December 6,  2009

One Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park, St. Louis, MO 63110-1380
Telephone 314.721.0072

This coconut cookies are  delicious and Easy!!! Just two ingredients:
1 can Condensed Milk
3 cups ground coconut

~Pour the condensed milk in a bowl, add the coconut and fold until everything comes together.
Preheat the oven at 300 F (150C) .

In a baking sheet cover with baking paper.
With a wet tablespoon take small amounts of the mixture and place little bowls on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, make sure to leave space in between. Wet the palm of your hands and flat the cookies. The cookies will grow a little bit, cook them for 15 minutes or until golden. Very important, take out the cookies immediately with a spatula or they will be impossible to remove later. This recipe makes around 26 Cookies.

Bienmesabe decorate with coconut cookies deep in chocolate
see bienmesabe

In  English Click here

Recetas de hallacas, pasteles y tamales
Aunque los ingredientes básicos sean los mismos (masa de maíz o plátano, hojas de plátano y guiso), cada país tiene su propia manera de preparar esos ricos tamales que pueden acompañar cualquier festividad. Les traemos algunas recetas típicas de varios países latinoamericanos de tamales, humitas, quimbolitos… o como se le llame a este tipo de plato en tu país.

Humitas Argentinas (© FoodPix / Jupiter Images)
Recetas de hallacas, pasteles y tamales
Humitas Argentinas

Receta de Chef Natalia Penchaszadeh
Chef Ejecutiva
www.zinur.com

Ingredientes

- 12 choclos (mazorcas de maíz, jojoto)
- 1 cucharada de grasa (puede ser manteca o mantequilla)
- 1 cebolla picada
- 2 tomates en cubos
- 1 morrón rojo (ají o pimiento) en cubos
- 3 dientes de ajo Picado
- 1 taza de crema de leche
- 1 cucharada de azúcar
- Pizca de sal y de pimienta
- Hilo para Brindar ( Pabilo)
- Mozzarella rayada

Preparación

- Separa las chalas (hojas envoltorios del maíz) de los choclos, ¡guárdalas que se usaran al final!

- Con un cuchillo sacar todos granos de maíz, raspar bien las mazorcas para extraer más sabor y más almidón.
- En una sartén poner una cucharada de grasa. Agregar la cebolla, el morrón, los dientes de ajo y el maíz. Dejar cocinar por 5 minutos y agregar la crema y el azúcar.

- Se revuelve hasta que espese y se procesa la preparación en un procesador eléctrico, para dar mayor consistencia y humedad.

- Reforzar la sal y la pimienta si es necesario.
- Deja enfriar.
- Rellena las chalas con una cucharada de la preparación, agrega la mozzarella y doblar haciendo paquetitos, amarrar o atar con el hilo de brindar. Cuidar de que los paquetitos estén bien cerrados.
- En una olla grande hervir agua y cocinar las humitas por 30 minutos.

Recomendaciones

Las humitas se cocinan mucho mejor si las dejamos congelar primero y se llevan directamente a cocinar al agua hirviendo.
El maíz o jojoto se puede comprar en lata o congelado. Si es en lata, se debe escurrir el líquido excedente. También las chalas se encuentran en la mayoría de mercados latinos.
El rol de la pimienta en esta preparación es fundamental, ayuda a balancear lo dulce del maíz. Es preferible usar pimienta negra y recién molida para reforzar el sabor.
La chef Natalia Penchaszadeh usa hojas de plátano para sus humitas y las llama Hullaquitas (Humitas y Hallaquitas)

En Espanol para MSN latino Click here

In  English Click here

Last Sunday at the SAINT LOUIS ART MUSEUM, we had 464 people enjoying  the activity! Wow! Anyway we were ready with 500 cookies, thanks goodness! Once again I had the honor to present a project, this time the theme was “Art the Glitters, Gleams, and Glows” We decided to go for cookies this time, but really  I did not want to go to the classic cookie decoration, I wanted to present something different and easy.We topped regular sugar cookies, covered in royal glace with chocolates figures, and add colored crystal sugar. For a final touch made them glow with gold and silver powder. It was wonderful to see the glowing expressions on kids and parents faces as the shiny dust covered the dark chocolate.
And again a special “Thank You” for Amanda Muller ,  thank you for making every Sunday especial at the St Louis Art Museum ( Family Program). Thank you also to all the volunteers.For me it is a pleasure participate at the amazing SAINT LOUIS ART MUSEUM

Here are the recipes:
Sugar Cookies
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cups butter (soft)
1 cup sugar
peel from one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 egg yolks

Place the flour, sugar and the baking powder in a bowl. Add the butter and work with your fingers until it gets a sandy texture. Whisk the eggs, vanilla, and lemon peel and add the mix to the bowl. Press the dough as if you were making a snowball until all ingredients get together, do not kneed ( if you kneed to much gluten is going to be formed, something you don’t want for this cookies). Place the dough in a plastic bag, close it tightly and let it rest for 20 minutes in the refrigerator, (or longer, even up to a week) . Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to the desired thickness, cut out with cookie cuter (whatever shape your like) and bake for 8-10 min. the edges have to be golden, Let them cool down, decorate, have fun and enjoy.

Royal icing
1 egg white
A sprinkle of lemon juice ( very important if you want a white icing)
1 lb  (¼ kilo) powdered sugar

In a blender add all ingredients and mix at high speed until you can see a nice and stable foam. Turn off the blender and dip a spoon, turn the spoon upside down , the mixture must remain attached to the spoon , otherwise, it’s not ready. This icing is very difficult to store, if you need, put it very tied in a sealed plastic  container and keep for only a few hours. You will need to mix again every time you want to use it.
Decorate the cookies and let them set until the icing hardens.

See Activity ant the SAINT LOUIS ART MUSEUM 2007