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. :) "