Sweet Almond Tamales With Pastry Cream Food

SWEET ALMOND TAMALES WITH PASTRY CREAM

Steps:

• Combine 2 cups milk and 1 cup sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.
• Whisk egg yolks and 2 tablespoons masa harina together in a bowl until well combined. Add to milk, stirring constantly, until pastry cream thickens, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to cool for 1 hour.
• Place corn husks in a bowl, cover with boiling water, and soak for 30 to 60 minutes. Drain, place on a work surface, and cover with a clean, damp towel.
• Place almonds in a heat-proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for a few minutes until cool enough to handle. Slip the almonds out of their skins one by one, leaving the remaining almonds in the warm water. Drain almonds in a colander and finely chop.
• Beat 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add 1 1/4 cups sugar and continue to beat until mixture is very fluffy. Add 2 cups masa harina and baking powder and continue mixing dough by hand. Add milk, 1/4 cup at a time, until dough has a soft and fluffy texture. Mix in rice flour and if necessary, add more milk. Keep kneading dough until it is smooth and moist. Add almonds and continue kneading until dough is smooth and elastic.
• Select 1 wide corn husk or 2 small ones. Spread about 2 tablespoons of dough onto the the corn husk, filling it up to 2 inches from the bottom and 1/4 inch from the top. Add 1 tablespoon of pastry cream down the center of the dough. Fold sides of husk together, one over the other. Fold the bottom of the husk over the seam of the 2 folded sides. Repeat with remaining husks.
• Place a steamer insert into a saucepan and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Bring water to a boil. Add tamales with the open side up and cook until filling is heated through and separates from the husk, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let tamales rest for 15 minutes before serving.

PUFF PASTRY TART FILLED WITH ALMOND CREAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450°F.
• Purée almond paste, granulated sugar, butter, and a pinch of salt in a food processor until smooth. Add 1 egg, vanilla, and almond extract and purée until incorporated. Add flour and pulse until incorporated.
• Roll out 1 puff pastry sheet into an 11 1/2-inch square on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, then brush off excess flour from both sides. Cut out an 11-inch round by tracing around an inverted plate with tip of a paring knife. Transfer round to a buttered large baking sheet (not dark metal, or pastry may brown too much), discarding trimmings, and chill. Repeat procedure with second pastry sheet, leaving round on floured surface.
• Beat remaining egg with a fork and brush some over top of second round. Score round decoratively all over using tip of knife, then make several small slits all the way through pastry, at about 2-inch intervals, to create steam vents.
• Brush some of egg in a 1-inch-wide border around edge of chilled pastry round (on baking sheet). Mound almond cream in center of chilled round, spreading slightly, and bury bean in cream. Immediately cover with decorated round and press edges together lightly. Holding a small spoon with side at an angle, press around edge to seal galette decoratively.
• Bake galette in lower third of oven until puffed and pale golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Dust galette with confectioners sugar and bake in upper third of oven until edge is deep golden brown and shiny, 12 to 15 minutes more. Transfer to a rack to cool slightly, 5 to 10 minutes. Serve warm.

CRUMBLY SWEET PASTRY (PATE SABLEE) WITH ALMONDS

Steps:

• In an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and salt and beat until combined. Stir together flour and almonds and add to butter mixture. Slowly mix just until flour is evenly moistened. Do not let it form a ball. Remove dough from bowl onto a lightly floured work surface and form into 2 balls. Flatten each ball into a disk, wrap well, and refrigerate a minimum of four hours or as long as 4 days.
• These two different pastry doughs have very different textures. The first is flaky due to the incorporation of butter in small pieces: as the dough cooks, the butter melts and the water in it turns to steam and puffs up the dough. The second dough is tender and crumbly: the butter is well creamed as for a cookie; the confectioner's sugar adds tenderness due to the cornstarch it contains; the ground almonds, which can be substituted for some of the flour in any pastry dough recipe, add an interesting graininess.

SWEET ALMOND TAMALES WITH PASTRY CREAM

Steps:

• Combine 2 cups milk and 1 cup sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.
• Whisk egg yolks and 2 tablespoons masa harina together in a bowl until well combined. Add to milk, stirring constantly, until pastry cream thickens, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to cool for 1 hour.
• Place corn husks in a bowl, cover with boiling water, and soak for 30 to 60 minutes. Drain, place on a work surface, and cover with a clean, damp towel.
• Place almonds in a heat-proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for a few minutes until cool enough to handle. Slip the almonds out of their skins one by one, leaving the remaining almonds in the warm water. Drain almonds in a colander and finely chop.
• Beat 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add 1 1/4 cups sugar and continue to beat until mixture is very fluffy. Add 2 cups masa harina and baking powder and continue mixing dough by hand. Add milk, 1/4 cup at a time, until dough has a soft and fluffy texture. Mix in rice flour and if necessary, add more milk. Keep kneading dough until it is smooth and moist. Add almonds and continue kneading until dough is smooth and elastic.
• Select 1 wide corn husk or 2 small ones. Spread about 2 tablespoons of dough onto the the corn husk, filling it up to 2 inches from the bottom and 1/4 inch from the top. Add 1 tablespoon of pastry cream down the center of the dough. Fold sides of husk together, one over the other. Fold the bottom of the husk over the seam of the 2 folded sides. Repeat with remaining husks.
• Place a steamer insert into a saucepan and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Bring water to a boil. Add tamales with the open side up and cook until filling is heated through and separates from the husk, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let tamales rest for 15 minutes before serving.

SWEET TAMALES

Steps:

• Sort corn husks, setting aside any torn ones.
• Soak intact husks in warm water for at least 1 hour or until softened and easy to fold.
• Beat 2/3 cup lard in large bowl until creamy.
• Combine flour, corn meal, sugar, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl.
• Alternately add flour mixture, water and sweetened condensed milk to lard, mixing well after each addition.
• Melt remaining lard and gradually stir into masa mixture, mixing until consistency of thick cake batter (masa).
• Stir in vanilla, raisins and nuts.
• Spread 1/4 cup masa, using back of a spoon, to form a square in the center of one husk.
• Fold right then left edge of husk over masa.
• Fold up bottom edge.
• Repeat with remaining ingredients.
• Place vegetable steamer in pot with lid and add water to just below steamer.
• Arrange tamales upright in steamer rack.
• Cover top of tamales with reserved dry husks and a damp towel and cover.
• Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low.
• Steam, adding water as needed, for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until masa pulls away from husks.

SWEET DESSERT TAMALES

Steps:

• To prepare the filling, place the pine nuts in a hot, dry skillet, toast over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned; set aside.
• Place the butter, baking powder, salt, honey, and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
• Cream on high speed until light and smooth, about 5 minutes.
• Add the masa harina and turn down the speed to low.
• Add the milk, canela, raisins, dried cherries, dried apricots, candied papaya, orange zest, and toasted pine nuts and mix until a firm dough forms.
• Work the dough by hand for about 1 minute, until the dough is thoroughly mixed.
• Divide into 8 equal pieces.
• Drain corn husks and shake dry.
• Tear 16 thin strips (about 1/8 inch wide) from 2 husks and set aside for tying the tamales.
• Lay out the remaining 8 corn husks.
• Take a portion of the dough, place in a corn husk and spread out evenly, leaving about 1-1/2 inches of exposed corn husk at each end and 3/4 inch at each side.
• Bring the sides of the corn husk together, folding the dough; tuck one side of the husk under the other and roll up the tamale so the dough is completely enclosed inside the husk.
• Twist each end and tie with the reserved strips of corn husk.
• Repeat for the remaining tamales.
• Steam the tamales for 30 to 35 minutes over lightly boiling water, adding more boiling water as needed.
• The tamales are done when they feel firm to the touch but are not hard and the dough comes away easily from the husk.