November: Pionono

Ah Thanksgiving…the turkey roasting, stuffing baking, mashed potatoes fluffing, cranberry sauce congealing, and the green bean casserole doing whatever green bean casserole does. Now scratch all that, shake the Etch A Sketch and lets start all over again. Ah Thanksgiving….Choclo, Pollo a La Brasa, Cachangas, crispy Papa A la Huancaina, Arroz Chaufa, Pisco Sours and Pionono. What the what?! you say! I guess I have a little explaining to do right? My family’s Thanksgiving tradition is not to have a traditional American Thanksgiving meal. Why? I could say: because the first Thanksgiving, as we know it, was really about welcoming the new kids on the block, the immigrants, and sharing the bounty with neighbors. And while this is indeed the spirit of Thanksgiving, we really started doing this because we are not big fans of turkey and many of the traditional side dishes. Well, that is true for 4 out of 5 of us. My husband was dragged kicking and screaming into this tradition, so every 4-5 years we do a turkey to keep him happy. Anyway, we now pick a country, region, or people and pick native dishes to enjoy. We have done Italian, Portuguese, Jewish, Asian, German, Cuban, Cajun and many yummy more. This year we landed in Peru! This is what we had: corn nuts, roasted chicken, fried bread, roasted fingerling potatoes, fried rice , and frothy alcoholic drinks. But enough of that, we are here for the baking…Pionono which is a caramel jelly roll cake named after Pop Pius IX. Why? Because he liked rolled cakes? Because he looked like a jelly roll? No idea, research if you must.

This batter was sooo light and fluffy, and so smooth on my tongue. Yes I eat cake batter, don’t judge me. As you can see there is parchment paper in the jellyroll pan. Make sure you trim it to fit the bottom of the pan. We obviously did not and it was hard to spread evenly. Plus all that extra paper gets in the way when you start to roll.

Yes I basically just watched and took pictures this month. I am the one that found the recipe though, so I should get some credit for that!

I’m also the one who spent an hour stirring the pot, trying to make dulce de leche according to the recipe at https://www.thespruceeats.com/homemade-dulce-de-leche-caramel-sauce-3029070 . Alex (my middle son) had to kick in and help stir because it still wasn’t thick enough after one hour. Finally, after two hours, we just stuck it in the fridge and prayed it would thicken. It didn’t, but it was thick enough to roll without too much oozing out the ends.

It tasted like a fluffy cinnamon roll. The cinnamon sticks really infused the dulce de leche with a wonderful flavor, and just like the batter, the finished cake was light and fluffy. If I could change one thing, I would just buy the canned dulce de leche. Sure the fresh sauce probably tastes better, but when everyone is visiting for the holiday, I’d rather use the time playing board games or harassing my family.