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Puerto Rican Christmas Desserts {Tembleque and Flan}


I relish at the opportunity to make these sweet treats during the holidays and/or special occasions. If I were to make them all the time, guess who will end up eating most of them? Me! 


So I was excited to make these for the office Christmas lunch.  I like to share a little bit of my culture with my very down home Southern co-workers. Though I have to admit I was happy to see some Asian, Filipino, Iranian, and of course, American food and desserts. :) 

These desserts were a big hit!!! They were all gone! Want to impress with a different dessert this Christmas? Check out these recipes: 

Here's the recipe for the flan (psst I have a secret to share it's low fat!) No one will ever know! 

Low Fat Flan

Ingredients


For the flan:
1 egg
1⁄2 bar of fat free cream cheese
4 egg whites
1 can evaporated fat free or 2% milk
1 can fat free condensed milk

For the caramel:
1 cup of sugar

Preparation:
  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a small saucepan over low heat add sugar stirring occasionally until it caramelizes. Transfer the caramelized sugar onto a 8 x 8 inch baking pan and evenly spread throughout the bottom of the pan.
  • Place it aside to cool off.
  • Blend remaining ingredients in a blender until well mixed.
  • Once sugar is cool add blended mixture into the baking pan. Cover with aluminum foil, place in a “Baño Maria” and bake for 1 hour or until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Once baked remove from oven and ”Bano Maria”, set aside and let cool.
  • Place in refrigerator overnight.
  • The following day remove it from the baking pan by gently removing it from the edges with a knife, place your serving dish on top covering the baking pan and flip.
This recipe is from Spanglish Baby.

Tembleque 

Ingredients:
4 cups coconut milk (fresh or canned undiluted)
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup and 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
cinnamon sticks and ground cinnamon (to taste)

Preparation: 
  • In a saucepan , boil the two cinnamon sticks with 1/2 cup water , simmer until make a tea . Remove from heat .
  • In another pan, without putting it on the stove, combine three cups coconut milk with the cinnamon tea water, salt and sugar. 
  • Dissolve the cornstarch in the remaining cup of coconut milk , strain and add it to the rest of the mixture in the pan and have . Move well with a wooden spoon or whisk and mix well.
  • Cook over moderately high heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon or whisk to avoid lumps . Mix very well. 
  • Lower the heat so it can simmer and cook for five minutes stirring constantly .
  • Remove from heat and pour the mixture into a mold. Or small plastic containers. 
  • Let cool at room temperature. Refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes so it can finish solidifying.
  • When completely cool turn over on a flat platter.
  • Sprinkle with cinnamon and decorate as you like.
  • This recipe is from  7 Días de Sabor.  
Do you make any special desserts for the holidays? If you do please comment, and let me know.   You can also check out other Puerto Rican dishes here.