The twinkling of light that glimmers through these cookies is the old magic of Christmas. It will forever remind me of days when I was only a few years into this life and Christmas was made of candy cane, sugar plums, yummy fruit cakes and stained glass cookies.  They remind me of a blizzard-like fairy tale.  They could be used for all types of reasons… for instance:

If your reindeer gets lost in the woods, let your Christmas Stained Glass Cookies lead him back to the sleigh. 
If you’re feeling sappy and don’t want anyone to hear you singing “Kumbaya” line up your cookies “camp fire style” and sing away. 

If you want to creep in on Santa as he drops off his gifts, you can look through the cookie and he would never know you’re there. You little spy, you. 

If you feel the need for an Andy Warhol factory inspired cookie photo shoot, the Christmas Stained Glass Cookies is all the rage.

I like to call them “cooking carnivals” a day when all I do is cook and bake.  I almost wish I could take it a step further and hang a sign on my door that lets everyone know to stay out of the kitchen.  Last week I was having one of those days.  I made chorizo stuffing, sweet potato casserole, gingerbread pumpkin empanadas and then I realized I had all the ingredients to make a flan with some of the left over items from the dishes I had created.  Here it is, my first pumpkin flan.  I never got to taste it myself, it was gone before I knew it.  Happy Holidays!

Ingredients for Pumpkin Flan:

• 1/2 – cup cajeta
• 4 – ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1 – 12 0z. can of evaporated milk
• 1 – 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 – tablespoon vanilla extract
• 5 – large eggs
• 1 – cup canned or fresh pumpkin puree
• 1/2 – teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• pomegranate seeds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit

Spray a bundt pan with a non stick baking spray, then fill the bottom with cajeta.

   

In a blender add cream cheese, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, eggs, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice. Blend for a minute or until completely combined. Pour flan mixture over the cajeta filled bundt pan.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place inside a large pyrex baking dish. Pour hot water into the pyrex baking dish to fill up half way.

Then place the baking dish into the oven and bake for 1 hour.

Once out of the oven, remove from water bath and uncover to allow cooling. Run a small knife around the edge to ensure it from sticking.  Let the flan rest for two hours then flip it over onto a plate. Slowly lift pan up away from plate. Then put in the fridge for 5 hours or overnight.  When ready to serve sprinkle with pomegranate seeds. ENJOY!!!!!!

I’m the wide-eyed bushy tail type who enjoys feeling happy.  I usually wake up in a pretty good mood and full of energy.  Then there are those mornings when I need just a little something to set my “perk-me-up” meter to high and I call it Morning Dessert.  You see, I have run around my whole life telling people “I detest oatmeal, it’s slimey and has what I imagine would be the consistency of eating….” I won’t even finish what I have said, just know it’s not good.  When I experimented with Oatmeal and discovered that it is actually amazing if cooked right, I realized I may have to EAT MY WORDS (something I don’t like to do).  What if I just call it my Morning Dessert, instead of Oatmeal?  It’s sweet and creamy milky and full of fruit… just like many of the desserts I enjoy.  That’s it!  Then I never have to think of that old slime again, I can imagine something decadent and rustic in it’s place.

All this creamy milky dessert talk made me think of my old friend, El Maestro.  He has some exciting stuff going on right now with a new web series called “El Vaso Medio Lleno.”  I seem to be on the same wavelength with El Maestro del Vaso Medio Lleno on several levels these days.

1. We both are always looking for the positive side of life
2. We both have a webisode series, except his is new and is airing from now to January 6th. Click here to see his.
3. We both love desserts made with milk.
4. We both want you to subscribe to our You Tube Channels.  Click here to subscribe to his.  Click here to subscribe to mine. PLEASE. 🙂

Here’s a little treat,  El Maestro’s first video.  Lucky for him he was able to land an  interview and learn how to make flan from the owner’s daughter of the well respected bakery PORTOS in Los Angeles.  Have you tried their Tres Leches with fresh fruit on top?  Its the best but that’s a creamy milky dessert of a different story.  Watch the video you’ll learn to make their flan too!

In the meantime here’s what you need to make my morning dessert. 

Ingredients for Morning Dessert:

A bowl of hot oatmeal

sweet stewed apples

a hearty granola filled with pepitas, raisins, dried cranberries, and almonds

2 – tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/2 – cup of milk

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and enjoy the best morning dessert. 🙂 It’s full of fiber too. Wink. Wink.

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

With very little reception on my phone I found myself completely disconnected from the outside world and in the midst of a Melissa’s Produce Apple Tour.  I reveled in the thought of pretending to be Snow White lost in the apple forest.  I wondered what it would be like at night if I snuck out there in the middle of nowhere or as they call it, Cuyama Orchard’s – Organic Apple Farm,  located near Ojai just on the other side of the Santa Barbara Mountains.  A place where the golf-ball sized sweet Crimson Gold is grown on dwarf trees to ensure all the apples get plenty of sun.  We learned directly from the farmers about the measurement of sugar through brix and how they pick the apples.  Did you know when an apple is ready to be picked it will come off the apple tree with very little pull?

It was a great day of apple adventures and we got to bring a bounty of apples home with us to make apple recipes galore.  At first I made an Oatmeal Crumble Apple Crisp, and now I made Apple Pecan Cinnamon Buns (Recipe to listed below).  Enjoy a few photos from my day on the farm and then bake some buns.

Ingredients for Apple Pecan Cinnamon Buns:

• 1 – 17.03 oz box puff pastry (2 sheets)
• 1/2 – stick room temperature butter (plus a little more to grease pan with)
• 1/2 – cup dark brown sugar
• 1 – teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 – teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 – cup chopped pecans
• 1 – cup Melissa’s Produce Crimson Gold Apples or Gala Apples (peeled, and chopped into 1/2 an inch bite size pieces)
• 1 – egg
• 1 – tablespoon water

Ingredients for Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/2 – stick butter (room temperature)
• 4 – oz cream cheese (room temperature)
• 3/4 – cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 – teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 – tablespoons whole milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit

Lightly grease an 8-inch cake pan with butter or a non-stick cooking spray. Set to the side.

On a clean surface, unfold both sheets of puff pastry and spread with 2 tablespoons of butter each. Set to the side

In a little bowl mix sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together until well combined. Then divide it evenly among the two butter lined puff pastry sheets, and spread it even.

Then top both with a 1/2 cup of diced apples each.

Carefully roll puff pastry into a tight neat roll. With a fork press down all along the seam of the roll.

In a small bowl mix egg and water to make an egg wash. Then brush apple cinnamon roll with egg wash along the fork impressed seam.

Next, with a sharp knife cut roll into 1 1/2 inch pieces and place in the greased 8-inch cake pan. Both rolls will fit into 1 pan. Leave a little room between each roll, as they will expand during baking.

Then sprinkle top with pecans.

Bake for 30 minutes on middle rack.

You could eat them like this or you could make the frosting for the top.

For the frosting, combine all ingredients in a mixer and beat for 5 minutes. Dollop over the top of your buns! Enjoy!

The Ooooie Goooie chocolate will draw you in.  The worms will tickle your tongue. This Halloween cake will be the slime of the party.  I made this dessert with rats banging at my back door to get a bite of my worm cake.  I didn’t answer but one managed to get in just in time for cake cutting. Let the festivities begin.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN…….

Ingredients for worm cake:

2 – boxes of Devil’s food chocolate cake mix

eggs, water and vegetable oil

2 – can of milk chocolate frosting

1 – bag of gummy worms

chocolate cookie crumbs

Bake cakes according to instruction on the box for a total of four 8 inch cakes. Allow to cool completely.

Place first layer on a cake stand and frost with 1/2 of can of milk chocolate frosting, then add second layer and repeat till done with all cake layers and both cans of frosting.

Then poke holes into cake with a straw and insert gummy worms into holes so they can pop out. Then dust entire cake with cookie crumbs.

SCARY HALLOWEEN CAKE …. made easy.

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.

“Stop acting like a hungry little monkey”, those words came spilling out of my mouth faster than I could catch them.  I didn’t say it in a mean way,  I just said it as a matter of fact.  You see my friend Karla was over and I had just come from buying a bunch of fruit to curb this Bionico craving that had been hankering at the back of my tongue for the last couple of days. When I mentioned in passing I was going to start working on a dish of bionico, she turned into a hyper, nagging, relentless little infected blister.  Saying to me every other minute “Are you going to make that bionico?”, “What time are you going to make the bionico?”, “How much bionico are you going to make?”,  “Can I take some home?”  I felt like her energy turned into a nervous twitch and if she could scratch the side of her ribcage and make ooooh and ahhhh sounds she would.  Don’t get me wrong, I understand the power of the bionico, but she was acting straight out grubby. I started to feel uneasy and wanted to protect and hover over my now sacred bionico…. thats when I just blurted it out,  “Stop acting like a hungry little monkey.” Her eyes grew wide, I don’t know if she was embarrassed or if she was just stunned by the reality of my words. It was too late, the truth was on the table.  I tried to glaze over what had just happened by abruptly shifting gears with a long,  sincere explanation of how September is National Organics Month, and Whole Foods Market is celebrating with an abundance of fresh, organic grapes in stores all month long.  This eased the blow, then I whipped up a big bowl of  bionico and forced myself to share half with her.

Ingredients for Bionico: 

1 1/2- cups organic red grapes (sliced in half)

1/2 – cup organic green grapes (sliced in half)

2 – sliced bananas

1 1/2 – cups peeled and chopped mango

1 1/2 – cups watermelon (cubed)

1 – cup green apple (cubed)

1 – cup pineapple (cubed)

1 – cup strawberries (sliced)

1/2 – cup sugar

3/4 – cup sour cream

1/2 – cup raisins

1/2 – cup chopped almonds

Mix all fruit in a big bowl.

Then in a small bowl mix sugar, and sour cream together until smooth. Then pour over mixed fruit and mix well.

Serve in a serving bowl and sprinkle with raisins and almonds. Enjoy!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Whole Foods Market, but the recipe and opinions are my own.