Deviled Eggs, My Way!

I've been eating deviled eggs since before I knew what they were called! My mom used to make them into "little chicks" on any given day! She used pepper corns for eyes and a piece of pimento taken from the inside of a Spanish olive for a beak. She would make a mix of the yolk with mayo and mustard and put it in an icing bag to whip it up into a chick's shape. That was the only way we would eat hard-boiled eggs as children.

As a grown up, I have come to appreciate the taste and texture of a well prepared deviled egg. But I'm not a fan of every recipe! So, here is my mashup version of mom's little chicks and the common deviled eggs recipes.

You will need:

About 10 hard boiled eggs 

1 Tbs yellow mustard

1 Tbs mayo

2 Tbs Mexican cream (substitute with sour cream if you can't find it)

8-10 green pimento olives (I used Spanish olives)

5-6 bite-size dill pickles

2 large black olives (for decorations)

Start with your preferred method to hard boil eggs!

Remove some of the pimentos from the green olives and set aside with he black olives.

My favorite Mexican cream!!

                                                                                              The mayo acts as the glue!

Use a food processor to mix together the pickles and green olives until finely ground.

Remove the yolk from the eggs. Crumb it with a fork and add the olive and pickle mixture. Add the mayonnaise, cream and mustard until the mixture is smooth and perfectly blended together. Add salt and pepper to taste!

Scoop it back into the egg whites and decorate!

You could also decorate with paprika or cayenne pepper, depending on your preference!
















Use the black olives to create chick's eyes if you are serving it to little ones!

I got the idea for the hatching chicks from a Pinterest post, but these is not the way my mom used to make them!!

Happy Easter!!

Enjoy!

Cuernitos de nuez

Estas galletas son tan deliciosas que parecen papitas sabritas... ¡a que no puedes comer sólo una!
La textura cremosa que les da la mantequilla hace que se derritan en la boca.

Prometo agregar fotos a esta receta tan pronto como pueda hornearlas de nuevo... ¡se me hace agua la boca de sólo pensarlo! (Nota: fotos listas!)

A estas galletas les he inventado un nombre en inglés que no tiene una traducción exacta al nombre que llevan en español. La versión en inglés se llama "Crescent Moon Cookies".

Cuernitos de nuez
Ingredientes

1 1/2 tazas de harina
1/2 taza de maicena
1/4 taza de azúcar glas
2 barras de mantequilla sin sal
1 1/2 cucharaditas de agua fría
2 cucharaditas de extracto de vainilla
100 gramos* de nuez finamente picada

*Para una conversión a otras medidas busca la tabla de conversiones en mi blog

Preparación

Se acrema la mantequilla con el harina, la maicena, el agua, la vainilla y las nueces.
Procurando no amasar de más pues la mantequilla hace que la mezcla sea difícil de manipular.
Para hacer más fácil la tarea de formar los cuernitos, se pone la mezcla en un tazón cubierto con plástico a enfriar en el refrigerador por al menos media hora.
Precalentar el horno a 350° F.

Una vez enfriada la masa, se divide en porciones aproximadas en tamaño a una mandarina. Se hace cada porción un rollito o tira alargada que mida aproximadamente un centímetro de diámetro. Esto es para facilitar la creación de cada cuernito y acelerar la producción de las galletas, evitando así que la mantequilla se vuelva a calentar. Se cortan pedazos de cada tira de aproximadamente tres centímetros de largo y se pellizcan las orillas para darle forma de cuernitos.



Se ponen un poco separados en una charola para hornear sin engrasar. La gran cantidad de mantequilla evita que estas galletas se peguen a la charola y como no crecen en tamaño al hornearse, pueden ponerse relativamente cerca una de otra.
Hornear a 305°F durante aproximadamente 12 minutos (las temperaturas varían de un horno a otro, la receta original se ha horneado de 10 a 15 minutos con buenos resultados). Al sacarlas del horno se ven muy claras, pareciera que aun están crudas, pero no se alarmen, ¡ya están listas!

Se dejan enfriar unos cuantos minutos, y aun calientitas se ponen en el azúcar glas.

Puede usarse un plato plano o uno hondo, o simplemente la superficie en que las amasó, pues sólo necesitan voltearse una vez sobre el azúcar y se sacan para ponerlas a enfriar aparte. Muchas pobres galleticas se quiebran en este paso del proceso, no dude en darles la mordida a los pobres pedazos... pero eso sí, prepárese para quedar encantado y devorar el resto que sigue intacto. ¡No durarán mucho tiempo en la charola enfriándose!

¡A disfrutar!

No he encontrado una manera de modificar esta receta para cumplir con restricciones alimenticias, pero si alguien lo hace, y encuentra una versión libre de gluten, azúcar o baja en grasas, por favor mándeme su receta modificada...Sólo les pido que si lo intentan, primero hagan una receta original para poder comparar que el sabor y consistencia sean parecidos.

Con amor,
Hija de la Luna

Crescent Moon Cookies

These crumbly cookies are so delicious that you won't be able to stop eating them!
The rich and creamy texture comes from the high amount of butter in them... they practically melt in your mouth.

I am thinking of baking some this weekend and I have already started salivating at the idea...

I have made up the name for these cookies in English, since my mom's recipe only came in Spanish and it really doesn't translate well. The Spanish version keeps the original name, Cuernitos de nuez!

Crescent Moon Cookies
Ingredients

1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/4 cup powder sugar
2 bars unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons cold water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
100 grams* finely chopped pecans

*I've found out that measuring in grams is more accurate than other standard units of measurement, but please feel free to check my conversion table to adjust your recipe to any kind of measurement!

Preparation

Smoothen the butter and fold the cornstarch and the flour in. Add the vanilla, pecans and water and softly blend into the batter.
Place the mixture in a covered bowl and cool in the fridge for at least half an hour.
The butter gets so soft that the batter will become sticky in your fingers and difficult to manipulate, you will find it better to not skip the cooling time!!


Heat up the oven to 350° F.

Bring out and roll portions of the batter to form cylindrical strips to about 1/3 of an inch in diameter, kind of like playing with play-doh! Each long cord will make it easier for you to cut pieces off to form the crescent shapes. Cut the batter into one inch segments and pinch the sides to form the crescent moon shapes.

Place in an ungreased cookie sheet, those two butter bars are enough to get those out of the tray without any problem! Also, the cookies will not grow significantly… you only need a small space in between them!


Bake at 305°F for about 12 minutes (temperatures vary from oven to oven, the original recipe has worked with times from 10 to 15 minutes). When you take them out of the oven they look pretty light colored, almost raw… but don’t fret, they are ready!


Let them cool off a bit and transfer to the powder sugar. Use a plate or bowl or even your counter top, you really only need to lay them in the sugar, flip them over once (individually) and move over to a cooling rack. Many poor little ones will crumble in the process, don’t be afraid and put those right in your mouth! But I gotta warn you… be ready to be tempted to keep on eating the ones that have survived the sugary process!




Enjoy!

I have not found a way to make these in any other variations for dietary restrictions, but if anyone can come up with a gluten free, fat free, sugar free version that is as delicious as the original, please shoot me a message or comment on this post. But please, make an original batch as a taste test before comparing to any variation of this recipe!

Moonchild

The how and the why...

In a lifetime of cooking and baking I have found that many of my favorite recipes come from my mom's old recipe diary! Of course, my favorites are what I ate as a child... not a big revelation in itself. But the fact that that old recipe book is 571 miles away and fading in the hands of a relative, is indeed scary! So, I have determined that it's about time one of us, in my family, did something about it.

This is a blog to preserve my family's recipes, including those in the diary and any other that my numerous family members brings to my palate's attention.

With that said, I have to warn you that will find two versions of each recipe to provide everyone in my family and friends with a proper translation.

Happy eating!