Here Today, Gone Tamale

Photo by: Jeff Foy Photography

Is that a marshmallow on top of that tamale?
Why yes, yes it is.  I was in charge of the sweet potatoes and rolls for our family holiday meal and thought to myself, "Self, I lived to tell the story of the red turkey at Thanksgiving and maybe I could test my luck by by making some kind of tamale this time?"  I went looking for tamale recipes that included sweet potatoes and I found what I was looking for in a recipe from Bobby Flay, I made a  few alterations based on a Peruvian recipe I found in an old book and added a squishy homemade marshmallow, my sister-in-law likes sweet potatoes that way, and I had a tamale that I thought was super yummy.  One note about the original Bobby Flay recipe is that, as written, it has no sweet potatoes in it and instead calls for pumpkin puree.  All I can say is that it worked out great with sweet potatoes but I used additional masa to guarantee that it steamed correctly.

Lots of corn husks

Tamale as it is being wrapped, notice the thickness of the masa mixture

Wrapped tamale.  I didn't tie mine

Steamed and slathered with pecan butter.  This one is minus marshmallow     Photo by: Jeff Foy Photography     

I tried the tamales with and without marshmallows and I think that I preferred them without but they were pretty darn good with some gooey, toasted marshmallow on top too.  Check out the recipe for the tamales with my alterations.

I also tried more savory, chicken and cheese tamale steamed in parchment.  They were pretty good and a bit easier, as far as not having to work with the corn husks.  I have never been a huge fan of tamales but I actually kind of liked this version.  The recipe I used was from Food and Wine and other than not using plastic wrap, I used parchment paper, they were pretty tasty.

As I mentioned earlier, I also made marshmallows for my sister-in-law to add on top of her sweet potato tamale.  I made two kinds while I was at it, regular and peppermint.  We have been adding the peppermint ones to our hot chocolate and I have to admit that I melt right along with the marshmallow when I taste it.  Marshmallows are crazy easy to make and there is nothing better than fresh made because they are fluffier, softer and much more flavorful than the store bought kind.  I used a Martha Stewart recipe and made a few minor changes to it.  You can find the recipe with the changes here.

both regular and peppermint marshmallows  Photo by: Jeff Foy Photography

As always it was another fantastic challenge and I discovered a kind of tamale that I really really like.  Thank you Maranda!  Be sure to check out all of the other mouth-watering tamales that have been turned out over at the Daring Kitchen.

Sweet Potato Tamales with Pecan Butter

Chicken and Cheese Tamales Steamed in Parchment

Two Kinds of Marshmallows

Maranda of Jolts & Jollies was our January 2012 Daring Cooks hostess with the mostess! Maranda challenged us to make traditional Mexican Tamales as our first challenge of the year!

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