Mexican Sweet Bread (Conchas a.k.a Seashells)

I love Mexican Pan Dulce (Sweet Bread), it has such a light flavor, it's perfect with coffee, tea or better yet hot chocolate! I was born in El Salvador and since there were never any Salvadorean Bakeries in the areas where we lived in Canada and the U.S. we would always opt for the next best thing, Mexican Pan Dulce.  I've been eating this stuff for years and finally decided to try to make it for myself, this was my first attempt and although I didn't get the topping quite right, they still turned out amazing! This recipe comes from allrecipes.com and have great reviews!

Fluffy and ready to eat!

INGREDIENTS:
Bread:

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

1/2 cup warm water (110 deg F)

1/2 cup evaporated milk

3/8 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 egg

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Topping #1:

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping #2:  

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tbsp melted butter

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, stir together the yeast and warm water. Mix in the milk, 3/8 cup sugar, 1/3 cup melted butter, salt, egg and half of the flour. Gradually mix in the remaining flour, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Turn the dough out onto a floured counter to knead as soon as it pulls together enough.
2. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Place in a large greased bowl, and turn the dough to coat. Cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. Make the topping while the dough rises. In a medium bowl, beat 2/3 cup sugar and 1/2 cup butter until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour until the mixture is the consistency of thick paste. Divide into two parts, and place one part in a separate bowl. Mix cinnamon into one half, and vanilla into the other half.** You can also add food coloring to make different colored conchas.
4. When the dough is done rising, cut into 12 even-sized pieces. Shape into balls, and place on a greased cookie sheet, spacing about 3 inches apart. If using Topping #1: Divide each bowl of topping into 6 balls, and pat flat. Place circles of topping on top of the dough balls patting down lightly. Use a knife to cut grooves in the topping like a clam shell. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. ** I felt like I used too much topping since my conchas were quite small, the topping tended to grow quite a bit, so I would recommend using 1/2 a topping ball per pastry if your conchas are small.  If you want to try Topping #1, bake the bread with no topping
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
6. Decorating with Topping #1, as soon as you take the bread out of the oven, brush with melted butter and sprinkle sugar on top and let dry, see pictures below.

PICTURES OF PROCESS:


Making the dough!



After the dough was left to rise for about 2 hrs I divided it into 12 balls

Making Topping #1! Orange in honor of Halloween or OSU ;)



Making them Clam looking



And they're done! Yum, yum!

Making some sugar ones with Topping #2!



Sugar ones are ready to eat! They kind of resemble Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) bread :)

Mexican Sweet Bread Feast!

Flan from an Ex

This recipe comes from the wife of one of my college professors.  She got the recipe from my professor who got it from one of his ex-girlfriends who happened to be from Spain.  Weird story right? I am not a big fan of flan but my family and boyfriend love it so I decided to make this recipe for them.  Flan tastes a lot better homemade than from a package, the texture and flavor is so different, especially this recipe, the flan tastes so smooth it's to die for! This recipe requires lots of egg yolks, so maybe make it in the morning and use all those extra egg whites for a healthy omelet :)

Flan with Caramel #2!

INGREDIENTS:

**I have provided two caramel recipes, just try one of the two, caramel #1 is a much lighter syrup and takes a lot longer to make than caramel #2. 

Caramel #1:
2 cups white sugar
2/3 cups of water

Caramel #2:
2 cups white sugar

Flan:
3 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1 small cinnamon stick
1 1/2 tsp lemon peel
8 egg yolks
2 eggs

DIRECTIONS: (makes about 10 Flans in 60 oz ramekins)

Caramel #1: *This is a lighter syrup.

1. Over medium heat, in a small sauce pan, mix white sugar and water together, stir until all sugar has melted
2. Cook until the sugar turns golden brown (about 15mins if done over medium heat)
3. Poor into the bottom of the ramekins or the dish you are using for the flan.  Don't worry if it hardens, once they bake with the flan mixture the caramel will become syrupy.

Caramel #2: *This syrup has a darker flavor but is faster to make

1. Over medium heat, in a small sauce pan, cook the sugar until all the sugar has melted and become a golden brown syrup

Flan:

1. In a medium sauce pan mix whole milk, heavy whipping cream, white sugar, cinnamon and lemon peel.
2. Cook over medium heat until the milk mixture comes to a light boil (about 20-30 mins)
3. Once it starts boiling remove from heat and let cool 20 mins
4. In a separate bowl, Beat the egg yolks and eggs
5. Slowly add 1/2 cup of milk mixture to the eggs while beating constantly.  This is done to temper the eggs.  Now add this mixture to the milk.
6. Strain the mixture.
7. Pour into the caramel lined ramekins or dish.
8. Pre-heat oven to 350 deg F.
9. Place ramekins in a large glass or ceramic baking dish and fill with about 1-2 inches of hot water. Bake for 60-70 minutes in the water bath and check with a knife just to the side of the center. If knife comes out clean, it's ready.
10. Now refrigerate (refrigerate for at least 1 hour before eating) **TIP: to take them out of the ramekin, place the ramekin in hot water for about 1 minute, then create an air pocket by sliding a knife in and out on the side (just once), now you can flip it over on a plate and enjoy!

PICTURES OF PROCESS: ** Sorry there are not more pictures of the process, I forgot to take pics of the milk cooking!

Adding the syrup to the dish and spreading it around, if you can't spread it around because the syrup has hardened don't worry, once cooked the syrup will melt through the bottom and when taken out of the dish it will just melt on top of the Flan. (Pic is of Flan with caramel #2)



I only had 6 small ramekins so I had to improvise by using some glass dishes in order to use up all of the Flan mixture.  So here is the Flan in the oven in a water bath. Oh yeah don't forget to cover with tin foil!! Or else the top will burn, bubble and become dry and rubbery!



All cooked and ready to be cooled in the fridge :)

Flan with Caramel #1, delicious!

Olive Garden Chicken Giardino

Few people know that the Olive Garden (OG) has some recipes on it's website! Not all of their recipes are on there but many of the dishes they "discontinued" serving are listed, so check it out!  My best friend and I LOVE this dish, we would drive an hour to the OG just to get Chicken Giardino, breadsticks and salad.  We were devastated when they stopped serving it so it was awesome when we found this recipe, we made it immediately!  This dish takes some time to make and it makes A LOT (probably like 8 LARGE servings) but it's definitely worth it! You can just freeze the left overs and it almost tastes better re-heated.

Chicken Giardino!

INGREDIENTS:

Sauce: **We doubled the sauce recipe listed on the site because the ingredients actually turn out to be a lot more than expected and who doesn't love extra sauce right?
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp dry thyme
1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
2 tsp garlic pepper
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup white wine
2 Tbsp milk
2 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Chicken:
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced width-wise into ½” strips
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 small rosemary sprigs
1 clove garlic, finely minced
Juice of ½ lemon

Vegetables:
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ bunch fresh asparagus (remove bottom inch of stem; cut remainder into 1” pieces)
1 zucchini, julienne cut
1 yellow summer squash, julienne cut
2 roma tomatoes, cut into ½” pieces
½ red bell pepper, julienne cut
1 cup broccoli florets, blanched
½ cup frozen peas
1 cup spinach, cut into ½” pieces
½ cup carrots, julienne cut

Pasta:
1 lb farfalle pasta (bow ties), cooked according to package directions

DIRECTIONS:

Sauce Preparation:

1. MELT butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in thyme, garlic pepper and rosemary. Whisk to thoroughly blend and cook for 1 minute.
2. COMBINE chicken broth, water, wine, milk, and lemon juice in a mixing bowl. Add cornstarch and whisk until cornstarch has dissolved and there are no lumps.
3. ADD liquid mixture to sauce pan. Whisk all ingredients together and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then remove from heat.

Chicken & Vegetables Preparation:

1. COMBINE all chicken ingredients in a mixing bowl and blend well.
2. MARINATE for 30 minutes.
3. HEAT a saute pan over medium high heat. Add ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil.
4. SAUTE chicken strips until internal temperature reaches 165°F. ***I grilled the chicken on a George Foreman grill instead of sauteing them
5. ADD all vegetables and sauté until cooked through.
6. ADD cooked, drained pasta and sauce to sauté pan. Stir until pasta is thoroughly coated with sauce.
7. TRANSFER to a serving platter and garnish with chopped parsley.

PICTURES OF PROCESS:


Veggies and all other ingredients!

Grilled Chicken and Mini Farfalle Pasta (yes, mini, I love mini pasta!)

Mixing the sauce

Cooked veggies, then putting everything together

Chicken Giardino with some shredded Parmesan cheese, time to eat!



Snickerdoodles !!

This recipe comes from the Joy of Baking and was found by my lovely fellow blogger, Nicolee.  The recipe is great as is but I like to use powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar, I think it makes the texture of the cookies softer.  Either type of sugar you use the cookie will turn out great! My friends and I love making these during the holidays and packaging them up to give to our friends and family.  I made these today for my nephew Max, he came over to celebrate my mom's b-day and was really disappointed I didn't have cookies for him.  His pouting made me feel so guilty I decided to make him snickerdoodles since they are super easy and quick to make! The ingredients are also something I always have around and the cookies are delicious :)

Snickerdoodles! I love saying that, it makes me feel like a kid!

COOKIE INGREDIENTS:

2 3/4 cups (360 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar (or powdered sugar)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

COATING INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup (66 grams) granulated white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 deg F (190 deg C) and make sure the rack is in the center of the oven.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. 
3. In another bowl beat the butter and sugar until smooth.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough. If the dough is soft, cover and refrigerate until firm enough to roll into balls (one to two hours).
4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  **When baking cookies I love using parchment paper, it prevents from the cookies from sticking to the baking sheet and over cooking at the bottom.
5. Shape the dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) round balls.
6. In a medium shallow bowl mix together the sugar and cinnamon.
7. Roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar and place on the cookie sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Then, using the bottom of a glass or your fingers, gently flatten each cookie to about 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) thick.
8. Bake the cookies for about 8 - 10 minutes, or until they are light golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.  **The cookies take exactly 8 mins to cook in my oven so just watch them carefully the first time so you don't over cook them and they become hard. 
9. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container, at room temp, for about 10 - 14 days.

 PICS OF PROCESS:

Coating + Cookie Dough



Rolling the dough balls in cinnamon sugar mixture.

Flattening out the cookies with my fingers!

Cooling on the rack, ready to eat!