Sopaipillas

An essential on New Mexican tables, sopaipillas are buoyant pockets of dough puffed up by quick cooking in boiling lard, their surface slightly crisp, their interior heat-stretched to become more air than pastry. Always served fresh and still warm, sopaipillas are finger food, easy to tear and use for mopping chile from a plate of carne adovada or eggs from huevos rancheros. They almost always are accompanied by honey that can be drizzled on, bite by bite. Elaborations include stuffed sopaipillas (with chili, carne seca, or refried beans) and dessert sopaipillas topped with ice cream and fruit or sauce.