Oh Chocotorta, how I love you!

I learned of Chocotortas during our last visit to Buenos Aires from Maricela from Pip In The City. I met her through blogging and we immediately fell in love with her gracious hospitality. We had brunch at Olsen, walked around Buenos Aires, and invited her over to our room at Home Hotel for a small party. She brought a chocotorta, a very simple no-bake layered “cake” consisting of chocolate cookies, dulce de leche and cream cheese. Did you get that folks? Cookies, dulce de leche and cream cheese? Needless to say this cake––a favorite of kids and mothers-who-cannot-bake––disappeared in a matter of minutes. Scratch that. Seconds.

“It’s the recipe moms make when they can’t bake. You cannot mess it up” she told me.

Now that really sounds like my kind of dessert. Excluding my adapted alfajores which I have mastered and a few cakes and cookies, I’m still trying to understand baking. When a cake recipe doesn’t require an oven you better believe I’m gonna try that first. Or at least nudge the hubby to try it.

Ok, so here’s the deal. I didn’t seek out to adultify this Argentine dessert. I’m not one of those people who needs to dress something up and make it cute. Nor did I mean to defile or fancy something that was just fine as it was. Because it’s delicious and fun and quick and easy. But after a few emails with Marcela to double check some chocotorta facts it became clear that some macgyvering would be required on my end. I had most of the ingredients for the chocotorta on hand as we stocked up at the supermercado in Buenos Aires but realized I’d be missing one of the filling ingredients. She recommended adapting the recipe and after a quick consultation with my food-styling better half we decided on adding cream to the mixture; it’d be too thick otherwise.

“I have another idea as well. Let’s add booze,” Adam said. In an effort to include more alcoholic beverages to my diet I agreed. Before long Adam was reaching for Kahlua, hazelnuts and a baking sheet and I knew he’d be adding his own touch to the cake. I moved over. I was not about to stand in his way.

Rather than build the chocotorta in a loaf pan Adam worked his food styling magic by creating little individual stacks of kahlua-soaked cookies layered with the cream cheese and dulce de leche spread. They were topped with an impromptu hazelnut brittle and before long these individual chocotortas were gone. And when I say gone I mean that I ate them all. And I’m not even really a sweetfreak. Or so I think.

Maybe it was the booze?

Chocotorta a la Adam
1 can of dulce de leche
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
chocolate cookies, see note
1/2 cup Kahlua coffee liqueur

For The Brittle
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon water
squeeze of lemon juice
1/2 cup hazelnuts, whole

About the Cookies: We used a brand we brought back from Argentina that are thin, square and not overly sweet. You could use just about any cookie provided it’s the biscuit type and not a big honkin’ sweet one.

Dulce de leche filling:
Beat the cream until soft peaks form. Add cream cheese, dulce de leche and whisk until smooth. You want a very light consistency, quite different from the super thick viscosity of regular dulce de leche.

Hazelnut Brittle:
Grease a cookie sheet. In a skillet cook the sugar, water and lemon juice on high heat until amber in color, remove from the heat and mix in the hazelnuts. Pour the hazelnut mixture onto greased cookie sheets to cool, making sure to spread out the nuts to create individually coated nuts that you can use as garnish. Crumble a few of them to top the chocotorta.

Assembly:
Dunk the cookies in the coffee liqueur, and dunk liberally!  Once soaked pipe the filling in between the cookie layers. You don’t have to do beautiful baby dollops like the photo, you can just use a plastic baggie with the corner cut off to pipe the filling on top. Kind of like a s’more. Once layered repeat until you have a nice little stack. Give them a little time to set as this allows the cookie to become even softer from the Kahlua which makes it a bit easier to eat. Top with crumbled candied hazelnuts.

Because this is a no-bake recipe you don’t need to be exact. Taste along the way, just be careful with the brittle part of the recipe. I have no idea how many this yields because I was too busy eating along the way. And if by chance you oversoak and your cookies become mush (which did not happen to me but I suppose it could), well, tough. It’s still gonna taste good.

The best part about visiting Argentina, a country so rich with culture and tradition, is that you’re bound to create new discoveries with each trip. Last week it was something as simple as tasting a condiment for the first time that sent my brain into overdrive. Salsa Golf, a pale slightly orange spread with a salmon hue that straddles the line between mayonnaise and ketchup, appeared on our table when we ordered sandwiches in one of the high rise food courts of an ultra modern shopping mall in Buenos Aires.

“Whoa! Check this out! Oh my god! Salsa Golf!” Adam screamed immediately after emptying the packet next to his small mound of papas fritas. I could completely understand his enthusiasm.

Just so you know, I’m one of those people that gladly mixes ketchup and mayonnaise for french fries. And there’s absolutely no shame in my game. Having felt as if I just discovered Creamy Nirvana Delivered From The Heavens In A Condiment Packet, I felt like I needed to get to the bottom of Salsa Golf. I started asking around Buenos Aires and checked Wikipedia as well as Dan’s blog for clarification. He says it’s known as the national condiment of Argentina (next to Chimichurri, of course) and I can certainly see why. It’s wonderful on sandwiches, hearts of palm, french fries, potato chips, and just about anything else that is at home with a creamy dip. Other than a legend no one has really identified where it gets its name and unfortunately it’s rarely seen outside of South America.

After our Salsa Golf awakening we found ourselves strolling the aisles of Carrefour during an afternoon of shopping. I must say I’m happy that my traveling companions love checking out grocery stores when traveling as much as I do. At Carrefour there was an entire aisle dedicated to mayonnaise, mustards and barbecue sauces and then the jackpot!: an entire section devoted to Salsa Golf. I looked at my traveling companions and the idea hit us simultaneously- A Salsa Golf Tasting! And why not? We were staring at hundreds of packages and jars and bottles of the stuff, from store brands to generic to Hellman’s. We all agreed how much we immediately loved the stuff and knowing we’d never find it at home we thought we might as well get to know it as best as we could considering we’d probably never find it back home. An immersion course in Salsa Golf, if you will.

We filled our basket with various brands and headed back to the hotel. I think the staff caught on to our intentions when we starting asking them one by one about Salsa Golf. Do you like it? What do you eat it with? Do you have a favorite brand? What’s it best with? We told them about our Salsa Golf Taste Off 2009 and they delightfully offered to assist.

The Salsa Golf Taste Off 2009 Judges, clockwise: Brian L, Wine Marketing. Paul C., Wine Wholesaler. Dana R., Director of Online Community, NBC.com. Adam Pearson, Food Stylist. Aaron A., Buyer Amoeba Hollywood. Wade W., Whole Foods.

We planned and trained; we cleared our palates and made notes. We were serious about the SGTO 09 and meant business. And so did Home Hotel. They took our various brands, decanted and labeled them so that we wouldn’t know what we were tasting. Freshly fried french fries became the official food of the tasting and plenty of Quilmes made sure we were hydrated. But an added element of surprise? Home Hotel submitted their own house-made Salsa Golf into the tasting.

The blind tasting began with two groups. We chatted about texture, salinity, sweetness, which brands tasted nothing more than a simple mayo and ketchup blend, which brands had more depth, and how one version in particular had more dimension and flavor than the rest. We took notes as our friends at the hotel looked on. We drank beer. We drank more beer. I realized that taste testing is serious business, jars of fattening dressing or not.

After a group discussion I tallied the forms, noticing a clear winner. The ever delightful bartender Danny (who has quickly become a group favorite) then took our tallied forms and announced the winners. Now I know how those girls feel standing in front of Tyra Banks. And for the record I’d never trip in heels.

With 22 points, we all selected Danica brand as our least favorite in the tasting. The next was Hellman’s with 24.5 points, followed by Fanacoa with 26 points. And the winner, with a whopping 30.5 points?

Home Hotel’s Homemade Salsa Golf.

The casera, or house made, was the only Salsa Golf with dimension and character. It had a pronounced acid flavor that held up through the end of the bite. While the others were good, Home Hotel’s was excellent. It held its own with fries and beer.  And the only bad thing about our tasting was knowing that once we return back to California we’ll probably never be able to find Salsa Golf.

Sigh.

I suppose I’ll always have Ketchup and Mayo. But it’s just not the same.

A very special thanks to our friends at Home Hotel in Buenos Aires. I cannot say enough about the owners Tom & Patricia as well as the staff. It’s impossible to have a bad moment at this place, it’s as relaxing and chill as you want it to be. It’s nothing short of magical and you’ll instantly feel like a member of the family once you arrive.

PLUS: I’m working on getting Home Hotel’s recipe for Salsa Golf for a future post. It will be the only thing that sustains me back home in the states until we come back to Buenos Aires. Or I could buy a new carry-on for the flight home and fill it with the stuff.

Bife de Chorizo from Bar Del Gallego, Bonpland 170 in Palermo,  Buenos Aires.