Everybody in Texas knows and loves the tres leches pioneered as a dessert by the Houston-based Cordua family, a quarter-century ago at their first Churrascos restaurant and later at Americas and Artista. Somewhere along the way, they started serving a lush and indulgent breakfast/brunch variation. It’s something well worth climbing out of bed for. And yes, sometimes it’s a very good thing to be writing a cookbook with Michael and David Cordua.

Milks:

3 cups condensed milk

3 cups evaporated milk

3 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoon vanilla

Meringue:

1 cup egg whites

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pancakes:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups milk

4 tablespoons butter, melted

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Vegetable spray

Extra butter

Dulce de leche

Powdered sugar

Combine the milks, cream and vanilla, whisking until smooth, 3-4 minutes. Prepare the meringue by heating the sugar and water to 240 degrees in a saucepan, then removing from. Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar in a mixer on high until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes, then slowly add the syrup. Add vanilla and keep mixing on slow speed until the bowl cools to the touch, about 15 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, butter and egg. Add the dry ingredients to the liquid to form a batter. Do not overmix. A few small lumps are fine. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with vegetable spray and 2-3 tablespoons of butter. Cook the pancakes, each with about 3 tablespoons of batter. Fit 2-3 at a time into a large skillet, but be careful they remain separate. Cook until the pancake starts to set and bubbles open on the surface, 1-2 minutes, then flip carefully and cook 1-2 minutes more. Transfer pancakes in 200-degree oven to keep warm.

When ready to serve, prepare the tres leches milk mixture and the Italian meringue as for the dessert tres leches. Quickly make 8 stacks of 3 pancakes each and use a knife to cut a large X in the top of each stack. Pour in the milk mixture until pancakes are soaked, then use a pastry bag to pipe in meringue. Drizzle with dulce de leche and dust with powdered sugar. Serves 8.

Here’s a way to have your steak and eat it too – or at least to enjoy it during the long hot summers in Texas. From a flavor perspective, the key is the dressing combining the pungent qualities of both horseradish and Creole mustard.

Dressing:

¾ cup low-fat sour cream

¾ cup chopped red onion

2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives

1 ½ teaspoons prepared horseradish

1 teaspoon Creole mustard

¾ teaspoon lemon juice

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Salad:

2 (6-ounce) beef tenderloin steaks (3/4-1 inch thick)

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper

Olive oil

Sweet butter lettuce blend

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

½ cup thinly sliced cucumber

Preparing the Dressing by combining all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerating for 30 minutes to let ingredients meld. Preheat the grill or broiler. Coat the grill with olive oil. Season the steaks with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper; grill until desired degree of doneness, about 5 minutes per side. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing. Combine the lettuce, tomato and cucumber in a bowl and divide over 4 plates. Top salads with steak slices and drizzle with horseradish dressing. Serves 4.

Everybody has a favorite cake, right - the kind they wish they’d have for every birthday? Well, mine has always been German chocolate. And I’ve always wondered, every time I enjoy a slice, what’s so “German” about sweetened flaked coconut and chopped pecans. It turns out that German chocolate cake isn’t from Germany at all. It got its name from a mid-19^th-century brand of American sweet chocolate developed by a fellow named Sam German and called for in a cake recipe published in a Dallas newspaper in 1957. The possessive simply got lost over the decades since then. Consoled by that knowledge, I can finally eat my favorite cake in peace.

Cake:

Vegetable shortening or spray

All-purpose flour

2 ½ cups cake flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup water

4 (1-ounce) squares German’s sweet chocolate

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, separated

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

1 cup buttermilk

Filling:

1 cup sugar

1 cup evaporated milk

½ cup butter

3 egg yolks

1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

1 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon coconut extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat 3 9-inch round cake pans with shortening or spray and then all-purpose flour. In a bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking soda and salt. Heat the water and chocolate in a small saucepan, stirring until melted and combined. Allow to cool. In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Blend in the melted chocolate along with the vanilla and almond extracts. Alternating, beat in the flour mixture and the buttermilk, mixing each time just until incorporated.

Beat the egg whites in a large glass or metal mixing bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold about one-third of the whites into the batter followed by the rest, folding until no white streaks remain. Pour the batter in the pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert onto wire racks. While cakes are cooling completely, make the Filling by combining the sugar, evaporated milk, butter and egg yolks in a saucepan. Stirring constantly, cook over low heat until thickened. Stir in the coconut, pecans, vanilla and coconut extract. Cool until thickened more. Assemble the three layers with Filling between each and on top. Serves 12.

This might at first seem an odd choice for a soup, but then again, a lot of folks think chilled soups are odd anyway. Still, in the summer, when even reluctant fancies turn to Spanish gazpacho or French vichyssoise, you should consider this intriguing and delicious combination of flavors. I always think of it as African in origin, but who knows how many places it’s been since there?

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
½ cup smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon celery salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 cups tomato juice

Heat the oil and sauté the onions until softened but not brown, then stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from heat. In a bowl, stir the milk gradually into the peanut butter until the mixture is smooth, then add the celery salt and pepper. Add this slowly to the onion mixture. Return the pan to the heat and simmer, stirring often, until soup thickens. Stir in the tomato juice. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving in a tureen or in individual soup bowls. Serves 6.