Maria NasirCall them fritters, long doughnuts or fried dough – Churros love has spread far and wide outside Spanish Churrerias and won many hearts all around the world. Churros served with hot chocolate are an essential part of Spanish cuisine and culture as a must-have breakfast. As fun and handy food, Churros are perfect for carnivals and fairs.
I had my first introduction to Churros con Chocolate at a food carnival too in Lahore and it was love at first bite! Be it pakoras, pooris, parathas or jalebis, we Punjabis have a thing for fried dough. And to be honest, Churros are actually quite close to our South Asian jalebi which is another fried dough dessert dipped in sugar syrup.
Basically, Churro is fried dough made with choux pastry, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and dipped in hot chocolate. In short, comfort food at its very best!
Choux pastry is really the easiest and most fool proof of pastry doughs to work with and I’ve baked profiteroles, eclairs and cream puffs using choux a million times. There is no raising agent used in the pastry, it’s the high moisture content that makes the pastry puff during cooking. There are many variations when using it for making Churros- with milk or water or both, with and without eggs, adding a little sugar or keeping the dough completely bland. Really the choice is yours to make to suit your preference.
With my Churros con Chocolate recipe, I intend to make it easier for you to make the choice that is right just for you. Milk will give a denser, softer pastry with darker crust. I prefer making the dough with water because it gives a crispier, more rigid outer crust that holds its shape for a longer time.
Churros with eggs are richer in taste and pillowy to bite into. If you don’t want to add eggs, you will get a less fluffy and more chewy version. I find the with-eggs-version, soft inside and crispy outside, closer to my palate but feel free to experiment and let me know what you think!
Normally I don’t add sugar to my choux pastry when I’m making it to be filled with whipped cream or ice cream but in this case I like to add a little so that pastry itself is not completely bland as my husband likes to eat Churros without any dipping sauce.
Personally, I can’t imagine eating Churros without hot chocolate and that too the one spiked with a hint of cinnamon and red chilli flakes to make my Churros con Chocolate recipe the perfectly warming and rich and wonderful treat that it’s supposed to be!
Tips
–use disposable pastry bag to save time on cleaning up.
-never transfer fried food to a paper towel or plate directly. The residual heat under the food gets trapped, making the food soggy. Instead use a cooling rack or sieve to allow steam to escape.
-don’t overheat the frying oil, it will burn the Churros from outside, leaving them uncooked inside. If the oil is not hot enough it will make soggy churros.
-lightly grease the kitchen scissors to snip Churros more easily.
-freshly fried Churros taste best.
-to reheat cold Churros, preheat oven at 200 degrees C. Sprinkle Churros with some powdered sugar and bake for 5-6 minutes or till they are thoroughly warm and have some crispiness back.
-You can shape and spread churros 4-5 days before on a baking sheet and freeze so that all you have to do is fry on the big day.
Ingredients:
For Churros
1 cup + 2 tablespoons plain flour
A pinch salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup water
2 eggs(optional)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Oil for deep frying
For Chocolate Sauce:
1+1/2 cup milk
1 cup dark chocolate chips
2 teaspoons cornflour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon red chilli flakes
This Is What You Do:
Let’s start by making chocolate sauce so that as soon as Churros are done, they can be dipped in the sauce.
Take 1/4 cup of milk and add cornflour to it to make a thin paste.
Boil the remaining milk in a small saucepan. Add chocolate chips and stir constantly till the chocolate is completely melted and dissolved.
Pour the milk and cornflour mix into the chocolate milk. Reduce heat and stir till the sauce thickens slightly.
Season with salt and cinnamon, sprinkle red chilli flakes on top. Set aside and keep warm.
Add 1+1/2 inch oil to a deep frying pan. Place the frying pan on medium low heat while you prepare the Churros dough.
To make the Churros, add water, salt, sugar and vegetable oil to another medium saucepan. Bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and add all the flour at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon to make a thick dough or add to the food processor to save time and elbow grease.
Keep the processor running and add one egg at a time. Mix till the dough comes together in a ball.
Add the dough to a simple pastry bag, fitted with medium sized star tip.
Lightly grease the kitchen scissors and keep them handy. Also spread a paper towel on the work top and place a sieve over it to transfer the cooked Churros in it.
Raise the heat to medium. The oil should be hot but not too hot to burn the Churros on the outside.
Press the pastry bag to form 5-6 inch long Churros sticks. Hold the piping bag straight above the pan, a few inches above the surface of the oil. Squeeze the bag to make the dough come out in a long dangling line. When it’s 4-5 inches long, snip it close to the tip, using kitchen scissors.
Pipe only 3-4 Churros at a time so that you can keep an eye on them. Turn them occasionally so that they get evenly cooked on all sides. Remove them from oil as soon as they are golden brown and crisp.
Mix powdered sugar and ground cinnamon, sift over hot Churros.
Immediately serve with warm or hot chocolate sauce.
Makes 24 Churros