Pancake Sunday 10.9

Dulce de Leche Pancakes

 Dulce de leche is a popular treat in Argentina, it's a milk based caramel-like sauce or spread. It's used to sweeten food and candies and can be smeared on toast, muffins and, of course, pancakes. So since we were talking about Argentina this week we made some dulce de leche pancake spread. There are different ways to make dulce de leche but one easy way is to boil a can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot of water, that takes about 3 hours. I didn't have 3 hours to boil a can so I used a double boiler method, that still took waaaayyy too long.

So I cheated and popped it in the microwave for a few minutes. Guess I should have been more patient because it kept it in the microwave a bit too long and it came out kinda hard. But still tasted yummy!

Have you ever had Brachs Milk Maids? It tasted exactly like those.

It looks like peanut butter

For the pancakes I used a recipe that called for the eggs to be whipped frothy with the sugar, I'm pretty sure I'm asking for an electric hand mixer for Christmas because all this hand whipping is killing my arms! My muscles look great though :p

Frothy eggs

Char mixing all the ingredients

 I think I'll add a new griddle to the list as well, looks like I have hot spots!

So here's the final product! Delicious dulce de leche pancakes. I have to say though, I will not be making the dulce de leche from scratch anymore, it's just too time consuming and much easier to buy it in the store.

Empanadas...sorta...

Empanadas

Empanadas are stuffed pastries that are either baked or fried. In Argentina the dough is typically made with flour, butter and eggs. Argentine empanada filling differs from province to province; beef, chicken, fish, and even fruit. One common filling includes onion, boiled eggs, olives and raisins. 

Here is the Aleacia version of empanadas:

For the filling I browned some ground beef, added diced onions, tomatoes and corn. Seasoned it with taco seasoning and cumin and added a dash of flour to thicken the juices.

While beginning to make the dough for the empanadas, I discovered we didn't have any eggs, I almost called it quits but my husband told me he had bought crescent rolls last time he went shopping. Sooooo, I used crescent roll dough. They aren't the correct shape and they didn't stretch worth a darn so they didn't hold much filling and turned out sloppy but I wasn't really too worried about it. I closed the edges with a fork.

Since the filling is already cooked through you only have to bake them until the dough is done and browned to your desired color. They were really tasty (even though not authentic) they were gone within minutes!

Girls' Pick

amazon.com

On the Pampas by Maria Cristina Brusca
This is a great book to introduce children to the Pampas in Argentina (that's our current stop in the ABC World Tour). The Pampas is a very flat grassland that runs through Argentina and Uruguay for miles. Ranch animals roam the Pampas watched over by Gauchos (cowboys).

ridetheroad.com

On the Pampas tells the story of a little girl who lives in Buenos Aires but visits her grandparents estancia (ranch) every summer. The little girl tells how one summer she visited and learned the ways of the gaucho, doing everything from taking care of horses to learning to lasso and even herding cattle. She learned so much about being a gaucho she earned her own rastra (gaucho belt) and a surprise for next summer!

I'd recommend this book even if you aren't learning about Argentina, it's a great story about working hard, having fun and being rewarded for it.