Taquitos & Flautas

Taquitos & Flautas w/ Guacamole

Beef Taquitos & Flautas

Taquito: a corn tortilla wrapped around shredded beef, shredded chicken, or chopped steak and fried to crisp perfection.  Sometimes called a rolled taco.
Flauta: a flour tortilla wrapped around shredded beef, shredded chicken, or chopped steak and fried to crisp perfection.
I'm making both tonight because I had a lot of left over carne asada from the other night.  I like to make these whenever I have a relatively large amount of left over roast or chicken.  They're simple, delicious, and yes, probably super fattening.  I don't make them every day, so get off my back about the fat.  They're good, and in moderation they make me happy.
The taquitos are really crisp and when you bite into one, you get this awesome combination of textures and flavors: tortilla chip crispiness and corniness, and spicy, tender meat.  Mmmmm...
Flautas are pretty remarkable too.  The tortillas crisp up just on the outside, but on the inside it's soft and warm.  It adds a different flavor and texture to the meat and gives you a pretty different experience than the corn tortilla.  They definitely taste a little more decadent and unhealthy than the corn.
The trick to making these is the pre-frying of the tortillas.  If you skip that step, particularly with the corn tortilla, you're going to make yourself crazy with the crumbling tortillas.  You're going to fry them anyway, so why not twice?
These are best served with your favorite salsa, or if you're a guacamole fan like me, with your favorite guac.

Taquitos & Flautas

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (or so) cooked shredded beef or chicken or chopped cooked steak
• 10-12 tortillas (regular corn and/or fajita sized flour)
• canola oil
• taco seasoning or salsa, if meat is not very seasoned

Instructions:

Heat up about 1 1/2 inches of canola oil in a high-rimmed frying pan over medium-high heat.  It should be hot enough so that when you place a tortilla in it, the oil bubbles immediately.

Get a heat-proof plate ready by lining it with a paper towel.  One at a time, quickly fry the tortillas, turning once.  Don't let them fry too long.  About 3-4 seconds is all it takes.  Remove with tongs and place tortillas on plate.  Just pile them on top of one another.  Turn heat off.

Season meat with a little salsa or taco seasoning if you like that flavor.  Otherwise, you can just use the meat as-is, because if it's left over, it's probably already got seasoning on it, right?

Momentarily separate the tortillas to release some of the heat and steam they've got from being stacked.  Place about 2-3 tablespoons of meat (less for corn tortillas, more for flour) about 2/3 the way down a tortilla, arranging the meat into a line.  Fold over that bottom third and roll as tightly as you can without ripping the tortilla.  If you roll too loosely, the meat will fall out and the taquito will unroll, and you won't want to eat them.  Roll tightly and place seam side down on a plate.  Secure the flour tortilla flautas with a toothpick.  Repeat and place taquitos right next to each other so they can keep each other in order (see picture).

Turn the heat back on under the oil.  It should only take a few minutes to come back up to temperature.  Then place as many taquitos as will fit with about 1/4-inch between.  I can fit 4-5 in my frying pan.  Turn taquitos after about 2 minutes, and basically fry them until the ends are a dark golden brown.  Remove with tongs to a paper towel-lined plate to cool.

Serve with salsa and/or guacamole.

Makes 10-12 taquitos

My Chocolate Birthday Cake

Happy Birthday to Me Cake

Four layers of cake, french silk pie filling, mascarpone cream frosting, cocoa whipped cream, and dark chocolate ganache.  Happy birthday to me. This cake was inspired by one of my favorite Cheesecake Factory desserts: Chocolate Tuxedo Cream Cheesecake.  
The cake recipe comes via Ghirardelli, and it came out so tender and soft, it kind of started falling apart before I could cut the layers.  Granted, I let the cakes cool too long in the pans, but still, very tender.
The French silk pie filling is from allrecipes.com, and I have a recipe for the yummy pie here on my blog.
I can't remember where the mascarpone frosting recipe came from...
And the cocoa whipped cream is from a Nestle cocoa box from the '80s.
All in all, this cake is a success and helped make my belated birthday very, very happy.



My Chocolate Birthday Cake


Cake Ingredients (adapted from Ghirardelli.com) :

• 1 cup Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa (or use 1/2 cup ground cocoa powder and increase the total amount of sugar below to 1 1/4 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons King Arthur Flour Cake Enhancer (optional)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cake Instructions: Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Prepare two 8" x 1 1/2" round cake pans by spraying with non-stick cooking spray and then lining with parchment or wax paper circles.  Into a mixer bowl fitted with a whisk attachment, sift flour with ground chocolate, cake enhancer, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Add butter and 3/4 cup buttermilk. Beat on low speed to combine ingredients. Scrape sides of bowl and then beat on low-medium speed for 2 minutes. Add 1/4 cup buttermilk, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat additional 2 minutes.  Spread batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350ºF for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on racks for 10 to 15 minutes; remove from pans.

French Silk Pie Layer Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, but cool
• 1/4 cup white granulated sugar (I prefer C & H sugar)
• 11 unwrapped dark chocolate Dove Promises (about 3 ounces)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs

French Silk Pie Layer Instructions (adapted from allrecipes.com):  

            In a double boiler, melt Dove Promises about 2/3 of the way.  Remove top of double boiler and continue to stir until chocolate is completely melted.  Set aside to cool further.  I recommend cooling until the chocolate starts to thicken slightly so that it won't melt the butter and will be firm enough to withstand the next cake layer on top of it without smooshing out the sides.

            Cream butter.  Gradually add sugar, creaming well.  Blend in melted and cooled chocolate and vanilla.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating 4 minutes after each addition with an electric mixer on medium speed.  

            Start assembling--see below.

Mascarpone Cream Frosting Ingredients:

• 8 oz. mascarpone cheese
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Mascarpone Cream Frosting Instructions:  In a mixer bowl, cream mascarpone, vanilla extract & sugar.  Add cream and whip on high until stiff.  

Cocoa Whipped Cream Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup powdered cocoa
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup hot tap water
• 2 cups cold heavy whipping cream

Cocoa Whipped Cream Instructions: In mixer bowl with a wire whisk attachment, mix cocoa, sugar & hot water, mixing to form a paste.  Allow to cool before adding cream.  Add cream and start mixing on low to incorporate cream into cocoa paste.  Stop the mixer and scrape the bow.  Mix on high until stiff peaks form.

Assembling the Cake:

Once you've made the French silk pie layer, start the assembly process. 

Cut each of the two cakes in half so you have four layers. Place the bottom layer on a serving plate or cake stand.  On the bottom layer, spread the French silk pie filling to within 1/4-inch of the edge.  Place the second layer on; cover & refrigerate until the mascarpone layer is ready.

Spread on the mascarpone frosting to about 1/4-inch of the edge.  Place the third cake layer on top of that.  Spread half the cocoa whipped cream on the cake and top with the final cake layer.  Frost the sides of the cake with the remaining cocoa whipped cream.  Cover the cake and refrigerate.

Ganache Ingredients:

• 10 Dove Dark Chocolate Promises, unwrapped and roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Ganache Instructions:

Place chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl.
In a small pan over medium heat, bring the cream and butter just to a simmer.  Pour cream over chocolate and allow to sit for about 5 minutes.  
Stir to combine chocolate & cream.  
Pour ganache directly in the center of the top of the cake.  As it spreads and drips over the sides, if there are spots with no ganache, make sure you drip or spread some over there.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes one large cake.  You decide how many servings.

For a mini version of this cake, click here.

Carne Asada

Carne Asada made with flank steak.  YUM!

Juicy, spicy, tender, and meaty, carne asada is another perfect way to indulge in the joys of Mexican cuisine.  When I first started shopping at SuperTarget, they sold this "Mexican Grill Seasoning for Beef" under their Archer Farms label.  It made the BEST carne asada I think I've ever had.  As happens with LOTS of awesome finds for me, they don't sell the product around here anymore, and I assume it's been discontinued.  Fortunately, I had stocked up when they were on clearance, so I had time to come up with my own version.  I don't think it's exactly the same, but it's delicious anyway.  I use the same ingredients every time, but I never write down the proportions, so that's why I'm doing it now.  Hopefully I've gotten it right; if not, I will revise, as always.
The recipe below makes enough seasoning to use 4-5 times, depending on how much steak you're fixin'.  I just mix it up and keep it in a handy Ziplock or Glad plastic container (small size).
If you're going to bother with making this, I strongly recommend you buy the freshest, most delicious tortillas you can find, along with some great guacamole.  I usually try to make my own guac, but Wholly Guacamole makes a darned-good store-bought guac.

Carne Asada Seasoning

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons garlic salt
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons dried minced onion
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons oregano leaf
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions:
Place all ingredients in a small bowl and stir.  Store in an airtight container.

Carne Asada

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds flank steak, tri-tip (I cut mine into 3-inch chunks), skirt steak, or top sirloin
• 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons Carne Asada Seasoning
• 2 teaspoons canola oil

Instructions:
Place meat in a large zip-top bag and sprinkle as evenly as possible with the seasoning.  Zip bag and place in refrigerator 2-8 hours.
Preheat your grill on high heat for at least 30 minutes.
Coat the meat with the canola oil by pouring it into the bag and smooshing it around the meat from the outside.
Grill meat over medium-high to high heat, turning once after about 4-5 minutes.  Check the temperature with a probe thermometer.  (I like my steak medium rare, so I cook to 145 degrees.  My handy Williams-Sonoma meat thermometer does most of the work for me by beeping when my steak reaches that temperature.)  When meat has reached desired doneness, move to a plate to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving/slicing.
If you're using flank or top sirloin steak, slice meat on a diagonal.  I serve the long slices of flank steak, and sirloin will chop into smaller pieces sometimes.  Tri-tip chunks get served as-is, and the meat-eater gets to cut it himself/herself.
Serve with warm corn or soft-taco sized flour tortillas, fresh salsa, & guacamole.  Heck, throw on some shredded cheese if that's what makes you happy.
Serves about 4-5 normal people who aren't starving.

Karin's Mexican Rice

Mexican Rice a la Karin

My good friend Karin insisted I try this recipe after I told her that I made Mexican rice from scratch.  It's taken me three months to finally buy some frozen traditional  vegetables to do it, but here it is.  I must say, it is a contender for my favorite Mexican rice.  It tastes just like a lot of Mexican rice I've had at restaurants, and the little veggies make it really authentic.  A fantastic side for any Mexican dinner, and easy too.

I've cut the recipe in half because that's what I did when I made it.  I knew for sure 3 cups of uncooked rice would yield more than we could eat at our little dinner party.  Everyone LOVED the rice, by the way.  

If you're looking for real Mexican rice to go with your meal, this is it.  Do it.

Karin's Mexican Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup white rice (I used long grain; Karin uses medium)
• 1/4 large white or yellow onion, diced
• 3 cups chicken stock or broth*
• 4 oz. tomato sauce (use plain, unseasoned tomato sauce, not paste)
• 3 T. vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup frozen traditional vegetable medley (peas, carrots, corn)
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

In a very large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat until it shimmers in the pan. The oil should be very hot.

Next, add the rice and stir regularly until the rice is a pale toasty brown..

Add the onion and stir for about one minute until opaque in color. The rice should now be a deeper toasty brown.

To the rice, add the chicken broth/stock and tomato sauce. Listen for the applause. You are doing a great job! (It really does applaud you.)

Stir very well until all of the broth and tomato sauce is incorporated throughout the rice. If you don’t stir well, the rice will be red in spots and white in others. You don't want this.

Turn up the heat, and bring the entire mixture up to a boil. Add the frozen vegetables. Turn the heat down to a low simmer. Cover tightly. Simmer for 25 minutes. Turn off the heat. Let the rice sit for 20 minutes. Do not at any point take off the lid. You will be tempted to peek at the rice. Don’t do it!

Fluff up the rice and season to taste. Serve with your favorite Mexican dishes.

*I didn't have chicken stock on hand, and now that I'm typing this, I realize that I only used 2 cups of water, not 3.  The rice turned out fine, as pictured above.  Yes, I said I used water...and I also added 2 1/2 chicken bouillon cubes.  Sorry, Karin.

Makes, oh, I'd say 8 servings.

Salt & Baking Soda Make a Difference

These cookies are from the same batch of dough.
The cookie in the upper right corner is missing salt & baking soda.  Ick.

I knew that it was true that salt makes a big difference in the flavor of foods, but I really don't experiment much to see what food is like with little to no salt.  Last night, though, I made a quick batch of Shakespeare Oatmeal Cookies.  They didn't look at all like the cookies I'd made days before with the same recipe.  The were much paler, puffier, and just all-around anemic looking.  Weird.  Fortunately, I don't bake all of my cookie dough at once.  I leave most in the fridge and bake fresh cookies as "needed."  When I tasted a cookie in the morning, it was a little hard, and had a harsh sugary flavor.  I thought about where I might have gone wrong.  I knew I had added brown sugar as well as white sugar...  It was when I looked at my measuring spoons that I realized that I had added the spices to the dry ingredients, but not the salt or baking soda.

I took the remaining dough out of the fridge and let it soften a little.  Then back into the Kitchen Aid mixer bowl it went, along with almost a teaspoon each of salt & baking soda (I'd baked about 9 cookies in the first batch).  After quickly mixing in the missing ingredients, I returned the dough to its plastic container and then to the fridge.

After work, I baked up some more cookies, and voila!  The soft, browned, chewy cookies I'd intended.  I'm not sure how all the chemistry works with cookie dough.  I do know, though, that salt & baking soda help make cookies delicious.  I won't be forgetting them again anytime soon.

Shakespeare Oatmeal Cookies

Shakespeare Oatmeal Cookies

I got this oatmeal cookie recipe waaaaay back in high school.  A boy named Jeff in our church youth group brought these cookies to some event and they were awesome.  Even back then, I asked for recipes of delicious food, and I've had this one on my trusty little favorite recipe ring for over twenty years. (Yikes, I'm old!)  I have no idea where the name comes from, but that's what I have on the recipe card, so that's what I'm naming this post.

The thing I like about these cookies is that they're not your typical bland oatmeal cookie.  The spices add a whole other dimension and the butter and brown sugar make it melt in your mouth.  You still get the semi-healthy sense of eating oatmeal, but with an added kick.  Good stuff.

In the picture at the bottom of this post, you'll see how I tried to use these cookies for ice cream sandwiches.  Just a small scoop of soft vanilla between two cookies and some freezer time created an even tastier treat.  

(*I've kicked this cookie recipe up another notch by adding candied orange zest.  If you're interested in THAT, I have the recipe for Orange Spice Oatmeal Cookies here on this blog.  Just click on the cookie name you just read.)

Shakespeare Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 3 cups quick cooking oats 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp  ground cinnamon ¼ tsp  ground cloves 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

3/4 cup butter 1/4 cup vegetable shortening 1 cup light brown sugar 1 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs

Instructions:

Sift flour, salt, soda, & spices together.  Stir in oats.

Cream butter, shortening, & sugars.  Beat in eggs.  Stir in dry ingredients and blend well. Refrigerate dough for at least two hours or overnight. (I don't recommend freezing this dough.)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Form dough into walnut-sized balls and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Bake at 350° for 10-13 minutes, or until puffed in the middle, and set around the edges.  Allow cookies to cool on wire rack.

Makes about 4 1/2 to 5 dozen cookies.

Oatmeal cookies with vanilla ice cream

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

So, somehow I ended up on the planning committee for the women's retreat at my church.  Another chronic non-participator on the committee thinks we were invited to be on the committee just to get us to go.  I think I might agree.  That's not really the point of this post, but it's noteworthy.  I'm in charge of food, so I decided to make some cookie dough balls to bake at the retreat, for our lunch dessert.  This was a good opportunity to try a cookie I don't normally make: white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. 

I  don't often think about these cookies, but whenever I eat a high quality one, I think to myself, "Mmmm...why don't I make these more often?"  The problem is the availability of reasonably-priced REAL white chocolate.  Don't even suggest I use those "white baking morsels."  They end up scorched and hard in cookies.  Uh-uh.  I refuse.  So, when I had $150 gift card to the King Arthur Flour website, I decided to go ahead and spend $9.95 of my money on a pound of Barry Callebaut white chocolate chunks.  

Next, I found a recipe at my favorite recipe site, allrecipes.com.  I read the reviews and followed some of the reviewers' suggestions, and came up with the recipe below.  The white chocolate chunks are FANtastic, and the cookies are perfect.  I think I'll be making these cookie again (especially since I have some of those expensive chunks left).

Oh, and a special note about macadamia nuts: be sure to taste one before adding them to your cookie dough.  There's nothing worse than wasting expensive white chocolate by baking it into cookies with rancid nuts.  Ugh.  Believe me, I've done it.  Taste the nuts first.  Actually, that's probably a good rule to follow with all nuts.  Once you know they're good, seal up the leftovers and freeze them.  That's your best bet.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

    --adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
• 1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, Crisco, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla extract. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture just until combined. Stir in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. (*As usual, I refrigerate my dough and scoop into balls that I place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and freeze.  Once dough is frozen, I place the balls in a gallon sized zip top bag.)
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until puffed and golden brown on edges.  Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Buttermilk Biscuits

I love most biscuits.  At least, the kind I get at restaurants. The best, though, are the biscuits served at Knott's Berry Farm's Chicken Dinner Restaurant. Oh my goodness. They are soft and tender on the inside with a super-fine crumb; dark brown, chewy and a little crisp on top; and crisp and slightly greasy (yes, greasy) on the bottom. Put some butter or some boysenberry jam in the middle and you're pretty close to heaven. Seriously.
I can't say that the recipe below tastes just like the Knott's biscuits, but they're close enough for me. Very moist and tender on the inside with a nice buttery, chewy browned top and a nicely browned bottom. I love mine with butter. Plenty of butter.
The recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated Magazine. One of my favorites. My copy of the issue that this recipe comes from (July & August 2004), is grease spotted with a bit of crusted batter here and there. I've scanned it and PDF'd it to save on my computer, but it needs to be blogged about. So here it is. Thank you, Cook's Illustrated, for all of your awesome contributions to the culinary world. I love you.

Tall and Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits
   --adapted from Cook's Illustrated Magazine, Volume 96, July & August 2004

Ingredients
Dough

• 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 1 1/2 cups cold buttermilk

To Form & Finish Biscuits

• 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, distributed in rimmed baking sheet
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 500 degrees F.  Generously butter an 8 or 9-inch round cake pan.  Set aside.
2. For the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, & baking soda.  Add butter cubes and cut in with a pastry blender until mixture resembles pebbly, coarse cornmeal.  Add buttermilk and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated.  Dough will be wet and lumpy.
3. To form and bake biscuits:  Using a large spoon, scoop up about 1/4 cup and scrape dough blob off with a rubber spatula onto the flour-filled baking sheet.  Start with about 3 or 4 blobs.  Dust tops of blobs with some of the flour and toss gently with floured hands to coat blob with flour.  Gently shape each blob into a rough ball, shake off excess flour, and place in prepared cake pan.  Repeat until the dough is used up, arranging 9 biscuits around pan perimeter and three in the middle.  Brush or spoon melted butter on top, taking care not to flatten the biscuits.  Bake 5 minutes at 500 degrees, then reduce oven temperature to 450 degrees and make until biscuits are a deep golden brown, about 12-15 more minutes.  (I usually check at around 12 minutes, move the pan to my baking stone on the bottom rack of my oven, and then bake for another 3-4 minutes.)  Cool in pan 2 minutes, then invert biscuits from pan onto clean kitchen towel; turn biscuits right side up and break apart.  Cool 5 minutes longer and serve hot.
*These freeze well wrapped in foil and sealed in a zip-top bag.  Reheat in foil in a 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until heated through.
Makes 12 biscuits.

The fluffy interior with butter.  Mmmmm...