TWD: Baking Chez Moi - Gingerbread Buche de Noel

Our last Baking Chez Moi recipe for December is Gingerbread Buche de Noel!  It was actually scheduled for before Christmas, but I made it for Christmas and figured I would post it later.  Later ended up being today!  

The huge ginormous benefit to baking and posting after the post-date is you can see what other bakers thought of the recipe and what advice they might have!  Yeah!  So, thanks to that information, I made a few pieces of this recipe in advance, and halved the frosting amount.  Thanks, everyone!

There are four components to this cake:  The cake itself, which is a chiffon-style very thin cake that is rolled up' the filling, the frosting, and some pecan praline.  I  made the praline and the filling in advance!  This was fantastic since I made the somewhat crazy decision to serve this on Christmas.  The thing is, this is theoretically a perfect cake for Christmas, BUT there are lots of components so if you are making a big Christmas dinner (which we did) it makes getting the cake done a bit of a squeeze.  I got it done, but boy was I ready to be OUT of the kitchen that night! 

To further explain the cake, the actual cake part is a gingerbread flavor.  It is a very thin cake that is baked in a half-sheet pan and then rolled up.  In fact, it is rolled in a powdered sugar coated tea towel  as it cools so that it cools with the ability to roll up when the time comes.  Smart.  Before it is rolled for good (as in after it is cool and you are ready to actually put this cake together) you spread a filling of butter, cream cheese, cinnamon, vanilla, and a little of the pecan praline over the cake.  Then roll it up tightly, using a piece of parchment and a ruler and this fun pull-tug technique to make the cake roll nice and tight.  Again, smart.  That sits in the refrigerator a bit while you make a marshmallow frosting that is puffy and lovely.  Put a thick layer of the marshmallow frosting around the top and sides of the cake and then sprinkle on the praline pecans and you are ready!  

The magic occurs when you slice it.  Before hand, it just looks like this:

This is nice and everything, but once you slice it and you see all the rings, SUCCESS!!

This was really quite tasty.  I liked that the filling did not actually contain any sugar, as the cake, frosting and praline evened everything out.  And, (this is weird for a cake) but when i had another piece a day later, I thought that the flavors were actually more pronounced!  

So, overall a success!  I am not sure whether I would make this again, as there are lots of great desserts for Christmas-time.  But this was very tasty!  Dorie is right... This would be good if you just made it on some random day and then invited people over for cake and champagne. 

Oh, and there was an article in the Food section of the NY Times before Christmas that mentioned that this is the most complicated recipe in the book.  I did it!  Surely I will have continued success!!

Happy holidays, everyone!  I look forward to baking and crafting with you in the new year!

Salted Nut Bars

Holy-Moley!  These are some incredible cookies.  They hit all of the right notes for me:  salty, sweet, crunchy, soft....  Mmmm.  I could eat the entire batch.  And this recipe makes a TON of cookies, so eating the entire batch is a very bad idea.  Though, it might just happen, as I cannot seem to stop myself from opening the cookie bin and grabbing another one every time I am anywhere near my kitchen.  And since our house is really open and the kitchen is pretty much in the center, you could say that I am near the kitchen almost all of the time.  Very very dangerous.  Extremely.

To be honest, looking at the ingredients, I would not know that I would have this dangerous attraction to these cookies.  I'm not really one for butterscotch chips, to be honest.  But they make this cookie heavenly, trust me. Thank you to my mother-in-law who found this recipe and made it one year.  Well, thanks, I think....  I'll let you know after I eat an entire batch of these things!

Here we go...

The crust of this cookie is  made of flour, brown sugar, butter and salt.  Throw it all in the mixer bowl and mix until it is crumbly.

Dump the crumbly mixture into a parchment covered half-sheet pan (13x18-inch).  Spread it around the pan as evenly as you can.  Then place a piece of plastic wrap on top if it all and use something to roll it out flat.  (The recipe does not say to do this, but it is a fast, easy way to get it all out into the pan and evenly pressed down.  I used a large kids vitamin bottle for rolling.  If you get vitamins at Costco or Sams and have one of these giant bottles, this will work for you too!

Bake this at 350F for 10-12 minutes, until it is golden on top.  If you bake it too long, it will be too crunchy and very hard to cut when you get to the cutting point.  I baked mine for 10 minutes and could have probably done 11 but was nervous about getting to the "too crunchy" point.

In the mean time, measure out your nuts (4c) and set them aside.  Then make the caramel...  Butterscotch chips, butter, and corn syrup, melted together in a saucepan.  Again, trust me, the butterscotch chips are really good here!

Stir a lot to keep it from burning on the bottom of the pan, and to help the butterscotch chips melt.  Timing wise, you want to this to be ready just as you are taking the bottom layer out of the oven.

Pull the crust out and sprinkle the nuts relatively evenly all over.  Immediately pour the caramel over the top, getting it as even as you can.  Then back into the oven it goes, for another 10-12 minutes.

And it will come out looking like this.  Mmmm.  Let it sit on a rack for about an hour to cool.  You don't want them to be gooey when you try to slice them.  Cut them into bars about 1x2 inches.  Small is good with these.  Then you get to eat more of them over time.  I ended up with 98 bars, having 14 rows across the wide part of the pan and 7 across the top.  Obviously they were not quite all 1x2 inches, but that is okay with me!

Salted Nut Bars
adapted from The Baking Sheet, King Arthur Flour

Ingredients
Crust:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon salt

Topping:
4 cups salted mixed nuts
3/4 cup corn syrup (I used almost all light, but ran low so used about 1 1/2 TB dark)
3 TB  unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips (I just dumped in the entire 11 oz bag, which was about 1 2/3 c)

Directions
Crust:
Preheat the oven to 350F.  Line a half-sheet pan (13x18-inch) with parchment paper, letting the paper go up the sides of the pan.

Combine the flour, sugar, butter and salt in a mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment.  Mix until crumbly.  Pat the mixture into your prepared pan.  For a fast method, spread out the mixture with your hand, then cover with plastic wrap and use some sort of small roller to roll it all out and pressing into the corners and edges.  I used a big vitamin bottle.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly brown.  Allow to cool for a few minutes while you start on the topping, and then spread the nuts over the top.

Topping:
Combine the corn syrup, butter and butterscotch chips in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Allow to come to a boil, stirring constantly.   Boil until all of the butterscotch chips are melted.  As soon as the chips are melted, pour the mixture evenly over the nuts.  Do not let the mixture cool first, as it will harden and become impossible to work with.

Bake for another 10-12 minutes.  The longer you bake them, the more candy-like the caramel will become, less chewy.  You need to find your perfect spot of chewy with some crunch.  I baked mine for 11 min. and they were fine. 

Remove from the oven and set on a wire rack for at least one hour.  Lay a fresh parchment paper over the top of the pan and flip the pan over onto the counter.  Then flip it back the right way so the nuts are on top. Slice with a sharp knife into 1x2-inch bars.  Store in an airtight container.
Printable Recipe


You need to try this out.  And then call me so I can come over and "test" them for you...

Sugar Cookies!

When the kiddos have parties in their classrooms at school, I generally try to sign up to bring the cookies.  Besides the fact that I have a baking compulsion, I also prefer to ensure that my kids eat homemade cookies, not random store-bought cookies with strangely colored icing or other yuckiness.  This year was no different, other than the fact that since the clever boy is now in a Mother's Day Out program one day a week, I had two class parties to deal with - his and the clever girl's!  I thought sugar cookies would be the best plan - what kid doesn't like sugar cookies??

Now, I have found that sugar cookies can be a hard recipe to perfect.  Not that they are difficult to make, but that many recipes are just not what I want.  They are too crispy, too soft, too sweet, too....  You get the picture! This year I turned to my trusty Baking: From My Home to Yours cookbook, as I knew Dorie would not steer me wrong.  And she didn't!  Mmmm.  These cookies are the perfect sugar cookie in my opinion.  They are crisp on the outside but just a little soft on the inside.  They are buttery and delicious.  I did not want to do actual cut-outs with cookie cutters (even though I have a ginormous quantity of cookie cutters, especially Christmas ones).  To expedite things, I rolled the dough into a log and did slice-and-bake cookies.  Before slicing, I rolled the logs in Christmas sprinkles so the edges would be nice and festive, and I'd still have a nice surface for sprinkling vanilla sugar when they came out of the oven.  I did change one thing in Dorie's recipe, in that I added 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.  I just like that flavor, especially when combined with vanilla.  But you could leave it out if you wanted!  You could add some lemon or orange zest, or nuts or something too, or just leave them plain!  Because even if they are plain, they will make you smile!  Yum. 
 

You can find this recipe here, on Dorie's blog.  And it's in Baking: From My Home to Yours on pages 146-147.  It is a great baking book, if you have a desire to bake more!  I made a double batch of cookies and ended up with 85.  My logs were about 2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter, I think.  These are easy, and if you do the slice-and-bake method, they are fast (except for the chilling time).  And a definite winner!  Even the teachers remarked about how delicious the cookies were! 

Any Christmas baking in your plans this year??

Hot Lemon Pie

Do you like lemon?  Well, this lemon pie is so amazingly easy and fast to make, your oven won't even be warmed up by the time you are ready to bake!  And at the end, you will have only one thing to clean, your blender!

You end up with a custardy, creamy, delicious pie in NO time at all, with barely any work involved!  Are you in? 

Hot Lemon Pie
Ingredients
1 large Meyer Lemon, washed well
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 9-inch pie crust

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F.

Cut the lemon into medium-to-large pieces (depending on your blender capabilities).  Remove the seeds but that is it.  Keep the rind and peel intact!  Put all of the ingredients (except the pie shell!) into the blender and whirl like crazy.  The mixture will be foamy.  Keep blending until the mixture is smooth, with no lumps of butter.  Pour the mixture into an unbaked pie shell and bake for 40-50 minutes.  This pie sets up like custard.  Serve warm or chilled.  Refrigerate any leftovers.
Printable Recipe

I know that this recipe calls for a Meyer lemon, but I am going to try it with a regular lemon next time.  I think as long as I don't end up with one of those lemons that is has a gigantic amount of rind, it will still work!  I like the tartness of a regular lemon better than the Meyer lemons, personally.  However, this pie is delicious and you can always adjust the sugar content to your preference! 

Oh, and please note that there are lots of tiny slices in the picture on top because this was on a table with lots of other pies for Thanksgiving!  Feel free to use normal (bigger!) slices for this pie!

C & B Marianna Table Runner Tutorial

A while back, I received a Crate and Barrel advertisement in the mail.  I glanced through it while eating lunch one day, and promptly ripped this page from the book:

Item "C" are the new Marianna Table Linens.  This one got my brain a-ticking....  I can do this!  Ruby, my sewing machine, can do a ton of fancy stitches, so I knew that we could make something like this!

Instead of using linen, I used my favorite home decorating fabric, painters drop cloth.  I had a bunch already, from a curtain project that was not to be, so I pulled one of these out for my project.  Now, if you have never worked with a painters drop cloth, here is some info you might need:

1. You need to wash them a few times so they are less stiff.  Once you do, they will be soft and lovely!
2. Whomever sews the hems on drop cloths does not have any concern in making them straight.  Since you are making table runners, you will need some straight edges.  So, do not assume that any edge of your drop cloth is straight, you will need to do that yourself.  Here is what I do:  I cut the hem off of each side, really close to the stitching line.  You could also rip out the stitching (they use big stitches) but I am lazy and time is valuable, so I don't do that.  Drop cloths are made of a somewhat loose weave, of two strands crossing both directions.  You want to grab a set of those 2-strand pieces and gently pull it out, all the way down the fabric, leaving a little gap in the weave.  Somewhere close to the edge, snip a tiny bit (like 1/2 inch) in the direction you want to straighten.  Start with one of the long sides.  See how the weave looks like a woven tick-tac-toe?  Grab one of the lengths (2 strands together) and gently pull it out of the fabric.  This is a bit if a slow process, as the strands will break several times.  When they do, you will be able to find where they break by following the gap you have made already.  Use a straight-pin to loosen the strands again, and then pull some more.  Here is a video that also explains this process.  Once you  have pulled the strands totally out of the fabric, cut the fabric down the little path that you made.

Now that you have a straight long side to your drop cloth, you can use the same method for cutting your table runner.  The Marianna table runner is 14 inches wide, so I measured 16 inches, to allow for 2 half-inch double hems on each side.  If you have a really big cutting mat, you might be able to just cut the fabric straight without pulling the strand.  I was not certain my cut would be straight, so I pulled the strands.

Fold and press a scant 1/2 inch hem on each long side, and then fold again, press and sew.  Drop cloth, because of it's loose weave, ravels a lot so you want to make sure you get good hems on each side.  Do not hem the short ends, however.  At this point, just do some sort of finishing to the end, i.e. zigzag, overcast, serger, etc.  This is your table runner prep.  Now you can start the fun part!

Figure out what fun stitches you want to do!  I used 4 different stitches, 6 different thread colors, and made 11 total stitch paths.  If we call my stitch patterns A, B, C, and D, here is how I planned my paths:

The underside/wrong side of the table runner was always a cream colored thread (I found Coats and Clark 8010 to be a good match for my fabric), so the color is only on the top.  These fancy stitches use a LOT of thread, so make sure you have some newer spools, especially of the bobbin thread! 

Now just start sewing, randomly moving around the table runner.  Start at one short edge and wind your way down to the other end.  I sort of plotted out where I was going with each color, by placing pins down the runner in places where I thought I might want to change direction.  You can just wing it, too! 

When you finish sewing on  your last color, hem the short sides of the runner as you did the long ones.  And you're done! 

TWD: Baking with Julia - Chocolate-Mint Nightcaps

We are back to Baking with Julia this week, with Chocolate-Mint Nightcaps.  Had I not watched a video of Marcel Desaulniers making these cookies with Julia, I would have never figured out the "nightcap" part.  See that swirl on the top of the cookie?  It is supposed to look like an old-fashioned nightcap.  Whatever.  Personally, aesthetically, I am not thrilled at the nightcap swirl.  It too closely resembles things that are not food and should never be confused with food, in my opinion.

However, let's not judge a book by it's cover, okay?  Let's talk about the cookies themselves.  I made half of the recipe, and ended up with 16 cookies.  The clever girl called these "cookie cakes".  The actual cookie part is quite cake-like.  Soft like a moon-pie. I would prefer a little more texture, since the ganache is also soft, but they are nice and soft and airy. 

The ganache is where the mint comes into play, or where it is SUPPOSED to come into play.  You heat cream with some fresh chopped mint, and then strain the cream into a bowl of chopped chocolate (which was supposed to be semi-sweet, but I used 2/3 semi-sweet and 1/3 70% dark chocolate).  The mint flavor did not come through as much as I would have liked.  I think to get a better mint flavor, you would have to heat the cream with the mint and then let it steep for a while, 20 minutes or so, and then heat the cream back up to then strain into the chopped chocolate.  The mint needs a bit longer to release its flavor into the cream.  You could also just add some peppermint extract...

Also regarding the ganache - the recipe says to spread the hot ganache on a sheet pan and refrigerate it to chill completely.  Well, at that point, it is unworkable so you then have to leave it out at room temperature for a while.  I initially thought I'd be lazy, so instead of getting out a piping bag and tip, I just scooped the ganache into a ziplock bag and trimmed the corner to pipe onto the cookies.  Maybe it was just that the ganache was still to firm to use, but it did not work for me.  It was a mess and then somehow the ziplock bag got a hole in another random spot so chocolate was oozing out all over the place!  (This is not always a bad thing, mind you, but in this case I was trying to convince said chocolate to behave and swirl out onto cookies for filling!)  So I went ahead and got the piping bag and a proper tip and suddenly the ganache knew I meant business so it complied and piped out nicely.  I'll show that ganache who is boss!  HA!

Overall, these are yummy and would be really great on a party tray.  You are sure to get oohs and aahs with cookies filled and topped with ganache!  I would probably try to bake the cookies a bit longer next time, and try to extract more mint flavor into the ganache.

This recipe can be found on pages 307-308 of Baking with Julia.  Check out what our other bakers did by clicking here!

TWD: Baking Chez Moi - Rugelach

This Tuesday is a "Baking Chez Moi" week, not to be confused with the "Baking With Julia" weeks.  If you aren't confused, congratulations, because I sure am!  I can't keep it all straight!  Hopefully I get the hang if this soon....  Surely I will, right?  I mean, RIGHT??

Anyway, the recipe this week was Rugelach, and if you are a frequent visitor to my blog, you will know that rugelach is an important cookie in my house.  We have had them at Christmas for as long as I can remember, and for as long as my sister can remember, and let me tell you, that girl remembers EVERYTHING.  It is amazing, really.  Isn't it crazy how some people remember the details of so many things?  My memory seems to have a quota, so as new memories get in, others get dumped.  Maybe I need ginko biloba or something...

ANYWAY, this is all to clarify why a new rugelach recipe is up to a big test in my house.  We did another rugelach recipe for the Baking with Julia book, so this is rugelach recipe number 3.  I discuss more about the history of Rugelach and the other recipes in the other posts, if you are interested.  According to Dorie, this is the Rugelach that Won Over France.  But will it win over my rugelach-loving house??? 

"My" rugelach recipe rolls the cookies into crescents, as opposed logs that are sliced like in this recipe and the BWJ recipe.  The benefit to the crescent?  You get  more cookie!!  Each cookie is more substantial.  I give that two thumbs up.

This particular recipe uses a dough that is rolled very thin, and then a filling of coconut, dried cherries, toasted pecans and semi-sweet (bittersweet) chocolate is spread across and it is all rolled into a log.  This filling is DELISH.  I will definitely be incorporating it into my family's rugelach when I make it for Christmas this year.  Can you go wrong with that combination?  I say not.  I did switch the semi-sweet chocolate to bittersweet, just because that is how we do things in my house, but I am sure it is delicious the other way too, for those who prefer semi-sweet.

To go back to the substantial-ness of the cookie....  Yes, that is probably not really a word but I think you know what I mean.  The BCM rugelach cookies are TINY.  So yes, it makes like 4 dozen, but they are 4 dozen TINY little cookies.  My rugelach recipe makes about 5 dozen, and they are actual cookies.  So with this recipe, you might want to eat a handful (or two honestly) because you can convince your brain that one or two cookies is just ridiculous and you certainly deserve more than that.  OR, if you have much more self discipline than I, you could only eat your two cookies and be so proud of yourself for really "cutting back" during the holidays. 

This cookies is like a middle ground between the BWJ rugelach and my rugelach.  And it is a very happy, yummy middle.  I still love my rugelach the best (totally biased, I know) so I will stick to that recipe HOWEVER with the addition of this new filling.  This is too good not to share with the rest of my family!!

For other baker's thoughts on this recipe, visit the TWD blog and click on "LYL:  Rugelach".   The recipe can be found on pages 301-302 of Baking Chez Moi. 

(P.S.  I did actually make the previous BCM recipe, Cranberry Crackle Tart, for Thanksgiving this year.  It was dive-bombed before I got photos taken, and I wasn't in love with the recipe, so I didn't bother to post anything.)

Christmas Outfits!

I went a little crazy and made coordinating Christmas outfits for the kids this year!  I figure I won't be able to do this to them for very long, so I had better do it while I can!! 

My idea started with making a long Johnny for the clever boy, using my favorite pattern from Children's Corner.  I made him a short version over the summer and that pattern is so easy and so cute, it is one that I will repeat until he refuses to wear them anymore!  I found some super soft thin-wale corduroy at Joann's, and picked out a red/white stripe to use as lining.  Normally I just use a nice white muslin for lining, but since the legs would be rolled up a bit, I thought a pattern would be fun!  

As usual, I found the graphic for the penguin by searching Google images, and was able to use all scrap fabric to make the little guy!  I thought about finding a cute button or jingle bell for the top of the penguin's hat, but then realized that since the clever boy sleeps on his tummy and he would theoretically take a nap in this outfit some day, a button or jingle bell would not be a good plan.  So I embroidered a little star with some sparkly floss. 

Once his outfit was planned in my head, I had to figure out something for the clever girl.  I browsed my favorite kid pattern source, Oliver + S, and found the Library Dress.  This dress is supposed to have 3/4 sleeves, but I made them long instead.  To do this, I measured another of the clever girl's dresses to figure out the right length, and added the difference between the long length and the pattern's 3/4 length to the sleeve pattern, just continuing the pattern lines straight, no taper.  Easy peasy.  Configuring the pattern to fit my slender little girl was another story!  Based on the pattern measurements, she is a size 6 in length but more like a 5 (or maybe smaller but the pattern sizes start at 5) in girth.  So I cut each pattern piece with this in mind, using the size 5 lines for areas across her body and size 6 lines for areas of length.  The armholes were cut as a 6.  It was a bit tricky, but I finally got the pieces traced and cut!  Phew.

As you can see, I used the same green corduroy and red/white striped fabric for the Library Dress.  And here is where I underestimated my clever girl....  I did not plan on any applique for her dress, as I thought she might be "too grown up" for that.  Ha!  She isn't!  (Yahoo!)  I showed her the dress, sans candy canes, and the Johnny for the clever boy, and she got a sad face and asked where HER decoration was.  Why did he get a penguin and she didn't get anything??  All righty then!  So I added some candy canes with ribbon.  The candy canes are appliqued, but the ribbon is real ribbon that I tied into a bow and sewed to the dress.  That clever girl was on to something, because I honestly think the candy canes MAKE this outfit!  They took it from a pretty Christmas dress to an AWESOME Christmas dress!  The photos don't show the back of the dress, but there are buttons all the way down the back, the same little white buttons that are on the playsuit shoulders. 

This dress looks WAY more complicated than it really is.  I love it.  I think that the photos on the actual pattern cover do not give it justice.  There is another version with a collar, and I wonder if I could make it in a "uniform" color for the clever girl to wear to school??  Everything needs a collar, so surely this pattern would work!  Maybe for next school year...

Three cheers for sewing Christmas outfits for my kiddos!  

Hip hip hooray!  Hip hip hooray!  Hip hip hooray!

Are you doing any holiday sewing???

Juliana's Brazilian Milk Pudding

Earlier in the school-year, the clever girl's school had a "Hispanic Heritage Day" in which we were all asked to bring appropriately Hispanic foods and the kids would have these items for lunch while they theoretically gained some appreciation for another culture.  I say "theoretically" because other than eating, I didn't see many other cultural activities.  However at one point, someone brought out a stereo and turned on some music...

That is when I turned to the mom next to me and told her that I didn't realize that '80s Madonna was, in fact, Hispanic.  Huh.  After a while of playing random non-Hispanic music, the music was turned off.  I am not sure why appropriate music was not played, since we live in Houston and there are several radio stations that would have worked just fine.  But what do I know?  I was there to help with the food.  I stationed myself at the dessert table (if the shoe fits...) and happened to be near this heavenly concoction called "Brazilian Milk Pudding".  It just so happens that my lovely friend standing next to me made this particular dessert so I was able to taste and quiz her about the dish!  First of all, let me assure you that it is AMAZING.  You can't tell from the photo above, but the bottom of this pudding (which is the TOP when it cooks) gets all nice and caramelized and so, so delicious.  You can sort of see this in the photo below.  See how the bottom is nice and dark?  Oh, my, this creamy pudding just melts in your mouth with that yummy caramelized sugar flavor.  I caution you.  Your eyes will roll into the back of your head.

And since we were feeding kids, who were WAY more interested in the store-bought cupcakes with freakishly bright icing instead of trying this truly divine dessert, I was able to have more than one sample.  Yeah for me!  Too bad for those silly kids!  Oh, but  make no mistake, Juliana's son returned repeatedly to the table for additional helpings of this dessert.  He knows what's good!

I, of course, begged for the recipe so I could make it at home and share it with you!  Let me tell you, YOU CAN MAKE THIS.  And you should.  It is super easy and uses 4 ingredients.  4!  Unless you count water as an ingredient, in which case it takes 5 ingredients.

According to my friend, the Portuguese originally created this dish and brought it to Brazil.  My friend had to translate her recipe from Portuguese in order to send it to me, so this is legit, my friends.

Brazilian Milk Pudding

Caramel:
Ingredients:

½ cup of Sugar

1/5 cup of water  (3 TB plus a scant teaspoon)

Directions:

Pour the sugar into a small sauce pan and sprinkle with some drops of water.  Place the pan on the burner on high.  Let the mixture boil without mixing it.  Once the sides start to get dark, wait until it reaches the caramel color you like, then turn the heat to low and mix it with a spoon.  Once completely mixed, add the 1/5 cup water.  BE CAREFUL when you pour the water, as the heat will make the water and the caramel boil and pot at once; so it is recommended that you use a kitchen glove when you do it.  After pouring the water mix it for a couple minutes and remove from the heat.  Immediately pour into a bundt pan.  Twist the pan around so that the caramel will stick to the sides and the raised middle part.  Let it stand to cool.

Milk Pudding:

Ingredients:

6 eggs

2 cans of condensed milk (the best brand is Nestle’s La Lechera)

2 cans (use the condensed milk can to measure) of milk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400F. 

In a blender, blend the eggs by themselves first.  Add the 2 cans of condensed milk and blend. Finally, add the 2 cans with milk.  Once blended, pour the mixture into the bundt pan and place it in a roasting pan.  Pour water into the roasting pan until it reaches at least 1/3 the height of the bundt pan.  Bake for about 40-60 minutes.  Since ovens vary, once it gets to 40 minutes, check the consistency.  You want it to be firm (not hard), so if you move the pan a little bit and you see the content move too much it is still liquid, so check every 10 minutes after that.  Once firmer, you can stick a tooth pick in it to confirm it is done.

Remove the bundt pan from the oven and water bath and allow to cool completely before refrigerating for at least 6 hours.  When ready to serve, you will want to warm the bottom of the bundt pan a little so the caramel loosens.  To do this, put your hottest tap water into the roasting pan and let the bundt pan swim around for a few minutes.  Move it around and wiggle around the sides a bit so all of the caramel gets soft enough.  You will see the caramel soften around the sides of the pan.  Once this happens, you can flip it onto a serving platter with a lip.  That lip is important - it catches the running caramel!

Dive in to yummy bliss!

Printable Recipe

I made Juliana's Brazilian Milk Pudding for church one day and it was a big hit.  I got lots of recipe requests.  I hope they all make it!