Fiesta Time!

Many people think that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico’s Independence Day. But if you speak Spanish and you know that Mexico’s Independence Day falls on September 16, you’ll know that the two holidays are completely different.

If you don’t speak Spanish and you didn’t know the date of Mexico’s Independence Day, you might be wondering how you would you have known that. The answer is simple. Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May in English.

Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that celebrates the Mexican victory over the French army at the battle of Puebla in 1862. The holiday is well celebrated in the town of Puebla, but is not as widely celebrated in other areas of Mexico as it is throughout the United States and Canada.

In Canada and the United States, the holiday centers around Mexican culture, food, customs, and music. And this makes Cinco de Mayo very easy to celebrate.

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo at home, here are a few ideas for your fiesta:

• String up some chili pepper lights and pin up a red, white, and green striped Mexican flag.
• Fill a piñata with goodies to smash into (after you’re spun around a few times and blindfolded, of course!)
• Get enough maracas for everyone, put on a Mexican CD, or for the biggest Cinco de Mayo fans, invite a Mariachi band over to your house to play live music.
• Make a “muy bueno” Mexican feast with plenty of food and drink!

Some yummy Mexican themed recipes include my Mexican Tortilla Soup, my Guacamole, and a new recipe I've just tried today --- Churro Muffins!

Churro Muffins – makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

For the muffins:
3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup milk

For dipping:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Muffin Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Cream the butter and sugar and then beat in the eggs, one at a time, until just mixed in. 

3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.

4. Add half of the flour mixture into the butter mixture, stir to combine. Then add half of the milk, stir to combine. Add the remaining flour mixture and then the remaining milk.

5. Mix until well combined and smooth, but don't over mix.

6. Grease and flour a standard-size muffin tin. Do not use paper muffin holders for this recipe or you will not be able to fully coat the muffins in butter, sugar, and cinnamon.

7. Scoop enough batter into each tin so that the top of the batter is even with the rim of the cup, about 1/2 cup.

8. Bake the muffins until firm to the touch, 30 to 35 minutes.

Dipping Instructions

1. Melt the butter for the dipping mixture. Combine the sugar and cinnamon.

2. When the muffins are just cool enough to handle, remove them from the tin, dip them into or brush them all over with the melted butter, and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar.

Note: I also decided to fill my Churro Muffins with a spoon of jam. If you want to do this too, just fill your muffin tins about 1/3 full, spoon a little jam in each, and top with more batter before baking. Yum!