins because my oven was not fully preheated to 350 when I put it in. If it is already preheated fully to 350, then it should not take more than 20 mins.

While the pie is baking, time to make the suspiros which is the topping to this beautiful pie!
Use a hand mixture to mix the egg whites and 1 cup of sugar until stiff peaks form.

When the pie is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool completely. After it has cooled completely, use a spoon to drop the formation of little droplets of 'suspiros' on top of the pie.

Now set the oven to broil on low, and pop the pie now with suspiros on top into the oven for about 4 mins. The suspiros should start to golden.

Take out of the oven and cool completely to room temperature.
Then store in refrigerator.
Although I think this tastes best when it is still at room temperature.

Avocado, Banana, Blueberry Salad

They say necessity is the mother of invention. And this was certainly the case with this recipe. I had a lot of fresh foods left in the refrigerator that I wanted to use before they went bad. So I put them all together and out came this delicious and healthy recipe.

I hope you enjoy! :)

Ingredients

1/2 Avocado
1/2 Tomato
1/2 Large banana
1/2 or so of blueberries
1-2 cloves of crushed garlic (2 is probably too much for most people, but I love my garlic!)
Sprinkle of wheat germ
Sprinkle of dried cilantro (fresh would be great too, but I didn't have any)
Sprinkle of crushed ginger

Chop up the avocado, tomato, and banana. Then mix this together with your remaining ingredients.

Voila!

You have one delicious salad!

Amazingly Gooey & Chewy Snickerdoodle Blondies

These blondies are amazingly delicious! The maple flavor of the brown sugar really come out in the baking process and helps create such a moist and dense blondie treat that leaves you wanting to have "just one more" time and time again. 

Since I made these last week, my friends have been begging me to make them again :) So definitely a good sign! 

Now to make this treat extra special… you can heat it up and serve it with ice cream. Yes, that is extremely indulgent but there are days when indulgent is necessary!

Finally, this recipe uses simple ingredients that I know I will most likely already have in my kitchen. Makes me that much more excited about baking it! :) 

I found this recipe here on My Own Sweet Thyme.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

Yields: Approximately 15 - 30 servings (depending on how you cut them)

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups packed dark brown sugar 
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Mix together flour, and baking powder and set aside. 
In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.

Next, stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan. Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.

Bake at 25 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool slightly and cut while still warm.