It may be a little bit early to start shopping for Christmas gifts. Still, with shipping being a little slower this year, the earlier, the better!
Bamboo Silverware Drawer Organizer | Kitchen Scissors | Bamboo Cookbook Stand | Herb Cutting Scissors | Smart Coffee Maker | Bread Proofing Basket | Meat Claws | Pasta Machine | Chef Knife and Fruit Knife Set | Dry Food Dispenser | KitchenAid Mixer | Magic Bullet
If you’ve wondered why I haven’t posted recipes in a while, herein lies the answer — this cookbook!
The inspiration for this blog when I began writing over a year ago, is a little album with recipes that my mother gave me one Christmas. It contains all the old island recipes she’d collected through the years. Recipes from old islanders who were famous for making a particular dish in their day. It’s something that I cherish and I’ve always wanted to make it a cookbook from it to give as Christmas gifts too. I was basically thinking I would “kill two birds with one stone.” Preserve the recipes and take care of my Christmas shopping list.
Well, year after year I never found the time. Then, when the when I finally
“A cookbook isn’t the thing anymore. Everything is all digital! Pinterest! Blogs! Who reads books anymore?”
If any of you know me personally, you know that this is exactly what I would say. I’m the Mac addict, iPhone toting, and online-shopping princess in my family. A trait I inherited from my tech-savvy Father – the iPhone king.
To keep the story short. I chased the rabbit down the food-blogosphere-hole. And ended up on the other side with a — cookbook!
So here you have you have it. A cookbook authored and published by native Bay Islander — Pastries & Desserts of the Bay Islands.
In the cookbook you’ll find recipes like Corn Custard, Yuca Cake, Duff, and more!
You can find it on Amazon.com in print and of course digital too!
If you’ve signed up to receive email updates. You’ll get a link for a FREE PDF copy.
Well Bay Islanders, this one’s for you! For those of you who’ve never been to Roatan or any of the Bay Islands, the chances are that you’ve never heard of this dessert. So allow me to introduce you to — Corn Rice!
This dessert has everything to do with corn but has absolutely nothing to do with rice, so I have no idea how or who came up with name “Corn Rice.” The only reason I can think of is that it is similar to rice pudding, but you make it from corn instead of rice.
I am pretty sure that I’m not alone in saying that Corn Rice is an all-time favorite Bay Island dessert! It’s right up there with Yuca Cake and Rice Cake, but although most islanders love to eat it, not many of them make it. It is pretty rare to find Corn Rice these days, and after numerous attempts at making it for this recipe, I now know why! If you’ve been following this blog, you may have noticed that I haven’t posted in awhile. Well, this recipe is the reason it came to a screeching halt.
Before I set out to make Corn Rice, I honestly didn’t realize how complicated it was. I had heard that you needed to boil dried corn in “ashes” to make hominy corn and so I thought – “It can’t be that complicated (eye-roll); I’ll just use my InstantPot
Although I had seen short-cut Corn Rice recipes before, I didn’t like the ones that I tried. To me, they tasted nothing like “real” Corn Rice. For one, I don’t like hominy with the hulls attached to the kernels. Secondly, most recipes used sweetened condensed milk, which to me never tasted like the real thing.
I wanted to make authentic Bay Island Corn Rice. You know? From actual corn and from scratch. So I did a bit more research on Google on how to make hominy and I asked every local I knew that had experience with it. And the basic consensus was — Corn Rice is a lot of work!
And boy were they right…
Making hominy from scratch is very time-consuming. First, you soak dried corn kernels overnight. You then boil them in alkaline water for several hours or as long as it takes for the outer shell to dissolve and the hulls to release. There are a few ways to get alkaline water, but the typical way in the Bay Islands is by using wood ash along with baking soda, which helps remove the hard tips of the kernels. Once the corn is finished boiling in the alkaline water, you then have to wash the corn to remove the hulls and tips of each little kernel. One. By. One. It’s a long and arduous, back-breaking process; so kudos to anyone who makes Corn Rice the real old-fashioned way.
To make a long story short, my journey in making Corn Rice lead me to one conclusion — Corn Rice will fade into the pages of Bay Island history if an easier way of making it isn’t figured out. For one, nobody has the time these days, and secondly, islanders no longer cook on wood stoves. So, in frustration and defeat, I resorted to the canned hominy corn I so despised. But after trying several brands, Bush’s Best White Hominy, Maiz Pozolero
Best of all, you can have a bowl of Bay Island goodness in less than 20 minutes. No matter where you live.
I hope you enjoy!
A one-of-a-kind Bay Island dessert.
Open cans of Hominy Corn.
Drain and rinse corn well.
Combine coconut milk, whole milk, and cornstarch in a large pot.
Whisk to dissolve the cornstarch.
Next, add sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Bring to a slow boil over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved.
Add hominy corn.
Add salt 1/4 tsp at a time, tasting in between and adjust if needed.
Continue to cook over medium to high heat until sauce is thickened.
Canned Hominy is very salty, so be sure that you drain them of all the water and rinse them well before adding. Taste before adding the salt at the end. You may not need to add the full 1/2 teaspoon of salt and will depend on how well you wash the corn.
Have you noticed the common ingredient in this recipe and the last recipe? While the internet is brimming with pumpkin recipes this month, here in this little corner of the web you find – corn! The previous was a traditional Bay Island Corn Custard, which was hands-down amazing! And now, here are authentic Honduran — Sweet Corn Tamales!
Although commercially-grown corn is available throughout the year here, now is when home-grown corn is most abundant. On just about every street corner and vegetable stand, you’ll find street vendors selling corn. Fresh corn, roasted corn, and sweet corn tamales! Corn is a staple in traditional Honduran cooking, and the tradition comes from Hondurans’ Mayan-Lencan ancestors. The Mayans believed corn to be sacred and that it was a gift from their gods. If you’ve ever tasted Honduran corn, you know why they thought that way!
Better known as “Tamalitos,” sweet corn tamales are definitely a favorite Honduran street food. They are outranked only by the famous Baleada because to make good “Tamalitos” you need young, soft, fresh corn which isn’t always available.
By the way, speaking of Baleadas! Take a look at this Honduran news piece. In it, an article features a group of 70 cooks who gathered to make the world’s largest baleada! With a homemade flour tortilla measuring 18 feet in diameter, together with Honduran Refried Beans, the finished product weighed over 600 pounds and feed over 2,000 people! The enormous Baleada was staged to promote Honduran gastronomy and to enter the Guinness Book of World Records. I wonder if anyone else will ever compete for the record? 😉
Preparing Sweet Corn Tamales is much easier than you think. Begin by peeling off the husks and removing the silk. While peeling the husks take care to keep their full width intact. Wash the husks and set aside for later.
Next, cut the kernels from the cob with a sharp knife and put them in a bowl. To clean the kernels, don’t wash them directly with water but rather wet your hands and run your wet hands through the kernels. This method of cleaning will keep the kernels somewhat dry while any dirt and remaining silk will cling to your hands. Rinse your hands and repeat as many time as needed until the corn is clean.
After the corn is clean, put them in a food processor like this one and blend until smooth.
Then prepare the mixture by adding sugar, melted butter, and salt. Sometimes, you may need to add a bit of milk if the corn you’re using is not moist enough. But if you are using young, fresh corn, they’ll produce enough liquid on their own and there will be no need to add milk.
Using one of the reserved corn husks, place a half-cup of the mixture into the center and upper half of the husk. Wrap the husk over the mixture, making sure the seamed side faces you. Then fold the lower half away from you and up to seal the bottom. Once you’ve folded the bottom, stand upright in the pot you’ll use to cook them in. Some people use a second husk for the top and repeat the folding technique. This would completely seal the mixture inside and is good if you plan on sharing them or taking them out of the house. But if you’re making these for your household and plan to eat them at home, one husk is quicker and works fine. When placing them in the pot, use the leftover cobs to help keep them standing upright so the mixture doesn’t spill out.
After you have them all in the pot, fill any remaining space with the left-over cobs to keep them from tipping over while cooking. Then, fill the pot to about half-way with very warm water, taking care not to let any water get into the tamales. Cover the tamales with a few husks to help trap steam and speed cooking time. Finally, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and cook over low heat for 45 minutes.
And that’s all there is to Honduran Sweet Corn Tamales — Tamalitos!
Authentic Honduran Sweet Corn Tamales
Peel and remove silk from 8-10 fresh cobs of young corn.
Preserve husks in wide pieces to use later.
Cut kernels from the cob and place in a bowl. (Reserve a few of the cleaned cobs for later.)
Clean the kernels by wetting your hands and running them through the kernels. Any unwanted thrash and silk will stick to your wet hands. Rinse your hands and repeat until corn is clean. Do not wash the kernels directly with water.
Place four cups of kernels in a food processor and blend until smooth.
In a mixing bowl, add sugar, melted butter, and salt.
Use a 1/2 cup measuring cup to scoop the mixture.
Place 1/2 cup of the mixture in the center and the upper half of a clean husk.
Wrap the sides of the husk over the mixture.
Position the wrap so that the edges of the wrapped husk is facing you. Then, take the bottom half and fold it away from you and up to seal the bottom.
Stand the wrapped tamale upright in the pot that you'll use to cook them in.
Use the reserved cobs to keep the tamales upright in the pot while you make tamales from the remaining mixture.
Once all tamales are in the pot, place a few husks over the top of all of the tamales. This will trap the steam during cooking.
Fill the pot half-way with very warm water. Taking care that the water does not cover the top of the tamales.
Cook over low heat for 45 minutes until tamales are cooked through.
Top with Honduran white butter or sour cream and enjoy!
When peeling the corn, take care to preserve the husk in wide pieces. Larger husks are easier to wrap.
Make sure the water you add to the pot is already warm or hot. The tamales are cooked over low heat, so if you start with cold water, they'll take longer to cook.
If you love the taste of fresh corn, then you’re going to love this Corn Custard recipe!
Even though I’m partial to anything made with corn, I can tell you with all honesty that this recipe is a real winner! I guarantee that you’re going love it.
I’ve had this Corn Custard recipe ever since my mother gave me a book of old island recipes she’d collected over the years. That little book, by the way, was the inspiration behind my starting this blog and I’m slowly getting to each of the recipes in the book. So far I’ve shared the Rice Cake, Yuca Cake, Five Minute Chocolate Cake and now — Corn Custard!
I made this recipe a couple of months ago but I didn’t like the way it turned out. I thought it was because I didn’t have the right size pan because it was a little thin and there wasn’t much custard on top. The original recipe was twice this amount and I didn’t have a casserole dish big enough. So this time I made half the recipe and I learned, while chatting with Aunt Betty about making Duff a few weeks ago, that the secret to making this recipe is homemade cornmeal. Yes — homemade cornmeal! Don’t pass out! 😅 Read on to find out how easy it is to make.
Making homemade cornmeal takes only a few minutes and you’ll make good use of dried corn that you couldn’t eat any other way. The traditional way would be to grate the corn by hand, but I prefer to use my Cuisinart Food Processor to save time and to save my fingers from a few scratches!
Simply take the kernels off the cob, add to the food processor, and blend until smooth! That’s it. That’s all it takes to make cornmeal. See this step in the beginning of the video.
This recipe uses only one cup of cornmeal which you could get from two to three ears of corn. But if you end up with more, just store the rest in a Ziploc bag in the freezer and it’ll be ready to go the next time you need it.
Get the full recipe and details below!
If you’ve made this recipe, let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear how it turned out.
Well, folks, you’ve asked for it, so here it is — Duff!
I have not had Duff in years! My step-grandmother, whom everyone affectionately calls “Aunt Betty,” is the only person I know who makes Duff. I’ve been wanting to post this recipe for some time but I wanted to get her exact instructions, and she was traveling for awhile. So I had to wait!
I watched Aunt Betty make Duff once when I was about 10 years old. I loved it some much that I even wanted to learn how to make it from way back then! Of course, I couldn’t remember anything from what she showed me, but I did remember that there was something special in the way she cooked the dough. I’ve seen other recipes that say to boil the dough, but that wasn’t the way I remembered her making it.
So, I waited for her to get back from the US and then visited her for an interview. Here is a picture of Aunt Betty that I took during my course in Duff-making.
Of course, most islanders don’t measure their ingredients, so I didn’t get the exact numbers from her. But luckily for me, my cousin Robin, who is also a lover of Duff, had already taken the time to write down Aunt Betty’s recipe years ago. She promised to “WhatsApp” it to me later in the day.
So here is our little collaboration and tribute to Aunt Betty and her Duff!
They say: “good things come to those who wait” and this was certainly worth the wait. It was every bit as delicious as I remember it!
First, locate your cooking vessels for the dough. You’ll need a large pot, a heat-resistant mixing bowl, and an aluminum can. The pot needs to be deep enough and wide enough to fit the height and diameter of your mixing bowl plus the height of the aluminum can. The pot I used was 9-1/2 inches deep x 10 inches in diameter. The stainless steel mixing bowl was 5 inches deep by 7-1/2 inches in diameter. And I used a can of sweetened-condensed-milk to rest the mixing bowl on. Keep reading and watch the video to see how.
Mix flour, sugar, yeast, and salt then add oil and water. Knead by hand and shape to fit into the mixing bowl. Grease the mixing bowl, place the dough, and let rise for one hour.
The bowl has to be sprayed with cooking spray or buttered because this is what the dough will be cooked in as well.
Fill the pot about 1/3 of the way with water, then place the can in the center and bring the water to a boil. Once the dough has risen, place it in the pot and rest on top of the can. Then, cover and let cook for 45-minutes. Set a timer and DO NOT LIFT THE COVER until it’s done!
In a saucepan, mix water, milk, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. Then bring these to a boil.
In a separate bowl beat three eggs, butter, and sugar.
Once the milk mixture is hot, pour very slowly into the egg-sugar-butter mixture while consistently whisking. This will gradually raise the temperature of the eggs and cook them without scrambling them.
After the dough is finished cooking, remove it from the mixing bowl and set aside to cool. Then, once the dough is cool enough to handle, slice it into squares and add to the warm sauce.
And here it is. Old-time Bay Island Duff!
Classic Duff recipe from the Bay Islands of Honduras.
Don't open the lid on the pot until the dough is finished cooking. When making the sauce, pour the hot liquid slowly to temper the eggs. (Cooking them without scrambling them.) Duff is best when served warm!
If you’ve been following this blog for awhile, you may have noticed that Bay Islanders love their pastries and desserts! In addition to pot cakes like Yuca Cake and Rice Cake, Chocolate Cake with White Icing is another island favorite. In the previous post, I made my mother’s Five Minute Chocolate Cake and topped it with this Seven Minute Frosting!
This frosting requires the use of a double-boiler like this one here. I don’t have a double boiler, so in typical island fashion — I improvised! I got a large pot and filled it halfway with water and then used a metal mixing bowl to float on top of the water with the ingredients. You could do the same. Check out the video below to see how I did it.
Although I must admit, it took me a bit longer than just seven minutes!
The reason it took longer than seven minutes is because when I made the first batch, I made the mistake of putting the mixing bowl in the water first and then added the ingredients. But I quickly realized that the eggs were scrambling before I could begin mixing. Which meant starting over from scratch. Ugh!
So don’t make the mistake I made and begin by mixing all your ingredients first!
Mix egg whites, sugar, water, vanilla, and syrup.
Then place the mixing bowl in the boiling water, and cook for seven minutes while mixing continuously.
Remove from heat, add a squeeze of lime juice, and continue to beat until it becomes nice and fluffy like marshmallow creme!
You could omit the lime juice if you like, but I find that it cuts down a bit on the egg-like taste. The lime juice also makes the icing nice and white, because our Honduran cane sugar is a little darker than regular white sugar. Also, technically, this icing is supposed to be very smooth. But as you can see in the photo below, this had bits of crystallized sugar and that was also due to the coarseness of the cane sugar I used. To avoid any graininess, use a finer white sugar. 😉
Place on double boiler after all ingredients are combined.
After a month on vacation, it’s time for me to get back to my job at Anthony’s Key Resort and back to my little blog. And what could be better to start with than chocolate cake? If I ever eat dessert, it has to be something made with chocolate. I can’t afford the extra calories and if I’m going to splurge, I’d rather do it with chocolate! 😉 So, for the first post in a long time, I’m starting with one of my favorites — Five Minute Chocolate Cake!
Before leaving for vacation, I’d filmed three of four recipes, with full intentions of blogging while away; however, I quickly realized while I was there that I probably wasn’t going to blog about all those recipes I had made. The only one I got around to posting was the Yuca Cake recipe that I’d been promising to do. But that was it! There’s something about not being in my surroundings that made it impossible for me to get into the right head space to write. There is no place like home to inspire me and now that I’m back on my little island and can begin to blog again!
While this Five Minute Chocolate Cake is not a “traditional” island recipe, it was a tradition in my mom’s kitchen. It was my mother’s go-to-chocolate-cake-recipe that she made at least once a week for my brother when we all still lived at home. She iced it with caramel because that is what my brother liked best. But I wanted to make something traditional from the Bay Islands and “white icing,” as we call it, is what you’ll find most often on chocolate cakes here in Roatan. For this cake, I made a Seven Minute Frosting recipe that I’ll share with you in the next post! This is a Five Minute Chocolate Cake with a Seven Minute Frosting. What could be better than that?
As the recipe title hints, this chocolate cake is quick and easy to make. You simply add all the ingredients to one bowl, mix, and in five minutes it’s ready to go into the oven. And what you’ll get 30 minutes later, is a super-moist, super-rich, chocolate cake that’ll please any chocolate-loving member of the family. You don’t need pre-packaged cake mix with this Five Minute Chocolate Cake recipe!
First, sift together: flour, sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Sifting the dry ingredients will minimize any lumps in the mix.
Then add eggs, milk, and oil. Then add boiling hot water, which is secrets to this super-moist chocolate cake. So don’t forget this part — the water must be hot!
Mix by hand or with a hand mixer just until all the ingredients are combined. Mix slowly and try not to overmix the batter. Overmixing will make the cake chewy and dense because it will release the gluten in the flour and you don’t want that. You want the cake to be light and fluffy! Chewy is good for pizza, but for cake – not so much!
Then bake at 350˚ Fahrenheit for 30 minutes or until a toothpick, inserted into the center, comes out clean.
And there you have it — Five Minute Chocolate Cake!
This chocolate cake is quick! Simply add all the ingredients to one bowl, mix, and in five minutes it's ready to go into the oven!
Sift together dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
Add eggs, oil, vanilla, and milk.
Bake at 350 ˚F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
The batter will be thin, but that is okay. That's what makes it moist. Don't overmix the batter because it may become too chewy. Add hot water at the very last.
Mutton peppers are a type of chile native to the Bay Islands of Honduras. Maybe you’ve never heard of it before, but if you grew up here, you know that it is a staple in island cuisine.
My mother once said that she puts it in everything but cake. So yes, we love them that much!
Mutton peppers are not only hot, but they are delicious and flavorful. Their unique taste is unlike any other hot pepper. If you’ve never tried them, I hope that one day you’ll have the privilege. They are that good! The yellow mutton pepper is hotter than the green mutton pepper and we use them when we want a lot of spice in a dish. We use the green peppers when we want only the flavor of the pepper and want to keep things mild.
We often make “pepper bottles” to preserve and pickle the peppers when there is an abundance. A pepper bottle is also the perfect way to take them with you if you don’t live on the island. To make these, peppers are placed in a bottle with vinegar, onions, garlic, and sometimes a few slivers of carrot. The “sauce” from the bottle is then used to pour over any dish on the table, but especially Honduran Red Beans and Rice!
Sometimes we’ll also make a mutton pepper jelly, that is perfect for spreading on toast or crackers with a little cream cheese!
After working with a mutton pepper, avoid touching your eyes or anywhere on your face until you’ve washed your hands with soap and water. Otherwise, you’ll be shedding tears for hours. Trust me!
The seeds are a whole other story. They are extremely spicy! So be careful when removing the seeds from the ribs of the pepper.
When I made the Pepper Steak with Easy Pan Gravy, I used the yellow mutton pepper and added them at the end of making the gravy. I did this to avoid the sauce getting too hot; because the longer you cook the pepper the hotter it will be. When I made the Spicy Mango Cilantro Salsa, I used a green mutton pepper.
The green mutton pepper is perfect for using in raw salsas, dressings, and ceviches. It is mild and delicious!
Well, this Yuca Cake recipe has been a long time coming. It took four tries to get the recipe just right and good enough to share!
The Yuca Cake recipe I had was an old island recipe that my mother got from Miss Lenore in French Harbour. She was famous for her Yuca Cake, but of course, as most old island recipes go, it called for no less than five pounds of Yuca 🙄!
I didn’t want to go down the same road as when I made Johnny Cakes a few weeks ago; which resulted in several failed attempts and having to practically develop the recipe from scratch.
No way! I didn’t want to do that again. So I decided to follow the Yuca Cake recipe to the”T.”
I peeled and chopped the five pounds of Yuca in the recipe, then I used a food processor to blend it. But despite using this small shortcut, I still got a blister on the palm of my hand from all the peeling and chopping! Then to top it off, the cake was an epic fail!😩 You see, the recipe said to add a little flour if you didn’t want the Yuca Cake to be too “stretchy” and that’s what I did. But the flour made it hard as a rock and there was no way anyone could eat it.
By the end of the day, all I wanted to do was soak in a warm tub filled with Epson-salt! By the way, if you ever have achy legs after standing all day in the kitchen, I highly recommend soaking for fifteen minutes in a tub with Dr. Teal’s Epson Salt! It removed all the tiredness from my legs, and the Lavender was soothing and relaxing before bed.
Anyways, at that point, I had given Yuca Cake a new name: “The Once In A Lifetime Cake” and I made a vow never to make it again! But when my sister-in-law came over to make her famous Flan, we decided to experiment on the Yuca Cake because she had made it once before. So we set out on the second attempt but with a smaller Yuca Cake this time — only two pounds of Yuca instead of five! Once it was finished, the texture was perfect, but it was not sweet enough. We called that one the “Yuca Cake de Dieta.”😂
The following morning, I knew exactly what to do. I would use two cups of sugar instead of one like we did the day before. This time, however, I decided to melt the butter in the bottom of the pan, instead of lightly spreading it. I thought it would be more like Miss Lenore’s, with a custard on top, because that is what her recipe said to do. But nope, adding the butter was mistake number three! The butter floated to the top of the cake, making it hard to tell if it was cooked through and I ended up baking it for too long. Ugh, so frustrating!
On my way home, I bought two more pounds of Yuca. I was determined to make it right this time! Once I got home, I wrote out the ingredients and asked my housekeeper to peel and chop the Yuca while I pulled on my comfy clothes. (I wasn’t about to get another blister 😉). Then with the hard work done and the Yuca ready to go, I added the coconut milk, coconut oil, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and a little salt. Then into the oven, it went for an hour and a half.
Whew, finally it turned out pretty good! Not with the custard on top that I was hoping for but very tasty and not too sweet. So here it is — a small Yuca Cake recipe that’s easy enough for you to make any day of the week. I hope you enjoy!
I didn’t add the instruction photos with this post, but it’s really simple to make. Take a look at the video below and you’ll see!
Yuca Cake from the Bay Islands of Honduras.
Preheat oven to 350˚ Fahrenheit
Bake for 1.5 to 2 hours.
If the Yuca is not fine enough after the food processor, put it in a blender. Don't over bake. Yuca cake should have a soft, pudding-like texture.
Do you have a signature dish? You know, the thing they ask you to bring over and over again to gatherings? Maybe you don’t have a recipe, or they ask you to bring just the plates and cups, in any case, it’s your signature thing! Our family is no exception. And although my sister-in-law is known for many dishes, there is one in particular that stands out above all others, and that is her — Flan!
Now that I’m gathering recipes for the e-cookbook: “Pastries and Desserts of the Bay Islands,” I just knew that Karla’s Flan couldn’t be left out. And rather than making her recipe myself, she agreed on a little collaboration: she’d make it, and I’d film it! By the way, be sure to sign-up for my newsletter and you’ll receive a free copy of the e-cookbook as soon as I publish it.
She and I also worked on the Yucca Cake recipe that I promised to share with you soon. But like I mentioned in the previous post, most old island recipes are five-pounds-of-this-ingredient and five-pounds-of-that-ingredient, and so it is with the Yucca Cake recipe I have. I did attempt this huge recipe, but I would prefer to downsize it and share a recipe that’s just right for one household. Because I don’t believe any of us plan to walk around our neighborhood selling Yucca Cake, right? And I’m almost there. One more practice recipe and you’ll have it. Promise.
Begin by cracking 12 eggs in a large bowl. Yes, twelve eggs. One dozen. “Una docena.” 😉
Note: Karla removes the “chalaza” from each of the eggs. You know the white string attached to the yolk? Yes, that. She says if you leave it, the Flan will taste like eggs. So she removes it for a less eggie-tasting Flan.
Add two cans of evaporated milk, and two cans of sweetened condensed milk.
Mix well with a hand-held electric mixer or whisk by hand with a whisk like this one sold here on Amazon.
My teenage son always finds the coolest gifts for his Dad and me on Amazon.com. Things that actually make our life easier! He gave me this whisk for Christmas last year and it’s really neat. You can twist the handle so that it folds flat and doesn’t get all bent in your utensil drawer. It is also so much easier to clean that a regular whisk and I love it! Be sure to check it out. 😊
Then add three tablespoons of vanilla.
Preheat oven to 350˚ Fahrenheit and fill a pan halfway with water and place it in the oven while it’s pre-heating.
You need to bake the Flan in a hot water bath, just like any other delicate custard. This is an improvised way of doing a “Bain Marie,” also known as a “Baño Maria” in Spanish. The pan used for the water must be larger than the pan the Flan is going into because the water needs to come at least halfway up the sides of the pan with the Flan.
Next, on the stovetop, melt two-and-a-half cups of sugar over medium-high. Once the sugar begins to melt, keep stirring and don’t step away from it. Sugar is easy to burn! It will not smell burnt, but it will sure taste burnt. So, stick around and stir until it’s melted
Now, while the sugar is still hot, pour into the pan that you plan to use for the Flan.
Then, pour the egg mixture on top of the sugar.
Now, open the oven and place the pan in the center of the warm-water-filled-pan, already in the oven. Bake for one hour to one hour and a half at 350, depending on your oven. Test with a toothpick after 45 minutes to determine how much longer to bake. Once the toothpick comes out clean, and it no longer jiggles, then it’s ready to remove. Allow the Flan to completely cool, either at room temperature or in the fridge. Then, use a knife and slide along all the edges, between the flan and the pan.
Then, with a plate larger than the pan, cover the top and flip it over.
And here it is — Karla’s Flan!
Use a large enough bundt pan to accommodate the amount of liquid in the recipe. For easy clean-up and to remove the sugar from the bottom of the pan, heat on the stove or let sit in hot water until the sugar melts.
Another traditional bread made here in the Bay Islands are Johnny Cakes. Unlike Coconut Bread that can take an entire afternoon to make, Johnny Cakes are quick and easy. It’s because they use baking powder instead of yeast, so there is no time waiting for them to rise! You can find them throughout the Caribbean, and although the recipes do vary from place to place or even from house to house, the general idea is the same — A quick and tasty little bread to serve with a meal or as a meal in itself!
Johnny cakes originated in North America, with Native Americans making them with ground corn instead of flour. Some people called them “Journey Cakes” instead of Johnny Cakes. Probably because they are the perfect little bread for taking on a trip! And I believe I like the name Journey Cakes better because of all the things that I’ve made lately, this recipe has certainly been a journey for me!
I had made Johnny Cakes many times before, but for this post, I decided to scale down my recipe. The recipe I had called for five pounds of flour! If you’re familiar with old island recipes, the ingredient list goes like this: five-pounds-of-this, two-pounds-of-that, and 20-cups-of-the-next-thing. The recipes make enough to feed a small army or at least the entire neighborhood. And I just didn’t want to make that many! I wanted to make a dozen Johnny Cakes max because everyone in my house is on some diet (or should be) and if I don’t give them away, then they just go to waste.
Well, scaling down the recipe didn’t work. The ratios were off, and I couldn’t figure it out! I set out on a “journey” to figure it out. After much trial and error, it occurred to me that I should try equal ratios that I know work, as a starting point, and make adjustments from there. And guess what? It worked like a charm. I made one small batch and handed them out for testing. The verdict came back with a consensus that they needed a bit more sugar. And so that’s what I did: adjust the sugar and the salt and voila, Johnny Cakes!
Begin by mixing flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. A good rule of thumb: Use one teaspoon of baking powder to one cup of flour.
Then add shorting to the dry ingredients and incorporate with a fork or with your hands until shortening is distributed evenly throughout the flour mixture.
Then add coconut milk that has been warmed a bit in the microwave or on the stove.
Mix well and then turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead and divide into twelve equal pieces.
Shape the pieces of dough into balls and then place in a pan, sprayed lightly with cooking spray.
You can choose to flatten the cakes down a bit or leave them round on top. Then poke holes over the top with a fork or leave the surface smooth. It’s your preference.
And there you have them — “Joni Cakes!”
In the end, I made more Johnny Cakes than I wanted to and probably used way more than five pounds of flour. But it was a good learning process and now I have a recipe that’s perfect for sharing and making small batches of Johnny Cakes!
Bake at 400˚ for 25-30 minutes until golden brown on top.
There is nothing quite like homemade Mango Jam. Right now, the mango season is in its prime and in homes, across the islands, mango-jam-making is in full swing. Batches of jam are being whipped up to share with family and friends during the year.
But I’ll be perfectly honest with you— this house isn’t one of them! I’ve never made mango jam. But I sure do like to eat it! Like I said before, there’s nothing like homemade mango jam, smeared atop fresh coconut bread or island flitters!
Even though I didn’t make it, this recipe is such an island tradition that I just have to write a blog post about it. I want to document the process for future generations who would like to know how to make it. And you never know, one day I may just attempt making mango jam myself!
This entire recipe post was made possible because of my mother and father. My mom had been collecting mangoes in the freezer for weeks and was about to begin making a batch of jam, so I begged her to write everything down this time. My dad then promised to take pictures of her making it. And they kept their promise as they always do. She wrote everything down and emailed me the recipe. He took the pictures with his iPhone and air-dropped them to me when I visited the other day. So this post is entirely their work. I’m simply putting it together and sharing it with you!
I have a cousin who’s son once asked: “Mom, how do you jam a mango?” She didn’t have an answer and I wouldn’t have either. So here in this post, let’s demystify the process of making — mango jam!
Start with about four dozen native island mangoes (round mangoes). Peel mangoes and put them in a large pot with water covering them completely.
Spoon the mango jam into sterilized bottles while it is still hot.
While the jam cools, the cover will seal, and you’ll hear a popping noise; however, if they don’t seal, stand the bottles in a pot of water and bring them to a boil once again and let cool at its own pace. Once sealed you can store jam on the shelf for several months and wait until you open the jar to refrigerate. If they don’t seal, you should refrigerate the same day.
Mango Jam is the most favored of all homemade jams in the Bay Islands!
This recipe yielded 28 cups of pulp. The ratio of pulp to sugar is 2:1. Measure the pulp, one cup at a time, to make sure you have the correct ratio.
Rice cake is one of the many cakes made in the Bay Islands known as “pot cakes.”
The main ingredient in these types of cakes is a starchy vegetable, fruit or grain. You then add coconut milk, eggs, spices, and other ingredients and bake for a long time in a large pot or pan. Before baking, the batter is very liquid because most recipes have minimal flour if any. And through the process of baking, the batter becomes a custard-like deliciousness called a pot cake!
Cooking and serving them right out of the “pot” is the reason for the name. Types of pot cakes include Yuca Cake, Cocoa Cake, Pumpkin Cake, Irish Potato Cake, Heavy Banana Cake, and today a — Rice Cake!
Of all the pot cakes made in the Bay Islands, the Rice Cake is probably the easiest and most common, mainly because rice is such an essential pantry item that most people always have it on hand. This is a great go-to recipe for family gatherings or events where you’re asked to bring dessert for a crowd!
There are dozens of rice cake recipes with different variations and personal touches. This rice cake recipe is my mothers, with one change – I used coconut oil instead of shortening. The coconut oil I use has a mild flavor, and a gave a slight hint of coconut that was perfect.
Begin with one-and-a-half cups of plain white rice (not parboiled rice).
Cook rice with six cups of water until the majority of the water has been absorbed.
Add one can of coconut milk and one can of evaporated milk.
Then add sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Add 1/3 cup of coconut oil. (The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of butter or shortening, but here is where I swapped it out for coconut oil and reduced the measurement.)
Allow the rice to cool a bit then add two well-beaten eggs. (If the rice is still warm, add them slowly and stir constantly to avoid scrambling the eggs.)
Then pour the mixture into a pan or “pot” deep enough to leave a little room at the top. (I used a 13″ x 9″ sheet pan in this recipe.) Then, bake at 350˚ for three hours or until all liquid is absorbed and the cake is golden brown on top.
Once finished baking, remove from oven and drizzle one can of condensed milk over the top then bake for 10 minutes longer.
The finishing touch of adding condensed milk on top then baking a bit longer, gives this cake a hint of caramel that you’ll love!
A traditional island "pot cake," Rice Cake from the Bay Islands.
Coconuts are synonymous with islands, and the Bay Islands are no exception! Not only can you find coconut trees in abundance here, but you’ll find an abundance of dishes infused with coconut in some way. We use coconut milk, coconut oil, and the coconut meat in many different island recipes, both savory and sweet dishes alike! But there is one coconut recipe that stands out above all others, and that is — Coconut Bread!
Coconut bread uses coconut milk and coconut oil in the dough. Back in my grandmother’s day, they made their coconut milk and coconut oil from scratch. Which was no doubt much healthier than our modern versions, but it was certainly a whole lot more work! I can recall my grandmother husking two coconuts to shred on a large homemade grater. Then after grating the coconuts, she poured water over the “coconut thrash” and squeezed it continuously to extract the milk. This process alone could have taken an hour or more, just to get a few cups of coconut milk.
Fortunately for us, we have coconut milk readily available right on the grocery store shelves or even on Amazon.com!
Canned coconut milk is what I’m using in this recipe today for a modern take on the classic coconut bread!
Begin by warming coconut milk and skim or 2% milk on the stove.
Mix flour, yeast, coconut oil, sugar, and salt.
Add warmed milk mixture a bit at a time and mix by hand or in a stand mixer like this Kitchen Aid, until the dough forms.
Turn out onto a floured surface and finish kneading by hand.
Cover and let rise until doubled in size.
This recipe yields four large loaves in 9.5″ x 5.5″ loaf pans. Today I made two large loaves and eight small rolls in a 13″ x 8″ pan.
Punch down the dough, knead, divide, shape, and place into prepared pans.
Cover and let rise again until doubled in size. Heat oven to 350˚ Fahrenheit.
Bake until they’re golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes, depending on how dark you like the crust.
So there you have it. The modern way of making traditional coconut bread from the islands! Thanks to coconut milk in the can!
The recipe is for traditional Bay Island coconut bread.
Well, here we are. We’ve arrived at “Honduran Baleadas!” Over the past few weeks we’ve been working our way up to this recipe and now it’s finally here. This recipe is rather simple now that we’ve completed the Homemade Flour Tortillas, the Red Beans, and the Refried Beans. In fact, it is not a “recipe” in the traditional sense of the word, but rather a fusion of the previous three recipes.
The baleada is famous throughout the country of Honduras and has become well-known internationally. I like to call it “the crown jewel” in Honduran cuisine because you can eat a baleada for any meal. They make an excellent breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack. Adults love them, kids love them, and visitors to the country who try them, love them. The fact that baleadas are very cheap — costing only around 50 cents each — have made their popularity explode! To the point where if you say “Honduras” you think: “Baleadas!”
The Baleada originated in the city of La Ceiba, located on the north coast of Honduras, over 50 years. According to an interview with Doña Tere seen here, the lady who claims to be responsible for this marvel in Honduran gastronomy, this is how the story goes:
Back in 1964, homemade flour tortillas became popular in the La Ceiba region, as opposed to the corn variety. Also during that time, the railroads were the center of commerce because the Standard Fruit Company — who exported bananas from Honduras to the US – had a small railway to transport workers from the town to the plantations. Doña Tere, a young single mother, set-up a small food stand next to the railroads in the town. And because of their popularity and practicality, she decided to make flour tortillas instead of corn tortillas. And as her mother had shown her growing up, Doña Tere made flour tortillas, smeared with mashed refried beans, white butter, and sprinkled with Honduran white cheese. Then she sold them to late-night party goers on their way home. Later on, some of her regular patrons asked her where she got the name “Baleada.” She told them that the tortilla was the shell, the beans were the bullets, and the cheese was the gunpowder. Thus the name “Baleada” was coined. (Source: hondurastips.hn)
It’s a sordid tale, I know, but that’s how the story goes!
First, make the Refried Beans recipe here. Then, make the Homemade Flour Tortillas recipe here.