Pineapple Tamales

Ever since we did the tamales for the August Recipes to Rival challenge I have wanted to make a sweet tamale. I had a couple ideas, other than the recipe I found for ones with raisins, I mean chocolate is always good right? What I finally settled on was pineapple and brown sugar, kind of like pineapple upside down cake in a corn husk.

Pineapple Tamales
serves 12

1/4 cup brown sugar
1 can delmonte chunk pineapple, drained
2 cups drained pineapple juice and water
2 cups masa
1/2 cup shortening
1/8 tsp Baking Powder
pinch of salt

1. Heat pineapple juice and water.
2. Combine the masa harina flour with the salt and baking powder.
3. Stir the shortening rapidly until it is creamy.
4. Pour the stock into the masa mix and stir until it is thoroughly combined. Beat the moist masa mix into the shortening until you have a paste that will spread with a knife without breaking apart. You should end up with a semi-thick paste. If you do not have this, you can add more stock in ¼ cup amounts to the mix until you have the right consistency (This recipe actually has more liquid than is usual recommended so just add it till you get the desired consistency).
5. Add drained pineapple and brown sugar to masa mixture mix together.
6. Place masa mixture in tamales and fold. If desired a table spoon of brown sugar can be added before folding.
7. Steam the tamales for 45 minutes. If you have a lot of tamales and a tall steamer, you can place the tamales vertically in the steamer. Because of the extra liquid these will appear slightly soft when they are done.

Temper's take:
These were so good fresh and hot, almost cake like in their texture and delicately sweet (which I ruined by putting Dulce de leche sauce all over it). It was good cold the next day and reheated later in the week. Over all I was very happy with the results.