Chocolate-Drenched Salted Peanut Cajeta Cups
- October 30th, 2009
I woke up with an odd hankering for goat milk the other day and I couldn’t figure out why. I think it was a remnant of a dream I couldn’t quite hang onto in my morning haze, because truth be told, I’m not actually a huge fan of goat milk. I love goat cheese till there’s no tomorrow, but I’ve never been a straight chugger of the milk itself. This is in direct contrast to my 14 month old; I’m pretty sure when everyone else is doing keg stands and beer bongs in college he will be pouring ice cold goat milk through a funnel and down his gullet to prove his mettle (at least that’s my hope, given his propensity for it now). In any case, I couldn’t shake the urge to tickle my tonsils with something of the goat variety, so I started thinking long and hard about how I could dress it up so it wouldn’t be quite so, well, goaty. Yes, I know the whole lipstick on a Palin adage, and it’s not that I wanted to mask the nature of the goat- just enhance it somehow.
That’s when it hit me- CAJETA! For those of you unlucky enough to be unfamiliar with this ooh la la substance- it’s basically dulce de leche made with goat’s milk instead of cow milk. The goat taste imparts more complexity on the flavor, so rather than being sweet and cloying (as I sometimes find dulce de leche), it adds a layer of depth to the caramel, kind of like the difference between a tawny and a ruby port. I absolutely love to make cajeta because of the mouthwatering odor it bestows on the entire kitchen as its reducing- make it once and you won’t soon return to your dulce de leche ways.
