Sweet Tamales With Yams And Pecans Food

SWEET TAMALES (TAMALES DULCES)

Steps:

• Place butter and sugar in a medium size bowl and, with the help of a mixer, beat for a couple of minutes until it has a creamy texture. About 2 minutes.
• In a larger bowl, mix Masa Harina, baking Powder and raisins. Stir well and then add the warm water little by little.
• While mixing the dry ingredients with the water, add the drops of red food coloring. Mix well to have a uniform color.
• Once you've incorporated the food coloring into the dough, it will look slightly pink. Now add the butter and sugar mixture.
• Beat the dough with your hands or a wooden spoon, as the dough is somehow too heavy to work with your mixer unless you have a Heavy Duty Stand Mixer like Kitchen Aid. The dough will be ready when it looks fluffy and creamy, like a very soft ice cream. If your dough seems too dry, add a little more water. The consistency has to be very soft.
• Drain the corn husks from the soaking water. Place about 1/3 cup of the dough over the corn husk and wrap the tamal. If you're also making savory tamales, you can tie the sweet tamales in order to differentiate them from the savory ones. Keep assembling the rest of the tamales.
• Place the tamales standing up in your steam pot (Tamalera), add about an inch of hot water, cover with corn husks, aluminum foil or a plastic bag, and then cover with the pot lid. Cook for 1 to 1 1/4 hour at medium heat. Add more hot water if needed to avoid burning the tamales.

SWEET TAMALES WITH YAMS AND PECANS

Steps:

• Place yam in a steamer basket and steam for 15 minutes or until very tender; mash with brown sugar and 2 tablespoons butter; set aside.
• Place masa, remaining butter, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat in enough broth to make a soft dough. Lightly stir in yam mixture and pecans, leaving some small chunks of yam and taking care not to overmix.
• Spoon about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of mixture in the center of each corn husk, depending on how large you want them to be. Fold in sides, then tie the ends with small strips of corn husk. (Go ahead and make a square knot on each end--when they are cooked, the knotted strip slips right off the ends.).
• Place in a steamer basket and cook, covered, for 1 hour. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes before serving with Chipotle Cream.
• For Chipotle Cream: Stir together sour cream and minced canned chipotle pepper. Add more adobo sauce to taste.
• Chef tip: For a great appetizer, make these in mini size. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of yam mixture into a smaller piece of corn husk; steam for only 30 minutes.

CANDIED YAMS WITH PECANS

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add yams and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Drain and transfer to a bowl with butter, 4 tablespoons brown sugar, cream, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Mash until all ingredients are incorporated and butter is melted. Transfer to a casserole dish and sprinkle with remaining brown sugar and cinnamon. Arrange pecans and marshmallows over the top.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

SWEET POTATO TAMALE

Steps:

• If using dried corn husks: About 2 hours before you plan to form the tamales, clean the husks under running water. Soak them in warm water for 2 hours, or until softened.
• Put the corn, onion, roasted garlic, and stock in a large mixing bowl, cut in the butter and shortening. Using your fingers, mix in the cornmeal, honey, and salt and pepper until there are no visible lumps of fat. The mixture will be a lot looser than you think it should be, but when the tamales are steamed it will dry out.
• Remove the cornhusks from the water and set aside the best 20 husks. Drain and pat dry. Tear the remaining husks into 1-inch wide strips to be used for tying. Lay 2 husks (or about a 5 inch piece of parchment) flat on a work surface, with the tapered ends facing out and the broad bases overlapping by about 3 inches. Place about 1/3 cup of masa mixture in the center. Bring the long sides up over the masa, slightly overlapping, and pat down to close. (If the masa drips out a little at the seam, that is no problem.) Tie each end of the bundle with a strip of cornhusk (or string), pushing the filling toward the middle as you tie. Trim the ends to about 1/2-inch beyond the tie.
• Arrange the tamales in a single layer on a steaming rack, cover tightly with foil, and steam over boiling water for 45 minutes. To Serve: slice a slit on top of each tamale and push both ends of the tamale toward the middle to expose the masa.

MAPLE YAMS AND PECANS

Steps:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Steam yams for ten minutes.
• Spread pecans on a baking sheet and toast in hot oven for 3-5 minutes, until fragrant.
• Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
• Pour mixture into a buttered casserole and bake in a hot oven until yams are tender.

NELDA'S CINNAMON PECANS

Steps:

• Heat all the ingredients in an iron skillet on medium heat.
• Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until all the moisture is cooked out.
• Sugar will crystallize on pecans.
• Turn out on wax paper.
• Break apart as they cool.

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.

MASHED SWEET POTATOES WITH BROWN SUGAR AND PECANS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix sugar, pecans and butter in small bowl. Cover and chill until ready to use. (Can be made up to 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.)
• Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Cook sweet potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until very tender, about 12 minutes. Drain. Let stand in colander 15 minutes. Purée sweet potatoes in processor.
• Beat eggs, syrup, vanilla, lemon juice and salt in large bowl. Mix in puréed sweet potatoes. Transfer sweet potato mixture to prepared dish. Sprinkle pecan topping evenly over mixture.
• Bake until sweet potato mixture is set and topping bubbles, about 1 hour. Let stand 15 minutes and serve.

SWEET TAMALES

Steps:

• If using corn husks, soak in warm water for a 1/2 hour until pliable and then drain. If using banana leaves, Defrost the banana leaves overnight in the refrigerator if frozen, and cut off any hard sections or sections with holes. Cut the leaves into unbroken 12 inch pieces. If the leaves are pliable, proceed with the recipe. If not steam the banana leaves in the top of a double boiler until soft and pliable, 20 to 30 minutes. Set aside until ready to assemble the tamales.
• In a small saucepan gently heat the rum. Place the raisins in a small bowl and cover with the warm rum. Let the raisins soak and absorb the rum while you prepare the masa.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the vegetable shortening until very light, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and half of the masa and beat until combined. Mix the milk and coconut milk and add alternately with the remaining masa in several batches to the mixture until the mixture is the consistency of medium-thick cake batter. Add baking powder, salt, and cinnamon, and beat for 30 more seconds. Add the melted butter and beat to incorporate, being careful not to overmix.
• Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the masa batter into the center of a banana leaf. Place about 2 teaspoons of the plumped raisins in the center. Fold 1 side over the batter and then the other to enclose the filling. Bring the bottom and the top over the filling to create a package. Tie the tamale with a piece of string, and repeat with the remaining masa batter and filling.
• If using corn husks spoon about 2 tablespoons masa down the center of the husk and then about a tsp of raisins. Fold both sides over the masa and then fold up the bottom. (Please refer to the photos for guidance).
• Line an insert steamer with a layer of unused banana leaves. Lay the tamales in the lined steamer, and steam over simmering water until the tamales are cooked through and release easily from the banana leaf wrappers about 1 1/2 hours.