BETHLEHEM, Pa. —Has Old Man Winter left you dreaming of a beach vacation?
If you’ve waited until this final weekend to shop the huts of downtown Bethlehem’s Christmas City Village, warm your hands and belly with Mexican hot chocolate and freshly fried pastry with cinnamon sugar from Sweet Magnolia Churros.
A long, cold reach from Cancun, where owners Nick and Karen Wagner first laid eyes on each other across a restaurant, Sweet Magnolia Churros is nestled among the huts positioned in the Sun Inn Courtyard off Main Street.
It’s the first time the couple has presented their authentic delights outside of family gatherings. And the toasty delights — a staple from Karen Wagner’s Mexican heritage — perfectly translate the language of love that these two speak.
“Mi amor, …..” Nick Wagner trails off in perfect Spanish to his wife as she feeds their child and the business' namesake, 16-month-old Magnolia, during a phone call Thursday evening. (Literally every time he speaks to her, his sentence starts with ‘amor.’)
The Wagners were checking out the Village offerings last Christmas with Karen’s family who was visiting from Mexico. As they perused the huts, one of them posed the question. Could we sell churros down here?
By the way the treats sold out multiple times last weekend, the answer is a resounding Si!
"Then I met Karen, and it all came bubbling up."Nick Wagner, Sweet Magnolia Churros
Nick Wagner learned Spanish starting in first grade in the Southern Lehigh School District. It was 1989. Southern Lehigh was the first district to have a Spanish immersion program and allowed students to develop a foreign language proficiency in the nation’s second most common language, according to the district’s website. The main subjects are taught completely in Spanish. As students matriculate into 6th grade and beyond, they transition into a more limited Spanish usage.
“I’m fairly certain I was in the first class for the immersion program. Then I took some Spanish in high school, but I felt I had lost a lot of it,” he said.
“Then I met Karen, and it all came bubbling up.”
Nick Wagner translated in English how his wife described the churros.
“It is an artisanal product, like a fried pastry, a fried dough, with either cinnamon sugar or sugar, best enjoyed hot and fresh. There are different kinds, can be from Spain or Argentina. This particular recipe is Mexican. Piped, and long like a cigar,” with little fins, or edges, he said.
Last year, Karen's relatives were visiting and took a trip down to the huts.
“They were walking around, they liked it and thought, with the chilly weather, it would be perfect for a combination of hot chocolate and churro. Perfect for this weather,” Nick Wagner said.
"You really need to have them while they’re still hot."Nick Wagner, Sweet Magnolia Churros of Bethlehem
“It’s kind of a standard recipe that Karen and her sister Diana have adapted. They’ve been working on it since the early summer. The weather can actually change or affect the process a little bit, so they had to adapt it. Humidity and temperature. Her sister has visited a number of times, and they’ve gotten it down now.”
The dough can be made ahead of time and then is fried as the orders come in, there at the huts.
“You really need to have them while they’re still hot. They have this crispy outside. It’s hard to reheat them and get the same experience,” said Nick Wagner.
The Mexican hot chocolate is just spicy enough to warm the belly, not hot-spicy as some foods can be. It has cinnamon and other spices, Nick Wagner said. The first day they opened, the first order was for 11 cups — it threw Karen Wagner a bit, but she delivered and everyone was happy. There is plenty to go around.
The Wagners arrived as new vendors three weekends ago. The rental spaces are split into three-week halves. If you shopped when things first opened, you weren’t lucky enough to discover their products.
Sweet Magnolia Churros, like the rest of the huts, are open today, Saturday from noon to 8 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.
Churros are priced $2.50 for one and five for $10. There are also churro bites. A basket sells for $12. The Mexican hot chocolate is $4. They also offer homemade dips for a dollar apiece: chocolate, egg nog, and dulce de leche. You can also get a drizzle with a single churro.
If Christmas shopping outdoors in a winter wonderland is what you’ve been dreaming of, your wish has been granted, thanks to Friday’s extended snowfall.
And some heat from Cancun. I mean, Sweet Magnolia Churros.
