I Melt With You

With the snow coming down all day, I was in the mood for a warm chocolaty treat that I only make a few times a year: churros y chocolate. When I lived in Seville, I used to go to a bar with some friends on cool, rainy afternoons and eat churros y chocolate. They made fresh churros in front of us and then served them in paper cones with small cups of chocolate for dipping. When you were finished, they wrote the total of your bill with a piece of chalk on the bar. I love churros y chocolate so much that I insisted upon taking Family of Ken to a cafe to try them when they visited me in April (I think) and it was 85 degrees outside. I don't think they enjoyed them very much, so I should probably make them sometime when it is cool so they can try them again.

So, back to today. I made the churros first and instead of frying them, I baked them in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes and sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar after I took them out of the oven. While they baked, I made the chocolate, which is supposed to be a little thicker than the hot chocolate that you drink, but thinner than pudding:

Here is my plate--the churros are pretty weird looking because of how I piped them. Usually, I just use a plastic bag with the corner cut off, but this time I tried to use more professional equipment and it didn't work so well. Oh, well--as my Papaw used to say, "your stomach won't know the difference." And mine didn't. Delicious churros that were crispy on the outside and light and fluffy inside (kind of like warm cream puffs) and yummy warm chocolate for dipping. There is nothing better on a cold day.

Later today, I decided to try my hand at Irish soda bread. I made some yesterday that did not turn out well, so I used a different recipe that was much better. It certainly isn't "traditional," but it is very good. This recipe made a light, airy texture that I really liked. I've never made or even eaten soda bread before and I am glad that I tried this recipe.

It was a good day to eat at my house...