Sopapillas and Extra Credit
When you need to up your grade or keep it up, extra credit is a good way to get that done. In a Spanish II class that my daughter takes, she and a friend decided to get some extra credit by making a Mexican snack, bringing it to class and of course translating the recipe into Spanish.
Well they picked an item I had never heard of, Sopapillas; but it looked really simple.
SOPAPILLAS
2 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of shortening, and 1/2 cup of water.
5 ingredients, that would seem very simple to write out in Spanish and hopefully simple to make. I got to help out after they misread the recipe and put only 1/4 teaspoon of shortening into the flour.
Sopapillas have been around for hundreds of years. I did some research and found that it is derived from Indian fried bread, they are generally served hot with cinnamon and honey for dessert.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Cut
shortening in until it forms a coarse mixture. Gradually add cold water. Mix together just enough to hold together as you would if making a pie crust. Turn out on a lightly floured surface. Knead gently until smooth.
Cover and let dough sit for five minutes. Roll into a
rectangle about 12″ x 15″. Dough will be very thin.
Cut into rectangles about 3″ x 3″ in size. Heat 1 cup of oil until a drop of water sizzles when dropped into it in large skillet.
Drop a few sopapillas at a time into the oil. Turn them over after 30 seconds or so. Fry another 30 seconds or so until they are golden brown and puffed up like small pillows. 
Dust with cinnamon sugar or pour small amount of honey over the sopapillas.
The sopapillas were all cooked, well before my daughter and her friend could finish translating the recipe. I have been told that declarative statements in Spanish can be hard to conjugate. They finally finished and then partook in some sopapillas. They did leave enough for the class to try, hopefully the teacher liked them too.
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I love sopapillas. Yum. A friend introduced me to them in high school, and I have them rarely but have always enjoyed them since.