Showing posts with label pie. Show all posts
Pay de Elote is a delicious baked Mexican pie with a creamy sweet corn custard flavored with cinnamon.



Longtime readers of my cocina blog might remember that this blog's tagline used to be "Celebrating food, family, and life in Mexico." Well, the tagline might have disappeared, but my belief that there is always something to celebrate still holds true. And today is no exception because La Cocina de Leslie is celebrating it's 7th blog birthday/anniversary!

Pay de Elote (Sweet Corn Pie)

Add this delicious piloncillo pudding filled pie topped with whipped cream and Mexican cajeta to your holiday dessert table.



Thanksgiving week is finally here! Bring on the food! Freshly baked bread rolls, roast turkey (or chicken), creamy mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and stuffing galore. And let's not forget the pies.Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without a couple slices of pie before happily slipping into a food coma. One pie we'll be serving this year is this Piloncillo Cream Pie. I've been making Piloncillo Pudding for years, at first as an alternative to butterscotch pudding as brown sugar wasn't readily available, but because pudding pies are my favorite kind of pie Piloncillo Cream Pie quickly became a family favorite.

Piloncillo Cream Pie



Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie - lacocinadeleslie.com

Tomorrow Hubby and I will be celebrating 21 years of wedded bliss. And I can't think of a better way to celebrate than with this Pay de Queso y Calabaza. This Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie combines the fall flavor of pumpkin pie with the creamy goodness of cheesecake in one irresistible dessert. It's the best of both worlds, just like our marriage.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie (Pay de Queso y Calabaza)


Happy Mother's Day!  I celebrated a few days earlier because here in Mexico El Dia de las Madres (Mother's Day) is always celebrated on May 10th, no matter what day of the week it falls on.

I spent the better part of the day locked in my bedroom hiding from the dust from the debris the construction workers working on my house were clearing out.  While I was in there I painted a few walls, rearranged the furniture, purged our old clothes and shoes, and then painted some of the furniture.  I know it doesn't sound like a great way to spend Mother's Day, but believe me it couldn't have been a better day.  It was actually one of the best Mother's Day I've ever had.

Of course, Hubby and the kiddies spoiled me rotten!  First they serenaded me with Las Mañanitas (a traditional celebration song sung at birthdays and holidays like Mother's Day).  Then they gave me breakfast in bed and showered me with hugs, kisses, flowers, handmade gifts, cards, drawings, and even more hugs and kisses.  Later in the day my suegro (father-in-law) bought lunch so I didn't have to cook.  Then the 7 of us went for a walk at la presa (our town's reservoir).  We visited Hubby's grandmother and an aunt who is visiting from the States.  And then Hubby and I had a romantic dinner together.  I definitely felt the Mother's Day love.

My favorite gift of the day, aside from the bedroom makeover, was a reversible wooden tabletop Hubby made for my food pics.  (Sigh!)  It's absolutely gorgeous! It's a lovely shade of coral-pink on one side, and natural wood on the other.  I couldn't have asked for a more perfect gift.  And the fact that Hubby made it for me, without me so much as hinting at it, is just icing on the cake whipped cream on the pie.

So to thank Hubby and the kiddies for giving me such a wonderful Mother's Day, and to try out my new tabletop, I whipped them up a sweet treat...Mini Coconut Pies.  Hubby and the kiddies aren't crazy about coconut as a garnish on cakes and pies, or anything else for that matter, but they do love Pay de Coco, because it's soft and creamy and tastes like Cocada (a traditional Mexican coconut candy).

It's a really easy pie to put together.  All you need for the filling is 3 ingredients: eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and shredded coconut.   If you don't want to bake a bunch of individual mini pies, you can bake it in a regular 9-inch pie plate.  I used Galletas Maria's for my cookie crumb pie crust, but you can use graham crackers, or you can use a ready made graham cracker crust.

If you like coconut macaroons, then you are going to LOVE these Mini Pays de Coco!


Pay de Coco 
(Coconut Pie)

Ingredients:

  • 1 packet Maria's cookies
  • 1/3 cup melted butter
  • 2 cups shredded sweetened coconut
  • 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 3 eggs 


Directions:
In a blender or food processor, grind the Maria's Cookies until very fine.  Or place the cookies in a large plastic baggie and flatten with a rolling pin until very fine.  Combine the cookie crumbs in a bowl with the melted butter; stir until well combined. 


Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of the cookie mixture into each of the mini-pie molds. (You'll get about 4 to 8 mini-pies depending on the size of your mini-pie molds.)  Press the cookie crumb mixture along the bottom and sides of the molds.  Refrigerate until ready to use.  


Puree 1 cup of the coconut with the sweetened condensed milk and the eggs, until smooth and creamy.  (About 2 minutes.)  Pour the puree into a medium bowl and stir in the remaining cup of shredded coconut.  Ladle the coconut mixture into prepared mini-pie molds.


Arrange on the mini-pie molds on a baking sheet.  Bake at 350°F for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the tops of the pie turn a light golden brown and the pie centers no longer jiggle when lightly shaken.  Let cool to room temperature.  Garnish with a dollop of whipped cream.


Enjoy!!!   



Receta en español 

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Mini Pays de Coco (Coconut Pie)





Can you believe that Thanksgiving is just a few days away?  November is just zooming on by.  I haven't even thought about what I'm going to make for Thanksgiving.  We'll probably have chicken, since I can never seem to find a turkey.  But other than that, the only thing I know for sure that I will be making is pie.  Lots and lots of super yummy holiday pies.  And that's exactly what Girlichef and I are making this month for She Made/Ella Hace.

Every year for Thanksgiving, and Christmas, I bake a pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie, a Pay de Cajeta (Cajeta Pie), and a Pecan Pie.  But not just any pecan pie, my Hubby's favorite Cajeta Pecan Pie!

This recipe came about quite by accident one year for Thanksgiving when I was preparing my traditional Pecan Pie, and realized I didn't have enough maple syrup.  Instead of heading out to the store to buy more maple syrup, I looked in my pantry to see if there was something, anything I could use as a substitute.  That's when I saw the big jar of cajeta, a goat's milk caramel sauce, that my suegra had taken us as a gift on one of her visits to the States.  The results were so good, that pie was the first to disappear that Thanksgiving.  Cajeta and pecans were made for eachother. I made another pecan pie with just the cajeta the very next day along with a creamier Cajeta Pie without pecans.  They've been a holiday tradition every since.

When you're done here, be sure to visit Girlichef's Spiced Maple Pecan Pie w/ Star Anise!  Doesn't that sound delicious?



Cajeta Pecan Pie

Ingredients:
  • 1 cup Cajeta (dulce de leche or caramel sauce)
  • 1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt 
  • 1 prepared graham cracker crust or Maria's Cookies Pie Crust 
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.


In a medium bowl, whisk together the cajeta, melted butter, eggs, and salt until well combined.


Pour the cajeta mixture into the pre-made graham cracker pie crust.  Place the pie crust on top of a larger cookie sheet.  (I do this for all the pies I bake in case the pie contents overflow.)  Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes or until the center of the pie no longer jiggles.


Remove from oven.  Let cool to room temperature; refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.  Enjoy!!!


And now for a special bonus, and because you can never have too much pie, and because I always bake these two pies together, here is my recipe for Pay de Cajeta (Cajeta Pie)


Pay de Cajeta 
(Cajeta Pie)  

Ingredients:
  • 1-1/2 cups Cajeta or dulce de leche
  • 1 (12 oz. can) evaporated milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 pre-made graham cracker crust or Maria's Cookies Pie Crust
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the evaporated milk, cajeta, eggs, and salt until well combined.



Pour the cajeta mixture into the pre-made graham cracker crust.  Place pie on top of a larger cookie sheet to bake.  Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until the center of the pie no longer jiggles.


Remove pie from oven and let cool to room temperature.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.  Top each slice with a dollop of whipped cream.  Enjoy!!!


Now head on over to Girlichef's blog to check out her amazing Spiced Maple Pecan Pie w/ Star Anise




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Holiday Pies: Cajeta Pecan Pie & Pay de Cajeta {She Made/Ella Hace}

Can you believe that it's already September?  Where did August go?  And more importantly, where did summer disappear to?  I know "technically" summer starts June 20th/21st and usually ends on my birthday (Sept. 22nd).  But for those of us with kiddies, summer is that long vacation when the kiddies are out of school.

Here in Mexico, we definitely get the short end of the stick.  Hope (my eldest) only had five weeks of summer vacation, while the other kiddies got six.  Sure we enjoyed our summer vacation and all, but five or six weeks is not nearly enough time to do all of the fun things we wanted to do this summer.  And I didn't even have time to make my favorite summer pie...Fresh Mango Pie with Maseca Crumb Topping.

I've been making this pie every summer for as long as Hubby and I have been married.  (We'll be celebrating our 18th anniversary in October!)  So for us, it really isn't summer without this pie.  And what better time to make it than right before Labor Day, the US's unofficial end of summer?  You can take the girl out of the US, but you can't take away her love of American holidays.  (FYI: Labor Day in Mexico is May 1st.)

If you're a fan of peach pie, then you're going to love Fresh Mango Pie.

*When choosing your mangoes, you want them more unripened than ripened.  Because the riper the mango, the greater chance of your mango filling turning to mush.


Fresh Mango Pie w/ Maseca Crumb Topping

Maseca (Masa Harina) Pie Crust: 
  • 1-1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup masa harina (I used Maseca)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt 
  • 2/3 cup cold butter 
  • 2 tablespoons very cold water
Mango Filling: 
  • 6 mangoes (slightly unripened), peeled and sliced
  • 1 lime, juice only
  • 1-1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 to 2/3 cup cornstarch* (I used unflavored Maizena) 
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 2 tablespoons cold butter, cut up in small pieces
Crumb Topping: 
  • 4 to 6 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:
Let's start with the pie crust.  Combine the flour, masa harina, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.  Using a potato masher, mash the butter into the flour mixture until most of the flour has been incorporated and no large pieces of butter are visible.


Using a wooden spoon, stir in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough forms a ball.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.


Preheat oven to 350F.  Between 2 sheets of plastic wrap roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness.  Carefully transfer the dough to a pie plate.  Trim off excess pie dough.  With a fork, pork holes in the pie crust to prevent the dough from rising during baking.  Reserve the dough scraps for later use.  (You should have enough dough leftover to almost fill a one-cup measuring cup.)



In a large bowl, combine the mango slices and lime juice.  Stir in the sugar, cornstarch, ground cinnamon, and ground ginger.  Pour mango filling into pastry-lined pie plate.  Dot with the 2 tablespoons of butter.  *The riper your mangoes, the more cornstarch you'll need.  Since half of my mangoes were kind of ripe, I used 2/3 cup of cornstarch.

To make the crumb topping, combine the leftover dough with brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and finely chopped pecans.  (I like to use my potato masher to mix my crumb topping.)  Crumble pieces of the crumb topping on top of the mango filling.


Place pie plate on top of a larger cookie sheet, in case some of the filling bubbles over.  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.  If crust and topping is browning too fast, cover lightly with aluminum foil and continue baking for another 20 minutes.  Let cool to room temperature.


Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Enjoy!!!


You might also like my Creamy Mango Pie.

For more delicious ideas to help you celebrate Labor Day and the end of summer, be sure to check out these #SundaySupper recipes: 

Starters & Snacks

Main Dishes

Salads & Sides

Drinks

Desserts

Wine Pairings

  • Labor Day Cookout Food And Wine Pairings by ENOFYLZ
Please be sure you join us on Twitter throughout the day during #SundaySupper. We’ll be meeting up at 7:00 p.m. EST for our weekly #SundaySupper  live chat where we’ll talk about our favorite cookout recipes!
All you have to do is follow the #SundaySupper hashtag, or you can follow us throughTweetChat!
We’d also love to feature your Cookout recipes on our #SundaySupper Pinterest board and share them with all of our followers!

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Fresh Mango Pie w/ Maseca Crumb Topping #SundaySupper



If you have liked learning new ways (Mexican Chocolate Brownies & Chocolate Chip Cookies) to use Mexican chocolate tablets for recipes other than Mexican Hot Chocolate, Champurrado and Mole Dulce, then you are going to love today's recipe: Mexican Chocolate Cream Pie.

I have been craving a Chocolate Cream Pie pretty much all summer, but since I didn't have a fridge, I couldn't make it.  But last week, that all changed.  Someone got a new fridge and is now going to be able to make all kinds of icebox goodies.

My Mexican Chocolate Cream Pie starts with a Maria's Cookie Crust filled with a creamy Mexican Chocolate Pudding with just the slightest hint of cinnamon and topped with a light and airy meringue that is just sinfully delicious!   

Mexican Chocolate Cream Pie

Ingredients:

  • Galletas Maria's pie crust
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch (I used unflavored Maizena)
  • 2 pinches of salt (about 1/4 teaspoon)
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 tablet Mexican chocolate (Abuelita or Ibarra brand) 
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 6 tablespoons powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Directions:
If you haven't already done so, prepare the Maria's Cookies Pie Crust; refrigerate until ready to use.



Separate the egg yolks and egg whites; set aside.  (I do this step first, because this gives the eggs a chance to warm up to room temperature, which makes them easier to beat.)



In a medium saucepan, combine the 3 tablespoons cornstarch, the granulated sugar and a pinch of salt (about 1/8 of a teaspoon).



 Slowly pour in the milk, whisking constantly with a wire whisk to prevent any lumps from forming.



Add Mexican chocolate to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring contstantly, until the mixture begins to boil and thicken slightly.
 


Remove the saucepan from heat for a moment while you temper the eggs.  Pour 1/3 cup of the hot chocolate liquid into the small bowl with the egg yolks, whisk immediately until well combined.  Pour the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan and return the saucepan to the medium heat.



Let cook for one minute or until the mixture returns to a boil.  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.  Voila!  You now have Mexican Chocolate Pudding!



Pour the hot pudding into the prepared pie crust.



You can stop here and enjoy a nice No-Bake Mexican Chocolate Cream Pie!  All you have to do is let it cool to room temperature.  Top with whipped cream and refrigerate for at least 3 hours until ready to serve.


But you still have those egg whites sitting on the counter.  You might as well take advantage of them.  



Preheat your oven to 400F.  In a small bowl, mix together the 6 tablespoons of powdered sugar, the teaspoon of cornstarch and the remaining pinch of salt.



Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 1 minute.



Whisk in the powdered sugar mixture, a third at a time, until well combined. 



Continue beating the egg whites until the sugar has dissolved and the egg whites have turned glossy.



Spread the egg whites over the chocolate filling, making sure to seal the edges so that none of the  filling escapes. 



Bake at 400F for about 10 minutes or until the meringue has turned a light golden brown.
Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.  Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. 




Enjoy!!!



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Mexican Chocolate Cream Pie