Dessert Tamales 3 Ways // and how to throw a tamalada!

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways // and how to throw a tamalada! | butterlust.com

A few weeks ago Steve & his friends threw a tamalada, also known as a tamale-making party, for you gringos. Tamaladas are deeply-rooted Mexican tradition, typically held around Christmastime, when it is customary for families to gather and assemble, cook and feast on tamales. For generations, tamaladas have served as a social celebration, bringing together loved ones for good food and great company. And while our tamalada was a little late in the season, it was exactly that.

Throwing a Tamalada

To start, a long list of friends (and friends of friends) were invited and told to bring the tamale filling of their choice. This could be anything from pork or black beans to, in my case, rum-soaked raisins and cajeta. (We’ll get to that part in a minute.) Lesson learned, our tamalada could have stood to be a little more organized. Instead of assigning people exact items to bring, it was a free-for-all that resulted in massive quantities of food. Luckily we didn’t miss any major ingredients, but the spreadsheet-loving tamale dictator inside of me would have appreciated a little more structure. But hey, that’s what Tacate is made for, right? 

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways // and how to throw a tamalada! | butterlust.com

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways // and how to throw a tamalada! | butterlust.com

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways // and how to throw a tamalada! | butterlust.com

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways // and how to throw a tamalada! | butterlust.com

I supposed I should take a moment to actually explain what a tamale is. I forget that it’s not necessarily common knowledge outside the Lone Star State. A tamale is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa (a corn-based dough), filled with meat, cheese, vegetables, or pretty much anything you want (most commonly spiced pork or beef), and then steamed or boiled in a corn husk or banana leaf. Filling and methods vary by region, but as a Texan, I am most familiar with the Mexican variety.

When throwing a tamalada there are 4 basic items you will need: prepared masa (savory or sweet), a large stock pot with steamer, corn husks, and the filling(s) of your choice. The ingredients are simple and straightforward, but the construction is a process and is best done in an assembly line fashion (hence the idea of a tamale-making party).

Tamale Prep

On the day before your tamalada, make your masa and filling. You’ll be much more happy and relaxed on the day of if you space things out. While you can buy prepared masa, I recommend making your own – it’s really very simple and making your own allows you to season to your preference. For savory tamales, you can find a masa recipe here. I’ve included my sweet masa recipe at the bottom of this post.  A quick Google search for tamale fillings will provide you with more recipes than you’ll know what to do with. Pick and choose whatever sounds good to you, the world is your oyster.

On the day of your tamalada, soak the corn husks in warm water for 30 minutes to an hour. They should be pliable but not soft. When it’s tamale-making time, line up your ingredients in an assembly line fashion. First the soaked corn husks, then the masa and fillings, ending with the steamer pot.

Tamale Assembly

To assemble, take a corn husk and lay it on a flat surface. Scoop 1-2 tablespoons of masa into the center, depending on the size of the husk. Using your hands or a spoon, spread the masa all the way to the edge of the thick end of the husk, leaving a space of about 4 inches from the narrow end, and leaving about an inch on either side. Try to keep the dough approximately 1/4 inch thick. Next spread a few spoonfuls of filling down the center of the masa, leaving about half an inch of masa on the sides. Carefully fold the tamale bringing the sides together so that the masa touches and completely envelopes the filling. Roll the tamale snug, but not so tightly that your filling oozes out the top. Fold up the empty tail end and use a thin strip of husk to tie it closed. Place the tamale upright in the steamer and repeat.

Once your steamer is full (packed tightly but with enough room to let the dough expand some), steam the tamales for 1-2 hours, depending on the irsize. Refill the steamer with water as needed. The tamales are done when the masa around the filling feels firm and there no parts of uncooked dough left. To test for doneness, remove one tamale from the steamer and let it cool for a minute or two. As you open the husks, the dough should come away easily from the husks and be completely smooth. Once you have confirmed your tamales are done, remove from the heat and let sit for a few minutes so they can set. You can eat them right away, refrigerate in husk for 2-3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways

You can bet I didn’t let an opportunity to make SWEET tamales pass me up. Even if it meant hoarding sweet masa in the corner and hiding my cooked tamales in the laundry room so that I could get them home to photograph. Some would call that a party foul…you know, not sharing and all. I call it dedication.

As soon as plans for the tamalada were in motion, ideas for sweet tamales were dancing (or should I say, estaban bailando) in my brain. To my surprise, as I began to research I discovered that sweet tamales are in face a real thing. Prior to, I had only heard of and eaten tamales of the savory variety, so you can imagine my excitement when I learned of the dessert version. So excited in fact, that I had to start a list on my computer to keep track of all of the flavor ideas I was noodling. Flavors like nutella cheesecake and fudge s’more were seriously considered, but in the end I decided to channel my inner abuela and went with fillings that felt more traditional.

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways // and how to throw a tamalada! | butterlust.com

And the winners…

Brown Sugar Rum Raisin
Guava & Goat Cheese (Guayabate y Queso)
Cajeta (Goat’s Milk Caramel)

I realize some of these ingredients may sound erm, foreign, but I assure you they are all available at your local hispanic (or international) market.

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways // and how to throw a tamalada! | butterlust.com

Speaking of hispanic markets, can anybody who doesn’t live in Texas tell me if you guys have Fiesta grocery stores? I want to talk to you guys about the amazingness of it, but when your doing this blogger thing it’s important to be relatable. And if you’re sitting over there being like wtf is Fiesta? then I feel like I’m leaving you our or something like that.

But I’ve got to say it. The tamalada was prefaced by a life-changing shopping trip to Fiesta. We’re talking aisles and aisles of Hispanic and international foods. Things that I’ve heard of but never knew where to buy. And other things I’ve never heard of but sound completely delicious and need to get in my kitchen like, yesterday.

Did I mention it’s all super cheap?! I have a new self-imposed rule that 1/4 of my grocery trips need to be to Fiesta. There are just too many unique ingredients to test out to not go. So look forward to that.

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways // and how to throw a tamalada! | butterlust.com

OK, back on track.

To make sweet tamales, you have to make a separate masa recipe from your savory masa using tasty ingredients like coconut milk and butter. (Nobody said tamales were light.) I adapted mine from a recipe that I found on Food.com, which is apparently originally from Emeril Lagasse.

BAM!

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways // and how to throw a tamalada! | butterlust.com

I’m no sweet tamale expert but I do know a thing or two about desserts and I believe that this masa is perfection. It steams up light and fluffy and the coconut milk gives it a sweet & nutty complexity. Goodness, I love coconut milk.

There are a lot of recipes online for sweet masa that call for condensed milk. And while I do love condensed milk, I decided not to use it in my sweet masa because I was worried its extreme sweetness would overpower the flavors of the fillings. Using coconut milk instead let my fillings shine and resulted in masa with a lighter, softer sweetness instead of the intense, syrupy sweetness that condensed milk provides.

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways // and how to throw a tamalada! | butterlust.com

The picture above is of the Brown Sugar Rum Raisin tamales, which were the crowd favorite. Below are the Guava & Goat Cheese which were my personal favorite. Though I could have eaten both for daysss. (Not could have, did.)

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a good shot of the Cajeta Tamales because in the steaming process the liquid caramel distributes throughout the masa, resulting in a caramel flavor throughout, but a fairly unphotogenic tamale. Unphotogenic is definitely not a real word, by the way.

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways // and how to throw a tamalada! | butterlust.com

Note that often, traditional sweet tamales do not use the “stuffing method” and instead distribute the filling throughout the masa. I chose to stuff mine like I would with a savory tamale because well, I felt like it! Living on the edge, I tell you.

The more traditional method would work well with the Brown Sugar Raisin recipe, however I would not recommend trying it with the Cajeta or Guava & Goat Cheese because I’m not sure if the stick ingredients will cause the tamale to stick to the corn husk.

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways // and how to throw a tamalada! | butterlust.com

Whether throwing a tamalada or making a small batch at home, tamales are 100% worth the effort. Sweet tamales in particular because they can’t be found on your freezer aisle like the savory variety. And they freeze beautifully so you can keep them for months and warm them up in the microwave whenever you need a taste of something a little different.

Salud! XO, Katie

Dessert Tamales 3 Ways: FIllings

Ingredients

    Brown Sugar Rum Raisin Filling:
  • 1 cup golden raisins
  • 1 1/2 cups spiced rum
  • cinnamon for sprinkling
  • brown Sugar for sprinkling
  • Guava & Goat Cheese Filling:
  • 4 oz goat cheese
  • 1 package Guayabate (guava paste)
  • Cajeta Filling:
  • 1 container Cajeta (can sub caramel ice cream topping)
  • sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions

    Brown Sugar Rum Raisin Filling:
  • Place raisins and rum in a small saucepan and heat over medium low heat for 30 minutes. Set aside for another 30 minutes to allow the raisins to plump up.
  • To assemble tamales, follow instructions above and using 1-2 tsp rum raisins for filling. Sprinkle with cinnamon and approximately 1 tsp brown sugar. Wrap and steam.
  • Guava & Goat Cheese Filling:
  • Place goat cheese in the freezer for 30 minutes to make it easy to crumble. Cut membrillo into 1/4 inch slices.
  • To assemble tamales, follow instructions above and placing 3-4 membrillo slices down the middle of the masa and sprinkle with goat cheese. Wrap and steam.
  • Cajeta FIlling:
  • To assemble tamales, follow instructions above and spoon 1-2 tsp cajeta down the middle of the masa and sprinkle with sea salt. Wrap and steam.
https://butterlustblog.com/2014/02/11/dessert-tamales-3-ways/
Dessert Tamales 3 Ways: Sweet Masa

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup vegetable shortening
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 cups masa harina
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

  • In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the vegetable shortening until very light, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and half of the masa and beat until combined.
  • Mix the milk and coconut milk and add alternately with the remaining masa in several batches to the mixture until the mixture is the consistency of medium-thick cake batter.
  • Add baking powder, salt, and cinnamon, and beat for 30 more seconds.
  • Add the melted butter and beat to incorporate, being careful not to overmix. Set aside until tamale making time. To assemble, follow instructions featured above.
https://butterlustblog.com/2014/02/11/dessert-tamales-3-ways/

More great resources for tamale-making:
What’s Cooking America (includes assembly pictures!)
About.com
La Cocina de Leslie (more pictures!)

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4 Comments
  • Curt Falk
    Posted at 19:46h, 24 May Reply

    Great recipes! And I live somewhere that might actually have a larger Mexican population than most Texas towns. Wooddburn, OR, where about 80 percent of the population is Mexican, mostly because it was an immigrant farm community originally. We do not have ‘Fiesta’ stores, but a GREAT ‘Mega Foods’ and lots of farm stands and groceries to get authentic ingredients. Unlike most places we do also respect ALL residents.

  • Ma del Tello
    Posted at 12:38h, 25 December Reply

    300% Mexican (born and raised in Mexico by Mexican parents) hadn’t heard of such tradition 🤔…in Mexico

    • Marissa
      Posted at 15:20h, 23 April Reply

      Really? Not sure where in Mexico you were raised. I’m from Sonora and we would always have a tamalada. Typically before the Guadalupe Virgin day. I know plenty of friends from other regions and same deal. They may not call it that, but it’s around holiday time when women get together and make huge batches of tamales.

  • Pingback:10 Irresistible Tamale Recipes You will Crave – Health Gained
    Posted at 05:20h, 10 February Reply

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