Dia de los Muertos

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Mexican holiday that honors family and friends who have passed on. It's celebrated on November 1 and 2.

We don't celebrate Dia de los Muertos at our house (even though it's a very cool idea... friends & family gathering to remember friends and family!), but there are some fun foods & crafts that go along with this holiday.

I like to send stuff to school for the kids to share in Spanish Class.

Tawny is a senior now and this is probably the only year since she started school that she's not taking Spanish.

On the other hand, this is Bobby's first year taking it.

Unfortunately this year, I forgot until the last minute. I asked Bob if he could bring stuff to school and he said he didn't think so.

Next year I'll remember to ask his teacher ahead of time.

Until then... here's what we did last year....

Sugar Skulls

You can buy these at your local Mexican Market, Order them online or Make them yourself!

Making them yourself is way more fun!! Click the link above to see how!

Pan de Muerto

Ok... I'm not great at shaping dough... but no Day of the Dead Celebration would be complete without Pan de Muerto!

And I made these up at the last minute one year when Tawny came home from school asking for Pan de Muerto or Sugar Skulls for the next day at school!

Galletas de Muerto por Spryte (<~that might not be right... I don't speak Spanish!) Day of the Dead Cookies by Spryte

Enjoy these fun family projects!

Dia de los Muertos Cakes

These are what I made last year for Day of the Dead. Tawny asked for Pan de Muerto or Sugar Skulls, but there was no time. So I used my Mexican Wedding Cakes recipe to make these cute skull cookies. Bobby and I decorated the skulls with colorful ice cream toppings to make the faces. These are wicked cute and tasty!

Dia de los Muertos Cakes
1 C butter (softened)
1/2 C powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 C ground pecans or almonds
brightly colored decorations (flower shaped are best)
additional powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325F degrees.
2. Cream together, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla blend blend in remaining ingredients.
3. Form dough into 1 in balls.
4. Pinch the bottom of the dough ball to form a skull shape.
5. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet 1 inch apart.
6. Use brightly colored flower decorations to make eyes, noses & mouths on the skulls. (at the time, I only had a couple of flower decorations left, so we used dinosaur decorations and just broke them to the sizes we needed)
7. Bake 15 - 20 minutes, until set, but not browned.
8. Cool slightly and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
9. Cool on rack.

Dia de los Muertos ~ Pan de Muerto

And, as promised last year.... Pan de Muerto. Now I KNOW I didn't have enough time to make this last year, after work! It took quite a long time today!

I used a recipe I found on boston.com.

It's a sweet egg bread. I don't typically care for anise flavor. But it's really subtle and delicious in this bread! It took a long time, but I was really pleased with it. Although, I do need practice making dough shapes.

You'll need:
4 TBLS anise seeds, divided
3/4 C water
1/2 C sugar
zest from 2 large oranges
1 TBLS plus 2 tsp active dry yeast
3/4 tsp salt
5 cups flour, plus extra for work surface
3/4 C unsalted butter, melted and cooled
4 egg yolks, with one of the whites reserved and refrigerated, plus 2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp vegetable oil

In a small saucepan, bring 2 tablespoons anise seeds and 3/4 cup water to a boil.

Remove from burner, cover, and steep for 10 minutes.

Pour the mixture through a mesh strainer, reserving the water and toss out the seeds.

In a mixer bowl, using paddle attachment, beat on low, the sugar and zest until sugar well mixed

Add remaining anise seeds

Add yeast & salt

Add 3 cups of flour

Mix well on low

Then add anise water

Add melted butter mix well on low.

With mixer still on low, add 2 beaten eggs

 

And 4 egg yolks

Then add the remaining 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup at a time.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface

Knead for 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.

Place dough into an oiled mixing bowl, and turn to coat with oil

Cover and place in a warm, draft-free place for 1.5 to 2 hours. until dough has doubled in size.

Until dough has doubled in size.

Put dough on lightly floured surface, punch down and divide into two equal pieces.

Pinch off about a 1/5 of each dough ball and decorate dough balls with bone designs. (my designs need a lot of work!!)

Lightly cover and place in warm, draft-free place until dough doubles in size, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Brush loaves with beaten egg whites and bake in oven, preheated to 375F, 25 to 30 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Rotate pan halfway through.

Cool bread on wire rack.

While bread is still warm, brush with glaze made from zest from one orange, 2 1/2 TBLS orange juice and 1/4 C sugar. Boil on stove until for 2 minutes.

Brush generously over warm bread.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Enjoy!

Dia de los Muertos ~ Sugar Skulls

My daughter Tawny currently wants to be a high school Spanish teacher. She's been taking Spanish off and on since she was in the first grade. Last year, at the last minute, she asked me to make Pan de Muertos for her Spanish class. I had no time to make it then she asked for Sugar Skulls. I had no time or supplies to make those either, but told her I'd make them next year. Well... it's next year... so here are the Sugar Skulls. (Last year I did make some pretty cool cookies. I'll post them after this!)

Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday that honors family and friends who have died. It takes place on November 1 and November 2. Sugar Skulls would be used to decorate alters built to honor the dead.

Making the Sugar Skulls was much easier that I thought it would be. I picked up some skull molds from our local Mexican market, Reyna Foods, in Pittsburgh's Strip District.

The molds I bought could be used for chocolate or sugar. Since I was using them for sugar, they needed to be cut apart.

Then make sure you have enough stiff cardboard to turn your molds onto.

To make the Sugar Skulls you need:
1 C Sugar
1 tsp Meringue Powder
1 tsp Water

I doubled the recipe.

Mix Sugar

And Meringue Powder

Stir until well blended

Sprinkle with water

Mix well with hands

It should feel like beach sand.

FIRMLY pack molds with sugar

With a straight edge, scrape off the extra sugar until smooth.

Immediately turn mold onto cardboard.

 


Carefully lift mold off.

Keep going until you run out of sugar.

Now let these air day for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Now they are ready to decorate!

I made Royal Icing to decorate. These are completely edible, but aren't really very tasty. They are better for decoration.

Sugar Skulls aren't scary, they're bright and festive!

Sugar Skulls aren't just to decorate alters, they can be given as gifts too.
It's a really fun family project too. If your kids take Spanish in school. Do this with them next year. Maybe they can get some extra credit!

Oh... and this is Tawny. She was in the Flamenco Troupe last year and the year before. =)