Ana Castro's Sweet Tamales with Prunes + Pecans
Sweet tamales are a traditional Mexican dessert, and Ana Castro's version is a sophisticated twist on the classic recipe. They're filled with prunes and pecans and have a surprising touch of miso for added depth of flavor. Then, they are topped with a creamy, nutty glaze and finished with a sprinkle of salt and are a showstopping addition to your holiday dessert lineup!
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Blender
- Large pot with steamer insert
Ingredients
For the tamales:
- 2 cups Masienda brand masa harina
- 1 cup soft butter
- 1/2 cup cane syrup or honey
- 1 tsp white miso
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder (bicarb)
- 2 cups diced prunes
- 8 ounce package corn husks
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 2-3 cups water
For the Prune glaze:
- 1/2 cup pecans
- 1 cup prunes
- 1 cup cane syrup or honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp miso
- 2 cups hot water more for blending if needed to reach desired consistency
Instructions
For the tamales
- The night before, leave a pound (450 g) of butter out of the fridge to come to room temp nice and slowly.
- Start by soaking a cup of pitted prunes in 1 cup (250 ml) of hot water. Let it sit for about 30 min so prunes can soften. Puree the soaked prunes and water, cane syrup, miso and vanilla extract in a blender. Blend until smooth, if it’s too thick, you can add a bit more water. Transfer contents of the blender into a bowl and using a spatula mix in 1/2 cup (50 g) of chopped and toasted pecans. If you’d like you can add a bit of bourbon, or dark rum. Wink Wink. Great job! Your sauce is ready!
For the tamales
- In a standing mixer, with the help of the whisk attachment, whip your butter on high for about 2 minutes, until a bit of air is incorporated, and the butter has increased its volume and become a pale almost white. Next up, with a spatula, scrape all the butter of the whisk into the mixing bowl, for this next step you will switch to a paddle attachment. Add your white miso, cane syrup, salt and baking powder. Mix for about 30 seconds at low speed, scrape the bowl and sides again and incorporate your masa harina, in about 3 increments. Start trickling in water. Mix on the paddle attachment at medium speed until the batter looks homogenized, it should resemble a very light cookie dough.
For the assembly
- Soak the corn husks in hot water for 30 minutes, changing the water out every 10 minutes.
- Once you’ve finished this process, on a flat clean table, lay out your husks, let’s start with 20. You want to pick the nicest of the husks, look for no holes or tears, nice and pliable pieces. The husk resembles a triangular shape. Place them with the base of the “triangle” facing you and the tip facing away from you.
- There are a lot of ways of building tamales, some people like to do a thin spread of batter and then filling, but since today’s tamales are more of a dessert, we are going to scoop the batter as if they were cookies. The amount of masa should resemble a golf ball. Place the ball/scoop in the center of the husk. And push in a couple pieces of cut prunes and a pinch of pecans.
- Use the husk to encase the ball of batter in a rolling motion, the batter is supposed to flatten and take on a more rectangular shape.
- Make strips of husk and use them to tie a double knot on the bottom of each tamale and fold the tip to tuck the tamale in.
- For cooking, you’ll need a steamer, fill the bottom of your pot with water 3/4 of the way up. Let it come to a boil, once it boils throw in a penny for good luck (and it’s my grandma’s way of knowing if the water gets too low because the penny will start tapping).
- While the water comes up, arrange the tamales, knot facing up, in a concentric circle on the steamer pot.
- Once the water is on a boil, reduce it to a simmer and place the steamer basket with the tamales on, place a lid and set a timer for 45 minutes. When your timer goes off, turn of the burner, carefully open the pot away from you, there will lots of steam. Using thongs take a tamal out of the pot and place the lid back on. To check the tamale open it very carefully. You are looking for a tamale that its hot and steamy, so it will be little soft, but it needs to set. If you’re not sure, take a little taste with the tip of a spoon, you’ll be able to tell if the masa is underdone. If it is, place the tamal back in and steam for another 15/30 minutes. Repeat this process to make sure they are cooked all the way. Once they are cooked, turn the pot off and let the tamales sit for 15 minutes before serving.
- For serving, open your tamal, peel back the layers of the husk to expose the tamale itself, and add a big spoonful of your prune sauce. Enjoy! I like presenting them in the husk because they look so gorgeous. You can eat them like that or if you’re feeling extra, make it a la mode with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Nutrition
Serving: 1tamalCalories: 244kcalCarbohydrates: 35gProtein: 2gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 196mgPotassium: 219mgFiber: 3gSugar: 21gVitamin A: 431IUVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 40mgIron: 1mg