¡Churros y Chocolate!

We will be making Churros y Chocolate on Friday, January 14th!!  Here is the recipe if you would like to make them at home with your family.

 

Churros

 

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1/2cup butter

1 cup flour

Dash of salt

3 or 4 eggs

Oil for frying

Cinnamon and sugar

Directions:

Bring water to a boil in saucepan. Add butter. As soon as it is melted, dump in flour and salt. Stir over medium heat until it forms a single mass. Remove from heat, let cool slightly, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Put dough into pastry bag, and squeeze into hot oil in the shape of spirals. Oils should be about 375 degrees. Fry until brown, drain and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Día de los Muertos

We will be talking about Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) the last week of October.  This is a festive happy time in Mexico and we will be keeping the conversation positive and happy!! We will read the book, Day of the Dead A Celebration of Life and Death by Amanda Doering from our school library.  The Kindergarten and First grade will also listen to Beto and the Bone Dance by Gina Freschet from the public library.  I will be sharing newspaper articles from past years and places I've lived with the 2nd - 5th graders. 

On Friday, October 29th we will be making Pan de los Muertos (bread of the dead) and Atole de Leche.  Here are the recipes if you are interested in making them at home with your families!!  There is a more authentic recipe for Pan de Los Muertos found in the book, The Festival of Bones by Luis San Vicente and I will post it at the end of this article for those families interested in try it at home.  The time it requires is to long to make it work in the school environment, but I did find it easier to make shapes with and would recommend it at home.

Pan de Los Muertos

 

Ingredients:

            2 cups bisquick

            2 Tbsp. sugar

            1 egg

            2/3 cup water or milk (we will use water in class)

            10 drops anise extract (I measured 1/8 teaspoon)

 

Cooking Instructions:

            Heat oven to 400 degrees

            Grease a large cookie sheet

 

1. Mix all ingredients and beat vigorously for ½ minute

 

2. Give a small amount ot each child and have them mold their own cross bones or skulls (usually ends up being in balls and looking like biscuits)

 

3. Sprinkle with topping. * See below (we will just used colored sugar sprinkles in class to keep this easier)

 

4. Bake 20-25 min

 

 

*Topping:

Combine ¼ cup brown sugar, 1 Tbsp. flour, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 Tbsp melted butter

 

Atole de Leche

 

Ingredients:

            2 cups water

            ½ cup “masa” finely ground white corn meal

            1 cinnamon stick

            4 cups milk

            1 cup sugar

 

Cooking Instructions:

1.      blend corn meal and water

2.      add cinnamon stick and boil mixture for about 10 min (I would stir constantly to keep corn meal from sticking or burning to the bottom)

3.      add mi9lk and sugar; bring to a boil, stirring constantly

4.      remove cinnamon stick and serve hot.

 

Serves 8-10

The Festival of Bones by Luis San Vicente

How to Make Pan de Muerto

 

Ingredients:

2 packets dry yeast

1 ½ cups flour

1 Tablespoon Anise seed

½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup milk

½ cup water

½ cup butter

4 eggs

3-4 ½ cups flour

 

Preparation:

Mix all dry ingredients together except the 3-4 ½ cups flour. Heat, but don’t boil the milk, water, and butter in a small pan and then add it to the dry mixture. Beat well. Add the eggs and 1 ½ cup of the additional flour to this mixture. Beat well. Slowly mix in the rest of the flour, a little at a time.

 

Flour a cutting board. Knead the mixture on the cutting board for 9-10 minutes. Put the dough in a greased bowl and allow it to rise until it has doubled in size (about 1 to 1 ½ hours at sea level). Punch the dough down and shape it however you want as a person, animal bone, or in an oval shape. Let it rise for another hour.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. After baking, sprinkle it with colored sugar. Decorate with crystallized fruit or gummy bears.