Cachitos

This is a traditional Venezuelan pastry that consists of soft, buttery, rolled bread, filled with shredded ham. Cachitos have similar shape as croissants and are typically a Venezuelan breakfast delight! Nowadays, you can find a lot of cachito variations in the Venezuelan bakeries; a popular variation is a ham and cream cheese cachito.

The name cachito means little horn due to its shape.

This recipe is to make the traditional cachito:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup         lukewarm water
2 tbsp           dry yeast
1/2 cup         unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup         sugar
1 tsp              salt
1 cup             milk (room temperature)
3                    eggs (room temperature) 
4 1/2 cups   all purpose flour
1/2 cup        all purpose flour for dusting
1 lb               black forest ham (whole)


1. In a small container, mix the yeast and the water with a teaspoon of sugar and let it rest for 10 minutes. The mixture should become foamy.

2. Using a stand-up mixer with a pallet attachment, combine the butter, sugar and salt.

3. Change the attachment to a hook (for mixing dough). Add the flour all at once and start mixing at the lowest speed to avoid making a mess with the flour. Add the milk gradually until combined. Increase the speed to low (speed 2 on a Artisan KitchenAid mixer) and add 2 eggs until combined.

4. Add the yeast mixture and mix until the dough has a uniform sticky consistency and it starts cleaning up the bottom of the bowl (nothing sticks to the bottom of the bowl.) At this point, the dough is ready to rest!

5. Place the dough into a plastic bag and let it rest for 2 hours at room temperature. For even better results, place the bag in the fridge over night and work the dough the next day.

6. Cut the ham into into 1/8 inch thick strips, 1 inch long (as shown in the pictures below).

Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C

7. Using a clean, smooth surface dust a little bit of flour and work the dough just for a few seconds to get the air out. Divide it into four equal portions.

8. Take one portion and roll it out into a 12 inch disk and cut it into 8 pieces - like a pizza- using a pizza cutter. Keep the other portions of the dough in a plastic bag.

9.  Place about 2 full table spoons of ham on the wider side of the triangles and then lay the two corners over the ham. Gently roll the dough over the ham and keep rolling until you reach the end of triangle. The shape of the cachito should be a little bit curved - like a horn. Place it on a baking sheet that has been covered with parchment paper or aluminum foil and ensure that the end of the triangle is down, in contact with the parchment paper. Repeat steps 8 and 9 until all the dough is finished - you will get a total of 32 cachitos. 

10. Brush the cachitos with egg-wash and bake them for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

If you are a Venezuelan living abroad like me, I hope that the taste of these ricos cachitos brings you good memories!! :)

Enjoy the cachitos!!

Auyama (pumpkin) Cheesecake

Auyama (Pumpkin) Cheesecake

Filling:
250 grams cream cheese, softened
300 ml (1 can) condensed milk 
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup pumpkin pie filling (I used ‘ED Smith Pumpkin Pie Filling’)

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
150 grams pecans
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Topping:
½ cup heavy whipping cream (35%)
2 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp water
¼ cup heavy whipping cream (35%)

Instructions for the crust: 

Ground the pecans. In a bowl, mix the ground pecans with the graham cracker crumbs. Add the melted butter and mix. 

Using an 8-inch round spring pan (3 inch high), cover the sides with parchment paper. Press down the crumbs evenly in the bottom of the pan. Chill in the refrigerator (about 15 min). 

Instructions for the filling:

Pre-heat oven at 350F

Mix the cream cheese, egg yolks and condensed milk with a hand blender at medium speed until combined. Add the vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, mix ½ cup of the cream cheese mixture with the pumpkin puree using a spatula.

Use two large measuring cups to pour the two fillings simultaneously. Pour half of the pumpkin filling and cover half of the crust. At the same time, pour 1/3 of the cream cheese filling on the other half.

Switch cups and pour the pumpkin filling over the cream cheese filling and 1/3 of the cream cheese filling over the pumpkin. 

Pour the rest of the cream cheese filling over the whole cake leaving some pumpkin filling exposed for decoration. You can use the back of the spoon to create a decorative design with the two fillings.

Place a pan with ½ inch of boiling water on the lowest rack of the oven.

Place the spring pan on a baking sheet and bake the cheesecake for 20-25 minutes in the middle rack. Check the cake after 20 minutes, it will be ready when the sides are set but the center jiggles slightly.

Topping for serving:

Whip ½ cup of heavy cream and the icing sugar. 

For the caramel sauce, place the sugar in a saucepan at medium high heat with the water until it turns golden brown. Turn off the heat and add the ¼ cup of heavy cream at once while you move the saucepan in circular motion.

Serving suggestions:

Top the slice of the cake with a tablespoon of whipped cream and drizzle it with caramel sauce 

I hope you enjoy my recipe!!