It's Always About the Food

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.  We had a wonderful time with friends and family on both days.  What a way to end the year and start a new one!  And in true Padilla-Casillas family style, no get-together is complete without delicious food.

On New Year's Eve, Jeanette and my mom made Enmoladas which are like Enchiladas except instead of dipping the corn tortilla in enchilada sauce you dip it in mole sauce.  They were so delicious and I was so excited that I totally forgot to take a picture of them.  Sorry!  But trust me, if you like mole, you will love Enmoladas.

I made Ceasar Salad Deviled Eggs, recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen.  Deviled eggs are good but they're not something I usually think of making.  They are deceitfully laborious.  But I was intrigued by this recipe and judging by how fast they flew off the platter, I'm guessing they were pretty good.

I also baked these Churro Cupcakes.

I love churros, especially when they are filled with Dulce De Leche, so when I came across this recipe on Love and Olive Oil, I knew I had to make them.  In their recipe, they filled the cupcakes with chocolate pudding and topped them with a chocolate whipped cream frosting.  Since I like my churros filled with Dulce De Leche, I decided to fill the cupcakes with that and since it was New Year's Eve, I opted for a champagne buttercream frosting which I found on i am baker.  The result:  Pure Joy!!!

It's so easy to make your own Dulce De Leche, it's dangerous.  At a zillion calories a spoonful, it's a good thing I don't remember to make it often.  But anyway, here's how to make it:

Take a can of condensed milk and place it in a stock pot with about 6 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Once the water comes to a rapid boil, lower heat to simmer and cover pot.  You will leave on simmer for 2 to 3 hours depending on how dark and thick you want the Dulce De Leche.   Please be very careful not to exceed the cooking time of 3 hours because the can will eventually explode and you will have a huge mess.  This happened to my grandmother once.  For the cupcakes I wanted it to be a little runny so that I can fill them easily, so I cooked it for about 2 hours.  My thought was to pipe it into the cupcakes but then I decided to cut the tops off of the cupcakes and spoon it in just like it said to do in the recipe.

Here you will see the difference in color and texture of the Dulce De Leche.  The one on the top was cooked for 2 hours and the one on the bottom was cooked for 3 hours. 

You can make the Dulce De Leche ahead of time as it will keep in the refrigerator for about two weeks.

Once I had baked the cupcakes, I cut out a cone-shaped well and filled them with the Dulce De Leche.

To the tops, I cut off a little from the pointy end so that they fit back on nicely.  Don't worry about the seams because you will cover them with the frosting.

These were so delicious.  I can't wait to make them again!

For New Year's Day, we had a spontaneous small gathering at our house.  The day was so beautiful and warm.  David and Mr. Casillas decided to make shrimp two ways; David: Camarones Agua Chile, which is kind of like a shrimp ceviche, Mr. Casillas: Spicy Shrimp Tacos (don't know if the recipe has an actual name).  I don't have the recipes for these but if you are interested, leave a comment and I will get them.

David's Camarones Agua Chile

Mr. Casillas' Spicy Shrimp Tacos

It is both a blessing and a curse to have a foodie family.  Now that there are 5 pounds more of me to love, you can all guess what one of my New Year's resolutions is.

Have a blessed year!

XOXO