Mmmmmm. That’s the sound that slips my lips when a scrumptious sandwich as mouthwatering as this one is set before me.  Let me rewind a little.  I was in Vegas for the Blogalicious conference, thanks to my awesome sponsor Sprint.  It was a great deal of fun.  I learned so much and was inspired to run back home and start posting.  I also made a ton of new friends and danced my ass off at a few late night parties and do I really need to explain, we’re talking Vegas here.  Long weekend short, once Sunday arrived I needed something greasy but with a touch of sweet and a light crispy crunch in my belly, something to soak up a weekend in Vegas.  Bacon and apple…. add some brie and a dash of honey and you’ve got the winning hand.

Ingredients for BBAH Sandwich:

2 – slices of french bread

2 to 3 – slices of granny smith apple

3 – slices of brie cheese

1 – tablespoon of honey

4 – slices of cooked bacon

Take a slice of french bread and top with apples slices.  The arrange the bries slices on top of apple.  Drizzle the brie with honey.  Top the honey brie with bacon slices.  Place the other slice of french bread on top and you have got your self a seriously delicious sandwich!

Thank you Sprint and Latina Bloggers Connect for sponsoring me to advance my career/website by sending me to Blogalicious, and for making me have so much fun in Vegas I needed to dream up this sandwich. Recipe and opinions are my own.

Thank you Sprint and Latina Bloggers Connect for sending me to Blogalicous and for the AWESOME phone!

Do you ever wake up inspired?  Just itching to expand?  Wanting to get yourself in the kitchen, experiment and get dirty?  I was having one of those days.  It usually comes when I want something sweet.  The air was perfect, the sun was shining through the window, I was playing my favorite music, completely focused on the tart at hand with good vibes all around me.  I had all the ingredients in the house for a fig tart and I was making it happen.  I could hear my phone making a faint sound from the other room, and something told me to check it.  I wiped my hands down and scrolled through my phone.  It was an email from Latina Bloggers Connect sending me the AWESOME news that Sprint had chosen me as one of the ambassadors for a sponsorship to Blogalicious in VEGAS!  Jumping up and down, excited and acting like a clown,  I ran back to the kitchen popped my pistachio cream fig tart in the oven and waited for it to be ready.  I hit the jackpot twice, not only was I going to Blogalicious, I was going to have my fig tart to celebrate too.  (In Oprah voice) Thank You Sprint!

Ingredients for Pistachio Cream Fig Tart:

1 – 17.3 ounce package of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry (2 sheets)

3/4 – cup salted pistachios

1 – cup powdered sugar

1 – teaspoon almond extract

1 – 8 oz package of cream cheese (room temperature)

6 – tablespoons of fig jam

20 – black mission figs (sliced in half)

1 – egg

1 – tablespoon of water

This recipe makes 2 tarts

Bring puff pastry to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.

In a food processors combine pistachios and powdered sugar.  Pulse until the pistachios are a fine crumb.  Then add in almond extract and cream cheese.  Pulse until all is evenly combined. Remove from food processor and set in a bowl to the side.

Lay one puff pastry sheet on a lined cookie sheet, and spread with 3 tablespoons of fig jam. Make sure to leave a 1 inch frame all along the edges.

Then take a teaspoon of the pistachio cream and drop it in a dollop then take another until you have 10 dollops in a row.  Top each with a half of fig.

In a little bowl make an egg wash by mixing egg and water together.  Then brush edges of pastry with the egg wash.

Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.

While your first tart is baking, prepare the next one with the rest of the ingredients.  Or you could cut the other sheet in half and make two small ones.  I ended up doing this for a total of 3 tarts. One large one and two small ones.  🙂 Same baking time.

Here’s a picture of a small one before it went in the oven, and instead of dollops of cream, I spread it even.

Disclosure: Thank you Sprint and Latina Bloggers Connect …. Blogalicious was a grand time and I am grateful for the sponsorship. Recipe and opinions are my own.

That’s a picture of my Mom and me.  I’m her only child.  Our bond is unbreakable and as strong as a tsunami.  I think of what a wonderful parent she has been to me my whole life.  She raised me by herself and was a dedicated Mother who did her best to give me everything she could.  People always assume because I’m an only child I must have been spoiled.  I wouldn’t call it spoiled,  I would call it showered with love.  I didn’t grow up with a ton of toys but I did grow up with all of my Mom’s attention.  She always talked to me allowing open dialogue and valued my opinion.  She would recount stories to me of her youth and read me plenty of stories too.  I always remember her reading to me when I was a kid.  My Mom liked stories and she also appreciated good illustration. One of our all time favorite books to enjoy right before bed was an amazing book by the famed author Maurice Sendak called “In the Night Kitchen.”  It’s about a little boy named Mickey who finds himself in the surreal world of the Night Kitchen, when 3 bakers think he is milk and add him as one of the ingredients to make the morning cake.  Right before they are about to put the cake in the oven Mickey makes an airplane out of the dough and uses it to fly out of the cake and up to a big glass container of milk.  Then dives into the milk singing, and takes some of the milk from the container and pours it into the bakers batter so everyone can have cake in the morning. 

I think back on this book and wonder if it was one of the early influences that peaked my interest in baking?  I still love this book and find the illustrations to be close to perfection.  The picture of Mickey swimming in the milk pictured above is one of my favorites.  I am glad that I have found a new collection of modern books to read to my son that also involve milk and amazing illustrations.  Click here to download the books for free.  Who knows?  Maybe one of these books will not only encourage my son to drink milk before bed, which will help him sleep through the night, but they might also spark his interest in becoming an astronaut in search of the milky way or becoming a baker who will use milk in his cake recipe.

Disclosure: This is part of a sponsored campaign with the California Milk Processor Board and Latina Mom Bloggers. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

Halloween holds such joyous memories for me.  I equate October with creativity, imagination, family closeness, traditional sweet confections, and the kick off to the official holiday season. However you decide to mask your face, as a ghost, mummy, witch, sexy nurse or last years vampire…. make sure you leave enough room to stuff your face with my Halloween Caramel Apples.  Why? Because they are FREAK-ing delicious and simple to make!

Ingredients for Halloween Caramel Apples:

7 – Melissa’s Produce Granny Smith Apples or Pears

7 – popsicle sticks

2 – tablespoons milk

1 – package of caramels (about 50 unwrapped pieces)

melted chocolate of your choice

royal icing or frosting

 Directions:

1. Wash and dry apples and/or pears

2. Insert stick into apple or pear

3. Over a medium low flame in a sauce pan add milk and caramels. Stir until completely melted.

4. Line a platter or cookie sheet with a piece of buttered wax paper.

5. Dip apples into caramel until completely covered, and place on lined platter.

6. Place apples/pears in refrigerator for 1 hour to set.

7. Melt chocolate of your choice, White works well for decorating purposes.

8. Dip caramel apples/pears into chocolate and place back into the fridge for an additional 45 minutes.

9. Once the apples/pears are set remove from fridge and decorate with royal icing or frosting to make a spook-tacular frightfully delicious apple!

10. Enjoy and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I would like to thank Melissa’s Produce for suppling me with all the apples and pears.

Video and photos by: Mando Lopez