Happy Birthday America!

Happy Fourth of July! I hope you're all out celebrating with family, friends, fireworks, food, and festivities. Here's a patriotic parfait to get you in the spirit. Blackberries, strawberries, whipped cream, and chopped up Madeleines. Perfect for summer!

Dessert Hall of Fame: Churros con Chocolate

Those who can't do, teach.
Those who can't eat dessert because they are on a self-imposed low carb diet, daydream about desserts they once ate before said diet began.
That being said, feast your eyes on this:



Today's Hall of Fame inductee hails from the sultry city of Madrid, Spain. It's tall, thin, blonde, and likes to party with the rich and chocolaty. Please give a kind welcome to churros con chocolate from Chocolatería San Ginés!

A couple of months ago, Delta had a crazy flash sale to Europe which allowed my long-lost roomate Akshaya and I to fly round-trip JFK <--> MAD for $230. BTW when I say long-lost I mean it: she's currently living in a tent in South Sudan. (Yes, that South Sudan. The place that is not technically a country yet).

My memories of the weekend are snapshots of sunshine, museums, parks, and tapas bars. (There was also a run-in with a bachelor party of French men decked out in fanny packs and pink tshirts, save the extremely attractive groom-to-be who was sporting an off-the-shoulder cow costume onesie, but let's not go there). Our first night, after doing a tapas crawl down Cava Baja, tired but tipsy on wine and pretty damn proud of our jetsetting awesomeness we rambled over to Chocolatería San Ginés and pulled up two chairs at one of the little aluminum tables on the quiet cobblestone street. We asked for two orders of churros and sat back to see what the fuss was all about.



The churros themselves are neither dense nor sweet- the light and airy dough is fried in olive oil and if one ignores the whole "deep frying" thing actually could be considered a light dessert. They are crunchy on the outside and airy and fluffy on the inside. But they are served with the thickest, richest hot chocolate you can imagine. We're talking Max Brenner-style thick, gooey, dark chocolate goodness. Absolutely fabulous. We came back two days later for more. But only one order that time. I swear.

Is that an empty plate I see in the background?

These are not your garden variety carnival-style cinnamon-and-sugar sprinkled churros. These are the real deal. Welcome to the club, boys!