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 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!’
Published by mel on March 12, 2007 in dessert and recipe.
So, I was supposed to be keeping this blog updated more often. But, I haven’t. Work is crazy, wedding stuff is its own full-time job. Thankfully, the planning will soon be over and I can get back to lounging on the beach, cycling and cooking on weekends. I seriously, seriously cannot wait. Not to mention the 2 weeks in Hawaii.
Since I’m a slacker, I’m posting my recipe for fancy Valentine’s Day pizza now…almost an entire month later. I’m not a huge fan of going out on Valentine’s Day. The crowds, the parking, the fixed price aphrodisiac menus designed to impress the newly coupled…It’s just not fun.
Keeping to tradition, I made Tom homemade pizza. This time, it was whole wheat crust, with chicken sausage, artichoke hearts, fresh mozzarella and sage. First, I brushed the dough with some truffle oil (yes, I own truffle oil). Then I piled on the rest of the ingredients and ground a LOT of fresh black pepper over the top. The earthiness of the sage and the truffle oil were perfect with the meaty sausage and fresh artichokes.
And I didn’t have to wash one dish. True love, indeed.
recipe after the jump
Continue reading ‘be my belated valentine’
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