Exquisite Gourmet Rocks (aka Piedras) | The NeverEnding Story

Every month or so I join my friend Kimberly from Coffee and Casseroles in a themed post, and this month we're going back to the 80's again. Any 80's movie was eligible and I chose another of my childhood favorites, the 1984 flick The NeverEnding Story. This was released in the U.S. the summer between 3rd and 4th grade for me. I don't think we went to the theater to see it, but as soon as it came to HBO (or something like that), I recorded it and watched it as often as I could get away with it. Seeing as how I can still recite most of the dialog right along with the actors, I guess that was pretty often.

Back then I had no idea that it was adapted from a book. I wish I had, because I'm betting I would have loved it at that age. I recently bought the book, but haven't carved out any time to read it yet. From what I've heard, the movie covers less than the first half, so I can't wait to see what Bastian's many more adventures were!

Conchas - One SHELL of a Roundup! #BreadBakingBabes

As the designated Kitchen of the Month for the Bread Baking Babes, my challenge to both the BBBabes and anybody else who wanted to join in as a BBBuddy was to bake a batch of my favorite Mexican pan dulce—CONCHAS!

I shared a recipe in the post for a basic sweet dough, that is enriched and very slack, similar to a brioche, as well as links to a few other recipes for conchas. All of them are basically the same, producing a tender, but sturdy, base for the real star of the show—the gloriously crumbly and sweet sugar shell.

I encouraged everybody to experiment with the not only the basic ingredients such as the fat and the sugar, but also the color, flavor, and cutting/forming of the topping. As a concha lover, I dreamed of the legions of submissions that would come rolling in...making me long for a hollow leg and the metabolism of my youth. But it turns out that only three brave souls stepped up to my challenge this month.

Puerquitos (Marranitos)

So, it was one year ago this month that mi amiga Leslie and I headed into the kitchen to start our She Made, Ella Hace journey together.  Over the past year we've made everything from Mole to Ponche Navideno, Sopa de Fideo to Atole.  We've made tamales and cocktails and some chorizo may have even been made from scratch or baked into a mouthwatering loaf of bread and we've even made paletas.  But the thing that we started with one year ago was one of my all-time favorite treats, Conchas.

In honor of our one-year "anniversary", Leslie suggested that we head into la cocina and bake up some more Pan Dulce.  You know, a nod to the thing that started it all.  Hey, who am I to argue with reasoning like that?  So I racked my brain trying to decide what I wanted to make this month.  And I was still struggling at the halfway mark.  I found an idea or two and then asked Leslie what she was making.  Well, she said Chorreadas.  I had no clue what those were, but when I heard queso and piloncillo, I knew I'd be smitten once I saw her post.  I told her I still wasn't sure what I wanted to make, so she suggested Puerquitos.