EPTCaramel Quesadillas
Introduction
Pull a dessert out of your ass, why doncha?
Don't mind if I do. June is apparently a dessert month or something, since I'm doing a lot of these, and I don't even have a pregnant wife or anything like that. At any rate, this time it is a dessert of my own concoction. The premise is simple: a sweet version of the quesadilla. I ran the idea past a friend of mine who is a pastry chef, and he said it sounded pretty good.
The idea is to mirror the savory quesadilla in its entirety. Toasted, crispy tortillas, gooey caramel in place of cheese, and roasted hazelnuts to complete the filling. On the side is a fruit version of pico de gallo, using fruits to reproduce the texture of your standard tomato and onion pico.
Ingredients
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/YVChG.jpg)
If it doesn't have queso, is it still quesadilla?
Prep Time: ~1 hour
Serves 4-6
Tortilla:
4 medium-sized flour tortillas (about 6 inches diameter)
1/2 cup sugar + 1 tbsp for sprinkling
1/4 cup cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
3 oz hazelnuts toasted or roasted (about three dozen nuts or so?)
Pico de Gallo
1 medium sized Granny Smith apple*
2-3 dozen red seedless grapes**
1 tbsp fresh mint
2 tbsp honey
juice of 1/2 lime or 3 tbsp grapefruit juice***
1 kiwi (optional)
salt****
pepper****
*Or 1 1/2 small granny smith apples. Try to find apples that are as crisp and tart as possible.
**Red seedless grapes are the best because of their combination of sweetness and crispness. Their skin texture is tender and a good imitation of a tomato's skin texture. You can also use plums, but make sure that they are very sweet and firm enough to be diced.
***I used lime juice, but grapefruit juice could add an interesting hint of bitterness
****You only need a tiny pinch of both, less than 1/4 of a teaspoon
Assembly
Pico de gallo becomes tastier over the passage of time as the flavors marinate together. Therefore, it is made first. Wash and assemble all the fruits. Dice the granny smith apple into roughly 1/4 inch (~3/4 cm) cubes.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/QQNP8.jpg)
Who is this Granny Smith, that people hated her so much they named the sourest fucking apple in existence after her wrinkled ass?
Follow it up by dicing your grapes into quarters. The work might seem tedious, but it is necessary to make sure the grape pieces are as close to the apple pieces in size as possible. Put both fruits into the same container.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/8i9rY.jpg)
What did Granny Smith do, pour acid on her grandchildren as a form of punishment?
If you have a kiwifruit, dice that as well and dump it into the container. Pick out a tablespoon or so's worth of mint and slice it into fine strips. Put everything into one container, add salt, pepper, honey, and juice. Toss everything together and refrigerate for the moment.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/uRENh.jpg)
I guess if you have grapples you can just use those instead of grapes and apples.
Now it is time to make the caramel. Measure out your sugar and place it in a heavy bottomed pan (not a non-stick one! you will ruin your nonstick pan). A lot of caramel recipes tell you to add water, but that isn't really necessary. Simply keep an eye out on your caramel as it melts. You can stir it around, but not too much as that will form lumps.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/7D5rQ.jpg)
I've found a way to turn white into brown! But Michael Jackson is unfortunately dead.
In a separate pot, bring your cream to the boiling point. Add vanilla extract and salt to the cream. Let the sugar melt until it is a deep amber but not brown color. Take the caramelized sugar off the heat. Stir it around to prevent it from solidifying, then pour the boiling cream into the sugar while constantly stirring. Ideally no lumps will form and you get your caramel sauce. However, if lumps do form, you will have to put the sauce back on low heat and stir until the lumps go away. At the end of the process you should have this:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/475lW.jpg)
Never lick melted sugar until it is completely cool, unless you wish to intimately discover how cooked human tongue tastes like.
At this time you are almost ready to move onto the tortillas themselves. Bring out your hazelnuts. If they are not already toasted yet, toast them (a small toaster oven is the easiest and most efficient. You can also do it in the conventional oven, or over the stove. Make sure you do not burn the hazelnuts if you use the stove).
Pre-heat your oven to 400F and set it to broil. Prepare a sheet pan by covering it with parchment paper. Place two rounds of tortillas onto the pan. Take a knife and stab a bunch of pinpricks into each tortilla. This will prevent air pockets from expanding and ruining the shape of your tortillas as you toast them. Butter each tortilla on one side only and sprinkle sugar all over the buttered side.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ua7n1.jpg)
These two tortillas are the most Mexican part of this dish that you will see, so savor the moment.
Broil each tortilla for approximately 5 minutes or so. I say approximately because the tortillas can go from completely white to thoroughly burnt within the span of thirty seconds, so you should start checking them at around 3 minutes. As soon as some parts of the tortillas start becoming dark brown, remove them from the oven.
When they are reasonably cooled, turn them over and spread the caramel sauce on the untoasted sides of both tortillas. Sprinkle one of the rounds with your crushed hazelnuts. Place one tortilla over the other to form the quesadilla.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/lJJm2.jpg)
If you didn't turn your tongue into a slab of well-done meat by tasting the caramel while it was hot, you'll probably enjoy what is about to come a lot more.
Serve the quesadillas while they are fresh alongside the pico de gallo.
The Result
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/yHTkW.jpg)
This one is dedicated to all the vegetarians out there. So you can all get diabetes faster MUAHAHAHA
It's pretty good. The first time I made this dessert I used plums instead of grapes, but I find that grapes are superior due to their tenderer skin and their sweeter flavor. Both parts of the dessert can be eaten separately or together. The tortilla is a bit chewy, so the dessert is not for those with bad teeth. Where is the sour cream you ask? Well, you can use whipped cream or ice cream to replace sour cream for this dessert. I did not do it because I never liked sour cream anyways.
Conclusion
What is with all these desserts? I have no idea. They just keep popping into my mind so I make them. I think this one turned out rather well, but I don't exactly have a large number of people to back me up on that, so you're just going to have to make this one yourself. Tell me how it turns out, and if you have suggestions for improvement, tell me about it as well.
Questions and comments are welcome. If bastardized Mexican food is not your idea of cooking, feel free to check out my other, non-bastardized (for Mexican food anyways) entries at my main blog,
http://foodinmind.wordpress.com
Until next time, always buy pants a few sizes larger, because you never know when obesity might jump out of a bush and surprise you.
![[image loading]](http://images.wikia.com/mlp/images/3/35/Granny_Smith_S2E06.png)
