Churropillas

(subtitle: yes, I just invented a word, and somewhere in the greater Chicago area, Rick Bayless is having a heart attack, since I would have the audacity to maul the words for two different yet delicious Mexican treats.)

Before I tell you the recipe, I must say that this half marathon I've signed up for is going to be LAUGHABLE. I know I get worried about upcoming races, but seriously y'all. I'm nowhere near where I think I need to be in order to run a half. I'm sure I'll run it just fine, and I'll probably even finish somewhere just over 2 hours (which is my goal), and when I finish and am inhaling my third bagel, I'll think, "wow, that was awesome, let's do another one!" But right now, training is really tough. I ran 8 miles today, which is the longest I have ever run in my life. I am sore. I actually required a *nap* this afternoon, and I don't like naps.

But the good thing about constantly training for a half marathon or triathlon? I use it as an excuse to eat whatever the hell I want.

Tonight's carbo-loading took the form of homemade pizza. I should first say that 2010 is the "year of the bread" in Casa Dawmilam, as I am committed to learning how to cook breads of all sorts - quick breads are easy, but those involving yeast? They give me trouble. I also don't know how to make biscuits. Admitting this publicly probably embarrasses my mother and might result in the loss of my "southerner" card if I don't hurry up and learn how. Pizza dough seems easier, so that's what I did tonight. Rosalie used to make it all the time while we lived together (and it was dang tasty). But for some reason, I just don't have the hang of it yet. I think I'm not rolling it out properly.

Anticipating a potential disaster, I chopped off a little bit of my ball of dough and reserved it to "play" with. I thought that if the pizza sucked, at least I'd have a couple of breadsticks or - light bulb! - dessert breadsticks. I call them "churropillas" because they are a cross between churros and sopapillas. Dave had the genius idea to dip them in honey. They are a low-fat version of the fried sopapillas we used to get at Rosie's as dessert, and they are also a lower-fat version of churros, which I think are the same thing as these little guys, just fried.

First: make some pizza dough. And get some melted butter ready.
Then: roll it out really thinly.
Next: Slice the dough into strips. Brush with butter, and top with cinnamon and sugar.
Last: Bake it at 350 for about 15 minutes, top with honey and enjoy.