Vanilla Bean Atole Blanco with Fresh Masa and Canela Milk

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A pale, glossy Mexican masa drink built on real vanilla bean instead of extract: masa harina is whisked into canela-steeped milk until it thickens to a pourable, spoon-coating cream, then finished with vanilla seeds and a pinch of salt so the corn flavor stays forward. Thick enough to sip like a dessert, loose enough to drink from a mug — and the whole thing comes together in one saucepan in under half an hour.

Ingredients

• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 Mexican canela (true cinnamon) stick, about 4 inches, broken in half
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste)
• 1 strip orange zest, 2 inches, no white pith (optional)

• 1/2 cup masa harina (corn flour for tortillas, such as Maseca)
• 2 cups cold water
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (optional, for a richer finish)

• ground cinnamon for dusting
• flaky salt (optional)

Instructions

1. Pour the milk into a heavy 3- to 4-quart saucepan. Add the broken canela stick and the orange zest strip. Scrape the seeds from the split vanilla bean with the tip of a knife, add both seeds and pod to the milk, and warm over medium-low heat until steam rises and small bubbles ring the edge, about 8 minutes. Do not boil. Cover, slide off the heat, and steep 10 minutes.
2. While the milk steeps, whisk the masa harina with the 2 cups cold water in a bowl or 4-cup measuring cup until completely smooth with no dry lumps, about 1 minute. It should look like thin pancake batter. Let it sit; whisk again right before using, since the masa settles fast.
3. Fish out the canela stick, vanilla pod, and orange zest from the milk (scrape any clinging vanilla seeds back into the pot). Return the pan to medium heat and stir in the sugar and salt until dissolved.
4. Whisk the masa slurry one more time, then pour it into the warm milk in a slow steady stream while whisking constantly. Adding it gradually is the whole trick — dumped in at once, it clumps.
5. Cook over medium heat, whisking in slow figure-eights and reaching into the corners of the pan, for 10 to 14 minutes. The atole will thin slightly, then visibly thicken around minute 7 and begin to plop lazily. Keep it at a bare simmer (185–195°F); a hard boil will scorch the masa on the bottom.
6. Test for doneness by tasting: raw masa tastes chalky and dusty, cooked masa tastes sweet and toasty. When the chalkiness is gone and the atole coats the back of a spoon like heavy cream, whisk in the butter, if using, until melted.
7. For a completely silky texture, pour the atole through a fine-mesh sieve into a warmed pitcher, pressing with a ladle. Taste and add another tablespoon of sugar if you want it dessert-sweet.
8. Serve immediately in warm mugs, dusted with ground cinnamon and, if you like, a few grains of flaky salt. Atole thickens as it cools, so pour it while it is steaming hot.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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