I’m back with another “creative recreation”! This time my inspiration comes from Monroe’s Restaurant, a well-loved Mexican eatery in Albuquerque. I had the chance to taste sopapillas (fried and fluffy Latin American sweet treats) for the first time at Monroe’s on a trip to New Mexico last month, and I was hooked! You really can’t eat just one.

As with last post’s Laili’s Lamb Shanks challenge, I used “sense-memory” to start to put together a personal recipe for making sopapillas at home. From the puffy look and lightly-crusty texture, the sopapillas were obviously fried–likely deep-fried and served quickly to maintain the airiness and warmth. They smelled like fresh doughnuts! Our serving came with honey on the side and not much else. I also noted the half-circle shape, which reminded me of Filipino empanadas, without the fork impressions around the edges.

Since I hadn’t been familiar at all with sopapillas before my first tasting experience, I researched other versions of the recipe, of which there are many, to make sure I was on the right track/doing it justice–so I encourage you to do that as well. There is no harm in seeing what others have tried, what you mind end up liking even better, and how to blend it all together for a unique concoction! I saw a variety of sopapilla shapes and sizes (crescents, triangles, rectangles), while toppings range from nothing at all (like at Monroe’s), to a dusting of confectioner’s sugar, or some cinnamon and a drizzling of honey.

Here’s what I came up with!

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