<\/p>\n
The self-published high school cookbook was intended as a gag gift for a white elephant exchange.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be funny prank things, stuff you\u2019ve pulled out from storage,\u201d said Roz Gallegos. \u201cAnd so it was a joke about who got it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as Gallegos and her family pored through the book from Antonito High School, they got more than recipes for Watergate Salad and albondigas soup. They got homesick for Colorado\u2019s San Luis Valley. Naturally, it had to be shared with residents and expats on the Forgotten Southern Colorado Facebook page \u2013 and the memories came flooding in.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it\u2019s going home,\u201d Gallegos said. \u201cNow that we have social media, we\u2019re connected again. And so when we bring these things up, it\u2019s going home through your food. You\u2019re connecting. \u2018Oh you\u2019re so and so\u2019s cousin!\u2019 and \u2018Oh you were at that funeral!\u2019 and \u2018Oh my gosh, remember this cake Mrs. Salazar made?\u2019 and it\u2019s going home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gallegos, a teacher in Colorado Springs, grew up on a ranch in the valley and, like many of her friends, she moved away.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many people had to leave the valley for generations for work, for education, to survive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Antonito High School cookbook was published in 1986 and is fat with treasures like dueling Sopaipilla recipes. One was labeled \u201cNever Fail.\u201d It was an obvious place to start \u2013 \u201c\u2026because it\u2019s a no fail,\u201d Gallegos said \u2013 and soon they were in deep.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a taste-a-thon. Are we trying Mrs. Salazar\u2019s sopaipillas or are we trying Mrs. Ulibarri\u2019s sopaipillas? So we tried those and it was a tie. We couldn\u2019t decide whose were better,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
What really caught Gallegos\u2019 eye were the many different recipes for biscochitos, all seven of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo seven different families chiming in about biscochitos!\u201d Gallegos said.<\/p>\n
To the uninitiated, a biscochito is a cookie, which she describes as a more refined snickerdoodle with cinnamon and sugar. It\u2019s also the official state cookie of New Mexico.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the cookie you have at a wedding,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is the cookie you have at a funeral. This is the cookie you have at a graduation. This is the cookie you have to celebrate the birth of Christ. This is the<\/em> cookie.\u201d<\/p>\n As the family baker, Gallegos plans to try the recipe for pi\u00f1on puffs soon, made with pine nuts, vanilla and plenty of butter. But her real hope is to get the cookbook republished as a fundraiser for Antonito High School, which was the mission of the original.<\/p>\n Never Fail Sopaipillas<\/em>Ingredients:<\/em>4 cups sifted all-purpose flour<\/em>3 tsp. baking powder<\/em>1 tsp. salt<\/em>2 tbsp. sugar<\/em>2 tbsp. vegetable shortening<\/em>1 cup milk<\/em>vegetable oil for frying<\/em>Method:<\/em>Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into large bowl. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles cornmeal. Stir in milk until mixture forms a firm dough. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Let reset 2 minutes. Roll out to 1\/4 inch thick; cut into squares or diamonds.<\/p>\n Heat oil in deep saucepan or deep fat fryer to 375\u00b0. Fry a few at a time, turning often so they fry evenly until golden brown. Remove from oil wth slotted spoon to a paper towel to drain. Serve with butter and honey or cinnamon.<\/p>\n Biscochitos<\/em>Ingredients:<\/em>1 cup sugar<\/em>2 cups lard<\/em>1 tsp. anise seed<\/em>2 eggs<\/em>6 cups sifted flour<\/em>3 tsp. baking powder<\/em>1 tsp. salt<\/em>1\/4 cup water<\/em>1\/4 cup whiskey<\/em>Method:<\/em>Cream lard with hand thoroughly; add sugar and anise seed. Beat eggs and add to lard mixture. Blend until light and fluffy. Sift flour with baking powder and salt; add to first mixture. Add water and whiskey and knead until well mixed. Roll out 1\/2 inch thick or less and cut into fancy shapes. Roll each top of cookie in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Bake in a moderate oven until slightly browned.<\/p>\n Pinon Puffs<\/em>Ingredients:<\/em>1\/2 cup butter<\/em>1\/3 cup sugar<\/em>1\/8 tsp. salt<\/em>2 tsp. vanilla flavoring<\/em>2 cups sifted cake flour<\/em>2 cups pinon nuts, shelled and broken into pieces<\/em>powdered sugar to dust<\/em>Method:<\/em>Cream the butter. Add the sugar and beat until well blended. Add salt and vanilla. Break pinon nuts and add to flour, then add to butter mixture and mix well. roll into balls the size of a walnut. bake at 300\u00b0 for 30-45 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar while warm.<\/p>\n Taco Salad<\/em>Ingredients:<\/em>1 head lettuce<\/em>4 fresh tomatoes<\/em>1 cup grated cheese<\/em>1 avocado<\/em>1 (5.5oz) bag flavored Doritos<\/em>6 oz. French dressing<\/em>1 lb. hamburger<\/em>1 onion, chopped<\/em>1 cup kidney beans<\/em>taco seasoning<\/em>Method:<\/em>Mix salad ingredients. Fry hamburger and onion. Add kidney beans and 1 package taco seasoning. Add hot ingredients to salad ingredients. Top with Doritos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Antonito High School cookbook evokes Southern Colorado flavors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[438],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-90861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-food"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90861"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=90861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}