Bread For Dead People!

So as most of you obviously don't know, November 1st and 2nd mark El Dia De Los Muertos, which, despite popular belief, is completely and entirely different than Halloween.  Okay not entirely.   History lesson: El Dia De Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) is actually dos dias during which people belonging to the Spanish culture celebrate their loved ones who have passed on (that's a fancy way of saying die) by adorning their graves with flowers and constructing alters bearing offerings for their ancestors (offrendas).  Welcome to 8th grade Spanish class.

Now, because I love the Spanish culture (it kicks ass) and consider myself part Puerto Rican (I'm not), I find myself constantly excited to celebrate this way-better-than-Halloween holiday.  This year, my classroom celebrated with a short lesson by your truly about the holiday followed by a cooking project.  Obviously, we had to cook.  We made spooky masks and learned about the offerings made to the muertos, one such being Pan de los Muertos (The Bread of the Dead).  Sounds delicious right?

The kids loved this activity and making the spooky masks, so I surmise that this cooking project is perfect to do with the kids at home!  It is not only an excellent way to be involved in a cooking project, but also a way to explore a different culture.  And since I know all of you have kids...

what you need...
For the Bread:
2 cups Bisquick mix
2 tbs sugar
1 egg
[Up to] 2/3 cup of milk
10 drops Vanilla Extract 


For the Topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbs flour
1 tbs melted butter
1 tsp cinnamon

what you need to do:
1  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and lightly grease a cookie sheet.
2  Mix all of the ingredients for bread together in a large mixing bowl, omitting the milk.  Gradually add the milk, stirring in, until the mixture becomes doughy but not too sticky.  You should be able to work with the dough without it completely sticking to everything, but this dough will not be mold-able.  
3  Add small amounts of dough to cookie sheet, spreading out about 1/2 an inch between each individual piece of bread.  Each one should be about 1 inch in diameter.  
4  Combine all of the topping ingredients in a smaller mixing bowl.  This part will be messy.  Sprinkle a small amount of topping on each dough and lightly press in so that topping is not able to simply roll off. 
5  Bake in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes and get ready to feed some bread to some dead people!  Naw that's gross.  Just eat it yourself... with your living friends.

Feliz Dia De Los Muertos!