I love tamales - my father used to bring home dozens of savory chicken and pork tamales from work. He purchased them from ladies who made them during the Christmas season, and I always felt that made them special. Imagine how my sweet tooth reacted the day I learned about sweet tamales.
Encarnación Pinedo included 11 tamale recipes in her Tamales section. I have previously did one of them: Click here for Part 1 and click here for Part 2 . Three of her recipes are labeled as sweet tamales.
The one I tried for today is on page 260, and is the second recipe on that page labeled as "Tamales dulces."
3 pounds masa
1/2 pound butter, melted
8 egg yolks
1 1/2 cup sugar
7 cups hot water or more
1 cup raisins
1 cup slivered almonds
1/8 cup sesame seeds
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 pound bag of corn husks
Rinse the corn husks, changing the water frequently, then set them aside to drain and soften. I put them in a colander over a towel.
In a VERY LARGE bowl, mix the masa, butter, egg yolks, and sugar. Add the water and mix well. Add more water if the mixture is stiff.
Using a sturdy spoon (that won't bend or break), whip the dough until it gets lighter in color, smoother in texture, and the egg yolks no longer look like yellow dots in the masa (they are distributed better). I used my stand mixer and whipped the dough in batches because there was so much, then I mixed the batches together by hand in the bowl.
Mix in the raisins, almonds, sesame seeds, and cinnamon. It is well-mixed when the cinnamon looks evenly distributed through the dough.
Spread the mixture on a husk. Fold up the bottom, then fold in the sides, then fold over the top.
Have a large kettle ready with hot water on the bottom and some sort of tray over it. The tamales should sit over the water. Pile them in, but not too densely. Cover them with some husks or a piece of parchment paper. If you are steaming multiple batches (and you will, if you make the whole recipe!), you can reuse the husks covering.
Put the lid on the kettle and heat the water to steaming. Turn the heat down so that the steaming continues but is not boiling all the water off.
Steam the tamales for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on how many are in the kettle and how big they are.
Check for steaming and if more water needs to be added.
Remove tamales and let cool. Serve warm or room temperature.
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| That is a very large bowl. Masa and such before water was added. |
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| Masa mixture with water, ready to be whipped. |
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| Whipped masa. Lighter in color, smoother in texture. |
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| With raisins, sesame, almonds, and cinnamon. |
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| Small amount. Ready to wrap. |
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| Wrapped. |
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| Ready to steam. Maybe not so many next time. |
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| Steamy! Done! |
My Notes
For the record, this is a huge amount of dough. You might want to reduce the recipe by half or more so it can fit in the bowl of a stand mixer. Seriously, I think my arms are strong enough now to compete in rowing!
Seven cups of water is not my definition of "a little hot water." I think it would have been better to use 8 or 9. The dough was too stiff, I think, and I should have been more generous with the water. You don't want the dough runny, but it should be soft and spreadable.
Some websites suggest steaming them for less time. I can't really comment on that.
I was taking some to a gathering where we wanted nibbles for everyone, so I made many small tamales. The goal was 3 to 4 bites each. Once I had about 35 small ones, I made bigger ones. Some of the husks were big enough that I split them in half for the small tamales. Overall, I got nearly 70 tamales.
I used all the husks in my bag and still had some dough left over. I wrapped it in parchment paper instead of husks to see how that would work.
The Verdict
I asked the people at the gathering to give me feedback, negative or positive. The responses were mixed. Several said, "Not a fan." Mostly it seemed that the texture was bothering them. Some thought there was not a lot of flavor. Others said they liked it; they thought the flavors were balanced and good. Several liked it enough that they asked to take some tamales home, which I gladly agreed to, considering how many were left at my home.
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| Cooked. |
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| The interior, to show the texture. Too dense, I think. |
My take? I wanted there to be some salt in it. Just a little. I wanted more raisins. And a lot more cinnamon. And some more sugar, although everyone I asked thought the sweetness level was just right. I could not taste the sesame seeds, but I'm not sure I wanted more in there. I think I would leave them out completely. The almonds were a good addition, although I think chopped almonds would have been better than slivered.
I had the advantage of tasting several tamales over several days, and I noticed that the texture was not consistent. Some were dense and firm, others were soft and tender. The point of whipping the dough is to mix in air and make the mixture smoother before cooking. That results in a tender texture, which is pleasant to eat. So I suspect I was not giving some batches enough time in the stand mixer to fully whip them, or I piled too many tamales into the kettle and they didn't steam well.
One guest taster, who tried them over several days, noted that they were very good with coffee in the morning. He wanted more raisins and nuts in them and wished they were all large. He called them a "Mexican scone."
Success, but with caveats. Unless you have a very large bowl and a sturdy spoon, make a smaller version of it.
I'm not sure if using both the husks and the lid as covers were necessary. It might be that she did not think of using both, and if your kettle doesn't have a lid, the husks would do the trick. I have not used both the few times before I've made tamales, and the lid did just fine.
Several of us thought the tamales were best serve heated, for example for about 20 seconds in the microwave. Definitely not good served cold.
The paper-wrapped tamales were fine. I did not see a difference between them and the husk-wrapped ones.
At the gathering, some people expressed surprise at the existence of sweet tamales. They only had experienced savory, meat-filled one. I was glad to expand their knowledge.
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