First made popular at San Francisco's Johnson's Tamale Parlor in the 1920's. Cup Tamales are little quick tamales made in small cups rather than wrapped in the customary corn husks. Tamale parlors were very popular in San Francisco in the early 1900's. Roosevelt Tamale Parlor is still open today and in fact was remodeled and reopened in June, 2006. The recipe below is from the San F...
A sweet tamale filled with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins and pecans.
From Vegetarian Gourmet 1993, Don Matesz. This a vegetarian tamale made with tofu, onion, bell pepper, soy sauce and mustard.
This is a sample recipe from Tamales 101 by by Alice Guadalupe Tapp. If you have a Mexican market near by you may be able to purchase freshly made masa dough. If don't have a handy source and you don't care to take the time to make it from scratch the masa flour is a quick reasonable substitute.