Silky Vanilla Atole (Atole de Vainilla)

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A velvety Mexican masa drink built on toasted corn flour, whole milk, piloncillo and a real split vanilla bean. Whisking the masa harina into cold water first — then straining it — is the trick to an atole that pours thick and glossy instead of gritty. It drinks like the corn cousin of hot chocolate: sweet, warm, faintly grainy in the best way, and perfect with pan dulce on a cold morning.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup masa harina (corn tortilla flour)
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 1 pinch fine sea salt

• 4 cups whole milk
• 3 oz piloncillo, chopped (or 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar)
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 1 Mexican cinnamon stick (canela)
• 1 2-inch strip orange peel, no white pith (optional)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter (optional, for gloss)
• ground cinnamon, for dusting

Instructions

1. Make the slurry first so it has time to hydrate: in a bowl or large measuring cup, whisk the 1/2 cup masa harina, 1 1/2 cups cold water and pinch of salt until completely smooth, about 1 minute. It should look like thin pancake batter with no dry lumps. Set aside for 10 minutes; whisk again before using.
2. Meanwhile, pour the milk into a heavy 3-quart saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the split vanilla bean into the milk and drop in the pod, then add the chopped piloncillo, cinnamon stick and orange peel. Warm over medium heat, stirring, until the piloncillo fully dissolves and the milk steams at the edges, 6 to 8 minutes. Do not let it boil over.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low. Whisk the masa slurry one more time, then pour it through a fine-mesh strainer directly into the warm milk, whisking constantly with your other hand. Press any masa left in the strainer with a spoon and discard the coarse bits — this is what keeps the atole silky.
4. Cook at a bare simmer, whisking almost constantly and reaching into the corners of the pan, for 10 to 12 minutes. The atole will thicken noticeably at around the 6-minute mark; keep going until it coats the back of a spoon and no raw-corn taste remains. Target 195°F on an instant-read thermometer, never a hard boil.
5. Fish out the vanilla pod, cinnamon stick and orange peel. Off the heat, stir in the vanilla extract and the butter, if using, until the butter melts and the surface turns glossy. Taste and add a little more piloncillo or brown sugar if you like it sweeter.
6. Pour into mugs from a height to build a little foam, dust with ground cinnamon, and serve immediately while it is hot and pourable.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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