Churros, Photo by Cristy Miclat
I tasted my first churros in Barcelona, Spain in November 2011. I had it as a dessert. It came with a hot thick chocolate served in an espresso coffee cup.
At that point I have never heard or seen churros or anyone eating them. I wasn’t sure whether you have to eat the churros first and then try to drink the thick chocolate as it came in a small coffee cup. So I just dipped the churros in the chocolate and it was divine. Super hot, hot, hot, hot and sweet, sweet, sweet, yummy, yummy, yummy. Peter saw that I was enjoying the churros so much, he pinched some. As usual he ordered an apple pie for his dessert, even in Spain! LOL
The second time I had churros was when we walked into the beautiful Greenwich Market on our way to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. 🙂 Various food stalls selling foods from around the world were aplenty. There was a stall for churros and I suddenly remembered how I loved them in Spain. This time even Peter wanted some. The churros on sale were served differently from the ones in Barcelona. The churros here were already stuffed with whatever dip you wanted. I had chocolate stuffed churros whilst Peter had custard. The churros were long and fat and was rather a challenge to eat as it was walking affair browsing in a busy market.
Churros with Chocolate Dip
Ingredients:
For the churros:
– 175g plain flour
– ¼ tsp baking powder
– 100g unsalted butter, diced
– 3 large eggs, beaten
– grated zest ½ orange
– sunflower oil, for deep frying
– caster sugar, for sprinkling
For the chocolate dip:
- 200g bar dark chocolate, not too bitter, broken into chunks
- 100ml double cream
- 100ml whole milk
- 3 tbsp golden syrup
- ½ tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Method:
Put all the the chocolate dip ingredients into a pan and gently melt together, stirring occasionally until you have a smooth shiny sauce. Keep warm on a low heat or transfer into a fondue like above photo.
To make the churros, sift together the flour and baking powder.
Put the butter in a pan with 200ml cold water and a pinch of salt.
Cook over a medium heat until the butter melts, then bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the flour. Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool for 2 minutes. Gradually beat in the eggs until smooth.
Stir in the orange zest, cover the bowl and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
Pour enough oil into a large saucepan until one-third full. Place over a medium heat until the oil reaches 180°C.
Spoon the batter into a piping bag fitted with a large star-shaped nozzle.
Pipe 2 or 3 finger-length pieces directly into the oil, snipping off each with scissors.
Cook for about 45 seconds each side, until golden.
Remove with a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with sugar.
Repeat until all the batter is used.
Serve immediately with the chocolate dip