Tres Leches Cupcakes & Tostones

Ruth's brother Phillip is in town this weekend, and in honor of the occasion we once again hit the lake in an Electric Boat for food, friends, and cocktails (except for the Captain, that is).



For this round of what has become known as 'Boat Drinks', Ruth picked a dual theme: Cuba and Covers. We each submitted our favorite cover songs to Ruth, who put together a mix CD of them for us to enjoy while boating around Lake Union. And for the Cuban theme, Ruth brought fixings for Cuba Libre cocktails (rum, Mexican Coke, and lime juice) and a huge stack of Cuban Sandwiches.



Since I can't resist a theme, I did my best to dress 'Cuban' (though my most Cuban shirt had a stain) and made a couple things to eat inspired by Cuban cuisine. First were some Tostones - deep fried plantains. They were incredibly simple to make. Just get some green plantains, peel them and cut them into about 1/2 inch slices (I like to cut them on an angle to get them bigger around). Then deep fry them in 350 degree oil for about 3 1/2 minutes - just to get them cooked through. Take them out of the oil and let them drain briefly, then smack them flat with something heavy (I used a meat pounder). Then, back into the 350 degree oil for a few more minutes, until they're crispy and golden brown. Pull them out, and season. I mixed some sea salt and ground cumin.



The other treat I made were cupcakes - which is now officially a traditional part of our boat trips. I made Margarita cupcakes the first time, then Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes last September for our second excursion. This time, I found a great recipe for Tres Leches Cupcakes on The Cupcake Project, though I swapped out the meringue frosting for a simple butter & powdered sugar frosting, augmented with some Dulce De Leche I made using leftover sweetened condensed milk. I made them in some star-shaped aluminum cupcake tins I bought years ago, which made them appropriately festive. They cupcakes were super moist, yet still held together, and got rave reviews - with Laura going so far as to say it was possibly the greatest thing she's ever eaten. They'll definitely be making another appearance.

After almost 4 hours of boating around (with me at the helm), our designated drivers ferried everyone over to our place to enjoy the fire pit and backyard - which lasted until nearly midnight.

Tres Leches Cupcakes
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tspn vanilla
1/2 cup + 2 Tbspn flour
4 1/2 tspn cornstarch
1/2 tspn baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 Tbspn + 2 tspn sugar
3 oz evaporated milk
5 1/2 oz condensed milk
3/8 cup heavy cream
1 stick of butter, at room temperature
About 2 cups of powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place 12 liners in a cupcake pan. In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks and 1/2 C of the sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla and stir to combine. In another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, corn starch, and salt together and stir well. Mix flour mixture into the yolk mixture, just until combined. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add remaining sugar at the end, being careful not to overbeat the egg whites. Gently fold the whites into the yolk and flour mixture, being very careful not to deflate the batter, until mixture is uniformly colored. Fill cupcake liners with batter about half way. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool for 10 minutes.

Mix the three milks together in a small bowl. With a serrated knife, remove the top golden layer of each cupcake to expose the sponge. Spoon about a teaspoon at a time of the milk mixture onto the top of each cupcake, allowing it to soak in before adding more. Continue until you've added about 3 teaspoons to each cupcake. Refrigerate the cupcakes, covered, for 5 hours or overnight.

Dulce De Leche Frosting
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Pour the remaining sweetened condensed milk into a glass pie plate and cover with foil. Place in a larger roasting pan where pie plate can sit flat. Pour hot water into the roasting pan to a depth of about halfway up the pie plate. Place in oven and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Stir until smooth. In a mixer, beat the butter until whipped, then begin adding powdered sugar, a little at a time, until the mixture is thick - scraping down the sides of the bowl periodically. Add the cooled sweetened condensed milk (now dulce de leche) and continue beating. Add additional powdered sugar to get frosting to a spreadable or pipe-able consistency. Add a little milk if it gets too thick.