In Brazil, we celebrate Christmas late at night on Christmas Eve.  I remember trying to stay awake for dinner and being so excited that as soon as midnight hit, I could open my presents.   Christmas dinner is a serious meal   We call it “ceia de Natal”. Usually, you will find different types of rice, farofas, turkey, ham, pernil (pork shoulder), salads, fruits and a lot of friends and family around (so you can eat all this food).

Going back to the Rabanada, this traditional Brazilian treat is very well known in the US as French Toast.  My mom would sometimes “spoil” our dinner with Rabanada, as we kids just couldn’t wait for the late night eating.  Rabanada is usually served as a Christmas dessert amongst many other delicious treats, flans, cakes, etc. The word Rabanada literally means “blown tail”. (Such a weird name.) We make this using day old French bread, which is soaked in a egg and milk mixture, then fried and lastly sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.  Different from the United States, Brasilians don’t use maple syrup.  Some people will make a Port wine syrup to drizzle on top of the Rabanada. I have never done this. The sweet bread is fine by itself!

Hope you like it:

French Bread (sliced)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 c milk

3 eggs

oil or butter to fry

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c cinnamon

Mix the sweetened condensed milk, milk and eggs.  Soak the slices of bread in this mixture.  You may just want to get the bread wet instead of soaking it. It just depends how soggy you like your bread.  Fry the bread either in oil or butter. I much prefer butter (yeah not a healthy meal)!  You want the bread to get some color, it will take 2-3 minutes on each side. Mix the sugar and the cinnamon and sprinkle both sides of the bread with it. Generously!   Enjoy. I like to eat it warm.

Final Note: I have also seen some people bake the Rabanada instead of frying it.  For baking, you would use a baking dish, pour the milk mixture on top of the bread and bake until the liquid thickens.  It makes the bread a lot softer, but it will still taste good!

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

One of the recipes we could choose from was a recipe called Bomboloni, which is a doughnut like dough but the shape is a circle.  This reminded me of sonhos.  A delicious Brasilian dessert. I remember coming out of classes and smelling sonhos being made at the school cafeteria.  This is exactly how my house smelled like when I make this recipe. It made me home sick.

Ingredients
1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon Lukewarm water
3 ¼ teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
1.5 Tablespoon Honey
3 cup All Purpose Flour
3 Tablespoon Milk
6 Egg Yolk
1/3 cup White Granulated Sugar + more for rolling
2 teaspoon Salt
Tablespoon Butter, Unsalted
3 cup Canola Oil (for frying)
Jam, preserves, or jelly (I used doce de leite, goiabada and cream)

In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, mix the water, yeast, honey and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (160 gm) of the flour. (Alternatively, whisk the ingredients by hand.) Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 1 hour.

Return the bowl to the mixer, fitted with a dough hook. Add the remaining 1 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons (260 gm) of flour, along with the milk, egg yolks, 1/3 cup of granulated sugar and the salt. Mix at low speed until blended, then add the butter and knead at medium speed until silky but sticky, about 5 minutes; the dough will not pull away from the side of the bowl.

Using an oiled spatula, scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

In a large saucepan, heat the canola oil to 360°F/180°C. Line a rack with paper towels. Fill a shallow bowl with 1/2 inch of granulated sugar. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough a scant 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick. Using a 2-inch (50 mm) round biscuit cutter, stamp out rounds. The original recipe said to not re-roll the dough, but I did and found it to be fine.

Fry the rounds, 4 to 5 at a time, until they are browned, about 4 minutes (mine only took about a minute each – try to go more by sight). Be sure to keep the oil between 360°F and 375°F (180°C and 190°C). Drain the bomboloni on paper towels.

Roll them in the granulated sugar.

Fit a pastry bag with a plain donut tip (or a 1/4-inch (6 mm) tip) and fill with the preserves (you can also use a squeeze bottle). Poke the tip three-fourths of the way into the bomboloni and squeeze in the preserves, pulling the tip out slightly as you squeeze to fill them as much as possible.

Serve warm.

According to holiday insights calendar today is National Dessert Day. When I think of dessert from Brasil, I always think sweetened condensed milk, which then brings memories of Brigadeiro. This dessert was created in the 1940s and is still popular today. This truffle like goodness is served at pretty much every type of party in Brasil: weddings, birthdays, get togethers or just a sweet tooth desire. They are easy to make and delicious!

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 T butter
3-4 T Nestlé Nesquik (you could use cocoa powder for a stronger taste, or melted chocolate)

Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan. Choose one that has a thick bottom, this way you will be less likely to burn your candy.

Mix it constantly. Don’t stop mixing it.  It will take about 10 minutes on medium high heat.  It will start to thicken, lower the heat to medium low and continue mixing it (in a figure 8 pattern).  Do this until the mixture is thick and comes out of the bottom of the pan, like the picture bellow. I usually twist the pan to one side a little bit and if it looks like the picture it is ready!

Pour the mixture on a plate and let it cool.  When cooled, roll it into little ball shapes and dip them into chocolate sprinkles.

You can also use this to fill or top cakes.  Just make sure to take the brigadeiro off of the heat just before it thickens too much.  Pour this heavenly chocolate gooey deliciousness on top of your cake and voila!

1 c rice

2 c water

4 c milk

1 1/2 – 2 c sugar

Cinnamon to taste

2-3 T sweetened condensed milk

In a sauce pan, add milk and sugar. (Add the 1 and ½ c sugar to the milk and taste the milk. If it is not sweet add more sugar.) Bring it to boil, turn heat to medium low and let it cook, stirring it occasionally.  This will thicken over time. (I do this then I start cooking the rice, this way this mixture will have been cooking for about 30 minutes or so before you start adding it to the rice.)

In another sauce pan, add rice and water. Let it boil until rice is almost soft. It will take about 20 minutes.  Then start adding the milk mixture, little by little.  The milk mixture will keep cooking in the first sauce pan, making it thicker.  As you add each ladle of the milk mixture to the rice, it will sweeten the rice and it also will become thicker.

Add some sweetened condensed milk to taste.  I also like to add cinnamon.  Sometimes I will add a stick of cinnamon to the milk while it is cooking.  This will flavor the milk and add a gentle cinnamon taste to the pudding.

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

She set the theme for the cookies as  “September”. We were inspired to bake any shape, size or color that means “September” for us.  Since I am from Brasil and September is Brasil’s independence month I thought of making something that had to do with Brasil!

Basic Sugar Cookies:
Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4″ Cookies

½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour
1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Directions
• Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavorings you’re using. Beat until just becoming
creamy in texture.
• Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.
• Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
• Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 0.2 inch
• Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.
• Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.
• Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.
• Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.
• Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.
• Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.

• Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.
• Leave to cool on cooling racks.
• Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.
• Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated
cookies can last up to a month.

I used half of the recipe to cut my shapes. The other half I wrapped it in plastic wrap and frooze it for later use.  I also got a little bit of the dough and flavored with lemon, coconut and chocolate cherries to see how they turn out.

Royal Icing:

2½ – 3 cups Icing / Confectioner’s / Powdered Sugar, unsifted
2 Large Egg Whites
2 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Almond Extract, optional

Directions:

• Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined.
• Tip: It’s important that the bowls/spoons/spatulas and beaters you use are thoroughly cleaned and grease free.
• Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites.
• Tip: I’ve listed 2 amounts of icing sugar, the lesser amount is good for a flooding consistency, and the larger amount is for outlining, but you can add even more for a much thicker consistency good for writing. If you add too much icing sugar or would like to make a thinner consistency, add very small amounts of water, a few drops at a time, until you reach the consistency you need.
• Beat on low until combined and smooth.
• Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.
• Tip: Royal Icing starts to harden as soon as it’s in contact with air so make sure to cover containers with plastic wrap while not in use.

Decorating Your Cookies:

I outlined the shape of the cookie with the royal icing.  Then you are going to use a technique called flooding.  All you need to do for this is to thin out the royal icing a little bit with water.  (Drag a knife through the surface of the Royal Icing and count to 10. If the surface becomes smooth between 5 & 10 seconds, the icing is at the correct consistency.) After you get your desired consistency just fill in the outlined areas.

You can also use this a toothpick to make some fun designs

I always enjoyed it when my mom made this dessert. As a kid I loved the different colors and shapes that you can create with this recipe. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Pick 3 or 4 flavors of Jell-o (you can make any colorful flavors you like. The more colorful, the cooler it will be)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can table cream (creme de leite-you can find this in the International isle)

1 pkg of unflavored gelatin

Water

Prepare each jell-o according to package directions. Usually you use 1 cup of hot water, dissolve the jell-o then add 1 cup of cold water.  Pour the liquid into a dish. I used a 9×13 pan.  Refrigerate until it hardens.

Cut the jell-0 into squares. You can be creative here and cut them into different shapes if you like.

Put all the cut jell-o together into a serving dish and set aside. Once again any shape. I make one in a 9×13 pan and a small one in a cup.

Prepare the white Jell-o:

Take 1/2 cup of hot water and dissolve the unflavored gelatin.

Add the sweetened condensed milk and table cream.

Mix well.  Pour this mixture on top of the prepared dish of cut jell-o.

Refrigerate until it hardens.

This is how it looks when it is cut! Fun huh?

Enjoy!

A couple weeks ago, a friend and I got together to bottle some peaches. We also made peach honey and we loved it.  I had a variety of plums at my house and we just weren’t eating them.  So, I figure I would try to make some plum honey and see if it worked out.  I really enjoyed the taste and texture.  It is a very good spread for breads. Also, if you thin it out, it makes a great glaze for cakes and such.

First you will need a bunch of the fruit; in this case plum. Wash and cut them. Boil with a little bit of water and about 1/2 cup sugar.

Let is boil until most of the fruit turns into a mush.  Then strain it to obtain the juice.

Make sure to scrape the bottom of your strainer.

Measure the amount of juice you have and pour it into a sauce pan.  Bring it to boil on medium heat and add 1/2 of the amount of juices of sugar (ex if you had 2 cups of juice, add 1 cup of sugar).  Cook until it starts to thicken. Mix constantly.

Keep mixing often until it gets very thick.

You can now pour into jars and process the jars, or just keep jars in the fridge.

YUM!

I have been talking about rainbows with my son, telling him stories, etc.  I thought it would be fun to make a rainbow cake with him.  He is always cooking with me in the kitchen. This was a fun, messy project. Just as any project with a 2 year old would be.  I saw this idea online in many other blogs and decided to try it.

Rainbow Cake:

For the cake: (you may use a box of yellow or white cake mix)

6 eggs

2 1/2  c sugar

3 c flour

1 T baking powder

1 1/4 c milk or water

1 t vanilla

8 T butter (melted)

Mix the milk (or water) with the butter and vanilla. Set aside.  Using an eletric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks. Add the yolks, one at a time. Mix in the sugar until fluffy.  Add  1 cup of flour and 1/2 of the liquid mixture.  Keep doing this until all the flour is used.  Stir in the baking powder.

For the Colors:

I used gel colors from Wilton. They give a nice vibrant color.  You may also use liquid if you want.

You will need the colors of the raibowl: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (I used the same for the last 2 colors)

Divide the cake batter until 7 containers and color each one with its color.

Spray a cake pan with oil and dust it with flour. Then add the colors one by one on top of each other.

Bake for about 35- 40 minutes or until cake is done.

You may decorate as much as you want. I decided to leave my without a frosting. I used a little bit of orange juice and sugar to make a syrup and drizzled that on top of the cake.

My son had a lot of fun making this with me. He is still asking for the rainbow cake every day!!!

I will always remember my first bite of cheesecake.  I was having  a difficult day and my American Mom/friend (what a wonderful woman) told me that it was time she introduced me to cheesecake.  I translated the word in my head, cheese= queijo, cake= bolo, “bolo de queijo”. Huh?!? No thanks! But she insisted and I tried it.  Yes it was a love at first bite! So good…

Cheesecake is also a lot of fun to make. It can be a little tricky to keep the top from cracking, but even if the top cracks it is still cheesecake and it is still delicious!  I will also share some tricks about keeping your top nice and smooth at the end of this post!

Bunches of Chocolate Cheesecake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F if using a silver spring form pan, or 325 degrees F if using a dark nonstick spring form pan.

For the crust:
1  cup crushed oreo cookies
1/2 c crushed grahm crackers
1 T sugar
2 T melted butter

Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a spring form pan (9 inch). Mix the oreos, graham crackers and sugar together. Add butter and mix with your fingers. Press into the bottom of the pan and set it aside. You could use any type of crackers to make this crust. I like using oreos and graham crackers together. It feels like the graham crackers make the crust a little lighter then just using oreos alone.

For the Chocolate Cheesecake:
16 ounces of cream cheese (softened at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon chocolate essence (extract)
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon cocoa
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup sour cream
8 ounces melted dove dark chocolate, cooled slightly

Using an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and chocolate extracts and beat until creamy. Add the flour, cocoa and mix until smooth.

Add the melted chocolate and sour cream, mix well.

Then add the eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition until just blended. Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour. Or until the center is almost set. It will be a little wobbly when you touch.

Cool the cake on a wire rack. Top it with Chocolate Ganache:
4 ounces of melted chocolate (dove dark chocolate)
1/2 cup of heavy cream
Mix it well and spread it over the cheesecake.

Refrigerate. Top with chocolate shavings and fresh raspberry. Enjoy!

To prevent crack tops:
The top of the cheesecake can crack because of the temperature is too hot. You could cook your cheesecake in a water bath and bring it to cool very slowly to prevent the top to crack. Also running a knife around the rim of the pan when the cake is cooked and cooling will allow cake to pull it from the sides and prevents cracking.  You could also use a thermometer and make sure your cheesecake does not go over 150 degrees F.

Yes that is right, besides Nutella Day and Ice Cream Day, Cheesecake Day is one of my favorites!!!

If you are lucky to have a Cheesecake Factory close by, today is the day to go visit it.  They are offering 1/2 of on any slice of cheesecake! Which is an amazing deal!

Now if you are not brave to go to the cheesecake factory today, don’t you worry I am going to share with you my favorite No-Bake Cheesecake recipe. This is delicious and impressive for a No-Bake recipe.  If you want to make the “real” thing, just stay tuned. I will be making a chocolate cheesecake  for this Sunday’s dinner and will post the steps and recipe next week.

Here is the amazing No-Bake Cheesecake

1 (9 inch) Graham Cracker Crust

1 (8-oz) pkg. Cream Cheese, softened

1 (14-oz) can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/3 cup Lemon Juice

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 (21-oz) can Cherry Pie Filling

Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in the sweetened condensed milk until nice and smooth.  Stir in lemon juice and vanilla.  Pour into prepared crust. Chill 3 hours, or until set up.  Top with pie filling before serving!

YUM