Cajeta Filled Cupcakes & Roasted Poblano and Corn Risotto

Hola Amigos!  How's your week been so far?  The weekend is almost here!!  Any exciting plans?  Truth be told, I don't really get a weekend because we are open everyday except Monday.  Luckily, Marko helps me here on Saturdays so we still get to hang out together and make our day as fun as possible.  Thanks, Marko! :)  So, as a reward for our hard work, Marko and I make sure that Sunday night we make ourselves a really nice dinner.  I was searching online for some recipes for this weekend's dinner and came across these two that I just had to share, Roasted Poblano Corn Risotto and Cajeta Filled Cupcakes.  OH MY DELICIOUS GOODNESS!!!!  Don't they sound amazing?  I absolutely love Cajeta.  Cajeta, similar to Dulce de Leche, is a thickened syrup made of sweetened caramelized milk.  I remember being young and sneaking into the kitchen to eat several spoonfuls of cajeta straight from the jar when my mom wasn't looking.  If only she knew!  Anyhow, have any of you heard of Chef Marcela Valladolid?  She is a local San Diegan that has a show on the Food Network, Mexican Made Easy.  Well, we have her to thank for these two recipes.  To learn more about Chef Marcela and her recipes, check out her site at www.chefmarcela.com. 

ROASTED POBLANO AND CORN RISOTTO
By Chef Marcela

Ingredients:

5 ½ cups (or more if needed) Chicken Stock
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup finely chopped onion
3 Roasted poblano peppers, charred, peeled, seeded, and cut into ¼ inch cubes
1 ear of corn, kernels removed
1 ½ cups Arborio rice
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup Parmesan cheese (have more for serving)

Bring stock to simmer. Remove from heat. Keep warm.

Melt 4 tbsp butter over medium heat.  Add onion; sauté until soft and golden, add poblanos and corn and sauté. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Add rice and stir 2 minutes. Add wine and let cook until absorbed, about 1 minute.  Add 1 ½ cup warm stock; cook until absorbed, stirring often.  Add approx.  ½ cupful at a time, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding more (and stirring often, this will result in a creamy risotto, because the starches from the rice develop while stirring.)  Rice has to be tender and creamy.  Remove from heat and add cheese. Serve immediately.

CAJETA FILLED CUPCAKES 

By Chef Marcela

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting pan

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing pan

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

1/4 cup cajeta*

Mexican Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (recipe follows)

*Cajeta is a Mexican caramel sauce made from goats milk that can be found in Latin markets. If unavailable, use a rich dark caramel sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour a 12-cup muffin pan, or use paper liners. In a large bowl, combine the flour baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time then beat in the vanilla extract. With mixer on low, beat in the flour mixture in 2 parts, alternating with milk.

Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Using a paring knife, cut a 1-inch-deep piece from the top of each cupcake. Save the cut pieces. Fill each hole with 1 teaspoon of cajeta and replace the cut out pieces. Frost the cupcakes with Mexican Vanilla buttercream Frosting.

Mexican Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

3 cups powdered sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons Mexican crema or sour cream, plus extra as needed

Using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the salt, vanilla extract and crema. Increase the speed to high and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes, adding extra Mexican crema, as needed, to make the frosting spreadable.

I'll let you  know how these two recipes turn out!  Happy Thursday!

Images Courtesy of: Risotto, Chile Poblano, Cajeta, Cupcakes