Cinco de Mayo Menu

Any reason to have an impromptu celebration that involves cake is okay by me. So Happy Cinco de Mayo!! And on the menu...tacos with homemade tortillas and Tres Leches for dessert. So good!

I love homemade tortillas. They remind me of my childhood. My mom made the best homemade tortillas. My sister can duplicate them perfectly, and although I have the same recipe, mine never turn out quite as good. But I think I figured out the trick last night. Time. So here is the recipe...

Homemade Tortillas (a dozen)

• 4 cups flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup luke warm water

Sift flour and salt together. Cut shortening into flour mixture. Add water. Knead 50 times. Divide into 12 balls. Let sit covered for 15 minutes (the longer the better - that's the trick!). Roll out and heat on buttered skillet till brown spots appear.

Fill with your favorite toppings! A couple of things to make your life easier when making homemade tortillas...

A tortilla warmer. So handy. And just in case you forget what is in your tortilla warmer...it says tortillas on the top. These are pretty cheap and you can pick them up anywhere.
And my very favorite thing...my Bakers Mat from Pampered Chef. One of the best things anyone ever gave me. I make a lot of pies - so this is super handy. It's flexible so you can just curl it backwards to pry your rolled out dough off without ruining it. I hate flour messes on the counter and I hate trying to peel dough off of my counter. So...this is the best thing!


And for dessert...

Tres Leches - a traditional mexican cake

This cake is light, airy, and moist. My favorite part is the real whipped heavy cream topping (so much better than cool whip). It's easy to make and you really can't mess it up.

• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 5 whole Eggs
• 1 cup Sugar, Divided
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• ⅓ cups Milk
• 1 can Evaporated Milk
• 1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
• ¼ cups Heavy Cream
• _____
• FOR THE ICING:
• 1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease/spray a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.

Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff.

Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.

Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. This cake is great when served with fresh strawberries!