First, inspired by the margarita pie, I set out to make a sangria tart. I imagined a Mexican vanilla pastry cream dotted with sangria-soaked fruit. However, on my first try, the darker, spicier notes of Mexican vanilla got lost in the cooked cream. My solution was a teaspoon of instant espresso powder, which gave the cream a rich, slightly bitter flavor that mimicked Mexican vanilla straight out of the bottle and balanced the sweet fruit. Finally, for richness and structure, I chose a crispy press-in shortbread crust. Next, I wanted to make a burrito into a dessert, jettisoning a thick tortilla wrapper for a thinner crepe. For a distinctly Mexican flavor, I made a batch of yellow cornmeal crepes, sweetened with vanilla and sugar. Fine, but unexciting. Starting from scratch, I switched to Mexican chocolate, which was good, but adding some cornmeal back to the batter was even better, softening the texture and enriching the sweet chocolate flavor. To fill the crepes, I used my mother’s easy-to-make cherry pie filling, which has a cinnamon flavor to match the Mexican chocolate. I folded up my crepes as burritos as well as enchiladas, which ultimately I preferred for its perfect ratio of crepe to filling.
