Mom! There's milk in the CLAP BAG!
Yes, that's right. We get milk in the CLAP Bag.
For those who don't know what CLAP is in Venezuela, let me explain:
Local Supply and Production Committee
They are food distribution committees promoted by the Venezuelan government in which the communities themselves supply and distribute priority foods through a house-to-house delivery method.
Yes, that's right. I will not discuss how this came to be, why or when, it's politics which I don't like to talk about and is not all together related to today's post. But, the truth is that if we don't get milk in that bag, we don't consume it because it's too expensive and can't afford it, that's why, when it does come we take advantage of it and cook whatever we can that has milk in it. And that's my cue to start my story.
Last year, it was just my mom and me. My little sister had gone to Caracas to start a new job which didn't take off due the Pandemic. Thank you Covid! Anyways, it was the end of July I believe when the bag came, and to our surprise, it got milk. So, we got somewhat exited but not too much, since it was a 200 gr sachet. Still, better that than nothing so we save it until the location called for it.
By August, I had a terrible cough, chest pain and overall weakness, and thought: I got Covid! Thankfully that wasn't the case, even though it was treated like it was and so, I was locked down in my house without the possibility of even get a ray of sunshine in my face.
One thing you should know about me is this: When I get anxious, I eat! So, I started roaming the kitchen looking for something to make and found the milk.
Hum, what can I make with this?
So, I got on the computer, opened Youtube and started searching for something easy, with few ingredients and fast as well as delicious. Good things come for those who wait, and in my case for those who search because I found a video of a Plombir Cake, I'll leave the link at the end of the post.
The basics of this Cake is that it takes No Oven to make it and the Cookie Crust in fact doesn't have one single cookie in it! This gave me an idea, to make a Tartlet using almost the same ingredients as she used on the Plombir Cake. I checked the cabinets, found what I needed and started my experiment.
The Cookie Crust.
This is totally foolproof. You just have to roast some wheat flour in a pan, until is golden brown, that's it. Roast it until it's brown and add melted butter mixed with sugar and vanilla. That tastes like Maria cookie (Venezuelans will know what I'm talking about) and the tartlet comes out looking exactly as if was made with graham crackers. Let it rest and take care of the filling.
The Pastry Cream
I always try to follow the recipe in regards its ingredients, with the measurements, not so much. But this time I was forced to look for alternatives, cheaper alternatives, and since I wasn't allowed to leave the house I didn't wanted to cause my mom too much trouble I had to improvise.
A pastry cream is based with eggs and milk, and I didn't had eggs. So,what to do? If I did it the traditional way, it would turn out a little bland and too simple, so, I did a caramel first, then added the milk and flour to thicken the mixture and voilá! Filling done!
There you have it, a simple dessert, with few ingredients, no oven, and just as delicious as if where done the traditional way. As promised, I'll leave the link of the video from which I got this idea, it's in Spanish but you can activate the subtitles.
Thanks for Reading me!
✨✨Blessings✨✨
That looks very tasty, friend. So cool to make the crust without Galletas Maria. I'm already curious to try.