Published by mel on August 18, 2008 in dessert, recipe and sides & bites.
Guava and cream cheese. Some people reading this will probably think I’m crazy, but it’s really an amazing combination. Every day after school, my grandmother would layer soda crackers with a slice of guava paste and a little cream cheese. Sunday mornings my grandfather would deliver fresh-from-the-oven Cuban pastries filled with guava and cream cheese. And on the 4th of July, the guava and cream cheese empanadas were the first to go. They just feel right together.
So when my parents and their friends decided to celebrate their 33rd wedding anniversaries with a 70’s Party, I volunteered to make cupcakes for dessert. My special guava and cream cheese cupcakes, to be exact. In keeping with the groovy theme, I tried out a tie-dye look on the frosting, but I’m not sure how successful that turned out. Mostly, they looked confused. Some were yellow, some orange, some a swirly combination of the two. They may have been a little ugly, but they were darn tasty.
If guava paste weirds you out (it shouldn’t!) or if you can’t find it, you can substitute any kind of chunky fruit preseves. Just fold some orange marmalade, apricot preserves or strawberry jam into the batter just before you bake the cupcakes. The fruit makes is the perfect compliment to the cream cheese icing.
I posted this recipe here about a year ago, but was never really happy with the huge amounts of butter in the frosting and batter. I’ve tweaked the recipe and I think it works much better this way.
Continue reading ‘guava & cream cheese cupcake remix’
Published by mel on July 7, 2008 in breakfast, dessert, entree, recipe and sides & bites.
The 4th of July just might be my favorite holiday. Especially when it lands on a Friday and the rain clouds stay away. We wake up early, pack the food, the coolers and the Bocce set and head to the beach. We set up 3 tents, tons of chairs and a buffet for our friends and family. We open our first beer before noon and we eat empanadas, roast pork and tamales with our toes in the sand all day. The barge with fireworks makes it’s way over to our beach, parks right in front of our party and we drink champagne while they burst over our heads. A perfect day.
I bring the empanadas, which means that I turn my kitchen into an empanada factory the eve of 4th. This year I managed to churn out 80 empanadas in 3 varieties - Guava and Cream Cheese; Sausage, Roasted Red Pepper and Feta; Ham, Cheddar and Green Apple. They were all gone by 3pm, which means that next year I’ll somehow have to make more. I think my favorite was the ham, cheddar and green apple, though the guava and cream cheese were the first to disappear.
Just like arroz con pollo empanadas differ regionally. Cubans generally deep fry their empanadas, creating a flaky, bubbly crust. While these are quite delicious, I just don’t deep dry at home. Too messy. I baked them in batches of 20 - 30 and they emerged golden and delicious.
Empanadas are fairly easy to make and great for large crowds. They’re also hand-held and portable which make them perfect for a BBQ or beach picnic. And they were just perfect for my perfect 4th of July.
Continue reading ‘empanadas three ways’
Published by mel on September 18, 2007 in dessert and recipe.
A couple of weeks ago, Tom read about a cupcake place in Miami that serves Guava and Cream cheese cupcakes. Ingenious! But instead of seeking them out at the source for the big birthday celebration, I decided to make my own. I figured it’d be easy enough - just plop a piece of guava paste in the middle of some batter and top with cream cheese icing.
They were everything I’d ever dreamed of and more! To me, there’s nothing that says comfort food like a slice of guava paste and some cream cheese on a soda cracker. I’m sure it sounds positively bizarre to most people, but it’s the Cuban staple for afternoon snacking. The cupcake is a fancied-up, birthday version of that snack.
Continue reading ‘guava surprise!’
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