Churros with Spanish Hot Chocolate

A favorite dessert in my family has always been churros, when I was in elementary school I used to ask my Abuelito to drive me 20 minutes into Hialeah after school so that I could get "churrys." Ha ha.

When my little cousin, Isabella, went to Spain this past summer, she ate churros with Spanish Hot Chocolate. I knew I had to have it. Since I can't pick up and go to Spain... we made some here home.

I used a recipe out of my mom's old Cuban cookbook. The book is falling to pieces, has no cover, and has tape on the binding to hold it together. Ha ha. But, the recipe is perfect and soooo simple. The only thing that might be difficult for some people to find is the Churro press. My Abuelita bought me this Bene Casa Churro Maker from a Sedanos in Miami. But, if you can't find one at any local stores, you can buy one pretty cheaply online. Like this one from Goodmans.

Here's my translation of the Churro recipe from Spanish to English:

1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups flour

1) Put milk, water, and butter into a pot and bring to a boil.
2) Add the flour in all at once and mix until combined.
3) Spoon mixture into a churro press and create strips of dough.
4) Put dough into a deep fryer until golden brown.
5) Place hot churros on paper towels to drain excess oil and sprinkle with sugar while still hot.

I used a combination of recipes to make the Spanish Hot Chocolate including one from about.com. It is different from American Hot Cocoa, because it is thick and rich.

Spanish Hot Chocolate

2 cans evaporated milk
1 cup milk
1 bag Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 bag Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cornstarch

1) Mix the cornstarch with a little bit of milk until it is smooth.
2) Put the evaporated milk, milk, and cornstarch mixture into a pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.
3) Once the milk begins to boil, add the chocolate and sugar, and turn heat to low.
4) Mix until chocolate melts and sugar dissolves.

Custom Order Shoes for Girls

Whoa! I have not posted in a lonnnng time. The Fall semester at school kept me too busy to post. But, I have been taking pictures of all of the shoes I've painted, the food I've cooked, and the new makeup I've bought. So, I'll probably post a ton of stuff today.

Since the Dali shoes, I have had a nice stream of cute girl orders and fun guy orders. Here are some of the shoes I've painted for girls...

I painted these for a good friend of mine. She wanted something to represent her love of writing. So I painted a girl writing out a Saul Williams' poem.



I also had a customer order two different pairs of Nightmare Before Christmas shoes. Her favorite color is purple, so we made the roses on both pairs purple. I had a lot of fun painting these. :)






Continuing with the cute movie theme. Ha ha. I painted a pair of Peter Pan inspired shoes for another friend of mine. And, the coolest thing is what she told me happened when she wore them:

"I was at Walt Disney World and participated in the Indiana Jones show. The guy leading the show made very nice compliments over the microphone to the audience about my Peter Pan shoes. Awesome Disney publicity for Vans-Gogh? I think so. :) "

Persistence of Memory Shoes

Ah! These were so scary to tackle! Ha ha. I was really nervous when I got this order, because I really respect Dali's work. I even visited his home in Spain which has been converted into a museum. It was amazing! Now that the order is complete, I'm glad that I decided to go for it. It's nice to see that I didn't totally fail. ha ha. I hope you like them! I had fun painting them, and the customer was wayyy happy. :)

Day of the Dead Shoes

A good friend of mine was looking through our photo albums on Facebook and fell in love with a pair of Day of the Dead Skull shoes that my brother painted a while back. I usually don't duplicate designs we've done in the past, but since the design was new to me, I decided to give it a shot. I'm glad I did! They were intricate and difficult to paint. Ha ha. But, I felt satisfied with how they came out after the tedious hours of painting.





I thought the quotation she chose was a nice finishing touch for the shoes.



I've gotten some nice comments about them on the Facebook page. What do you think?

Vans-Gogh: Hand-Painted EVERYTHING!

I recently got an order for a backpack and I am soooo excited to be branching out into more than just shoes. I absolutely love the design that she chose too! Ha ha. It was cupcakes! Loooooooove. She was happy with how it came out, and I had some much fun painting the cute, colorful cupcakes. :)



Hopefully more people will want backpacks, purses, etc in the future! Would you be interested?

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

These were pretty delish. I didn't get any pictures because they got scarfed down immediately. ha ha. They were deceiving in their appearances. They looked like regular chocolate chip cookies but then you got a subtle slap of peanut butter and banana. :)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cups
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Smart Balance 50/50 Olive Oil Blend
1/2 cup Smart Balance peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 cup Dark Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1) Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, and salt.
2) Mix Smart Balance, sugars, and peanut butter until creamy.
3) Add mashed banana and the flour mixture. Blend well.
4) Mix in chocolate chips.
4) Place on sprayed cookie sheet and bake until golden brown (about 12 minutes).

Handbags for Hope

One of my lovely customers referred me to this wonderful charity auction hosted by the South Carolina Ovarian Cancer Foundation. The Fourth Annual Purse Auction for Handbags for Hope will take place on Sept 23, 2010. I was honored to be asked to paint a bag for the auction. This was my contribution to the cause.






I also donated one of my Bagazine purses.



If any one is interested in donating a purse, the deadline is August 12. Visit Handbags for Hope for more information on the charity event and on purse donations.

Please help this wonderful cause!