Scrumptious Sweets

April 16, 2017– My spin on the Tarta de Santiago (cake of St James).  It is an almond cake named in honor of Santiago, the patron saint of Spain. The top of the cake is normally decorated with powdered sugar creating a silhouette of the cross of St. James. I decided to spell out Happy Easter instead.  I learned how to make this during a cooking class hosted by Yosmar Monique Martínez in her Miami Beach Condo.  The recipe can be found in her book: Tastes of the Camino.

April 2, 2017–I had to go away on a little vacation to pay homage to the Don who was leaving the Family Business. I figured I could also use this to test out the courier method of transporting and distributing some product to the D.C. Metro area.

When I walked into the Miami airport I quickly remembered that there is now an increased TSA presence; making me a little nervous.

I knew I had packed and wrapped the product well, even including some espresso powder because we all know that the “scent throws off the dogs”, but all it would take is a nosy agent put a kink in the plan.

I presented the first agent my mobile boarding pass and entered the TSA precheck lane. As usual there were some people who had obviously never flown before which was causing confusion in the line. I figured this would be to my benefit since the agents would probably just push everyone through; which they did. I put my backpack on the conveyor belt then walk through the body scanner. Alarms immediately went off. ‘Sir, you have been randomly selected for additional screening.’ The TSA Agent wipes my hands then places the wipes in some machine. I’m meticulously clean whenever I’m preparing my products but didn’t know if some microscopic residue was transferred from the packaging to my hands when I placed the items in my backpack. Tense seconds, what felt like minutes passed. ‘You’re clear, Sir.’ As I walked to the end of the x-ray machine to grab my backpack I noticed that it was not there. I looked up only to see the TSA Agent intensely staring at the monitor; then he called for a supervisor. I couldn’t run because I was on the wrong side of the security barricade. As I was looking around for an escape I heard, ‘Sir, is this your bag?’ Trying to lighten the mood I smiled and said, “Lucky guess.” ‘Can you please follow me, Sir.’ Walking back to one of their screening rooms I saw no escape.

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March 22, 2017–For those of you who only like sweets, which you also can’t eat on low carb, I also mad an Ooey Gooey Butter Cake. OGB “cake is a legendary Depression-era mistake. The story goes something like this: A baker in St. Louis accidentally mixed up the ingredient proportions for his cake, resulting in a gooey texture.  Because it was the Depression, they couldn’t just throw it out, so they sold it and it was an instant hit.” I served this one I made with bourbon spiked dulce de leche.

February 19, 2017–What has the world come to?!?!? There used to be a time when I could visit my friends and live and eat for free. They were happy just to see me but now for some reason, they are asking for payment; and money isn’t acceptable. I may have to reduce my travels and/or get my own hotel room because vacations are turning into WORKING vacations.

My boy D whom I have known for years requested a Banana Nut Cake with Banana Frosting.  It is three layers of cake separated by banana nut frosting then covered with banana nut frosting.  It was my first time making something of this nature.  The good news is it turned out very good.  The bad news is IT TURNED OUT VERY GOOD–now he wants another one!

I also had to make some Snickerdoodles

January 16, 2017–So I was getting almost daily harassment for baking goods for ‘those people’ from my FRAMLY.  I decided to send them a little package of cookies.  It took me the entire MLK weekend to bake, package, and ship but I think the lucky recipients were happy.

Lemon Cookies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Gingerbread Cookies, Peanut Butter Cookies, and Quadruple Chocolate Chip Cookies

December 20, 2016–For those of you that don’t like pecans—this could be a game changer!  If you will be in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area in the next 24-36 hours there may be some left.  ABSOLUTELY LAST PICTURE FOR THE YEAR–You can blame this one on Alton Brown and his show Good Eats 🙂

Crust made with crushed pecans and bourbon

Filled with crushed spiced pecans

Filling contains bourbon, vanilla beans, etc

Topped with whole spiced pecans