Churos And Chocolate

[Lina Drury]

Oneof the pastries most ubiquitous with Spain are churros. Traditionally churros and chocolate are a popular Spanish breakfast item, or an early morning snack after a long night out. When I booked my trip, I was on a quest to seek out all of the churros and chocolate in Spain.

Chocolate comes from the cacao bean, which was first discovered by Christopher Columbus during his expedition to the the Americas in 1492. However it was Spanish conquistador Hernn Corts, introduced to cacao by the Aztecs, who brought it back to Spain where Spanish Monks added cane sugar to make it sweet. Until coffee, chocolate was the favorite drink of Spain.

The long thin churro sticks were piled on a small plate and placed down on the table next to a mug of thick, rich dark chocolate. Carefully dunking each one to ensure full chocolate coverage, I ate the whole plate in around five minutes flat.

Even with my fully dipped churros, I was left with a half mug of dark chocolate. I looked around to see if anyone else was just straight up guzzling their left over chocolate. No one seated near me was giving any real sign as to proper churro-chocolate etiquette. It just seemed so wrong to leave chocolate like that.

Granja Viader, established in 1870, is one of the oldest cafes in Barcelona. Located off the bustling Las Ramblas, walking into the caf is a warm and inviting respite from the hustle of tourists. The caf is well known for the invention of Cacaolat, a chocolate drink that is popular in Catalonia region.

The churros at Granja Viader are twisted and heavily sprinkled in sugar. Served alongside a piping(!!) hot mug of dark chocolate, my second churros and chocolate experience was just as nirvanic as the first.

Pour half the milk into a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the chocolate and sugar and stir until the chocolate is melted. Mix together the remaining milk and cornstarch, then add to the pan of chocolate and stir constantly while the mixture simmers for about 2 minutes, it will become quite thick. Turn off heat, leave in pan and cover until ready to use. This can be made ahead, stored in a glass jar and reheated in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Watch me make this in my instagram video.

In a medium saucepan, bring the water and butter to a boil. Add the flour and salt and stir until the it thickens to a paste. Continue to stir until it forms a smooth ball. Put the dough into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low for about 20 seconds. Add one egg and mix until it is fully incorporated. Scrape down the bowl, and add the second egg, mix until dough is smooth. Scrape the bowl and add the final egg. When the dough is smooth, place it in a piping bag, fitted with a large star tip.

Heat the oil to 380F on a candy thermometer. Squeeze the dough out into the hot oil in any shape you like. Be sure not to over crowd them. I had fun creating odd shapes, but you can make more traditional sticks as well. Cut the dough off with a knife when they are the length you desire. Fry until golden brown, then flip and fry the other side. About 4 minutes total. Use a slotted spoon to retrieve them from the oil and place them on paper towel to drain. Repeat as many times as it takes to use up all the dough.

To make the churros (which will become the churro crumble), combine 1 cup of the sugar with the cinnamon in a pie dish and whisk to blend well. Set aside. Combine the milk, salt, butter and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the flour into the pan with the milk and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the flour is fully incorporated and the mixture begins to cook. Remove from the heat and transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer. Let cool in the bowl for 5 minutes. Turn the mixer on to medium speed and add the eggs one at a time, mixing each until fully incorporated before adding the next. Meanwhile, add the oil to a medium saucepan and heat to 350 F. Once the batter is finished mixing and the oil is heated, transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe lengths of batter into the hot oil, filling the pan with a single layer and leaving space between each churro. Let cook, turning once, until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from the oil with a slotted skimmer and transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet. Once cool enough to handle, coat in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Repeat with the remaining batter. (You will have more churros than you need for this recipe but too many churros is not a thing.) Reserve the left over cinnamon sugar.

To make the churro crumble, heat the oven to 250 F. Chop some of the cooled churros up into small chunks (about -inch) to yield at least 1 heaping cup of churro chunks. Toss with 2-3 tablespoons of the left over cinnamon-sugar from coating the churros. Spread the mixture in an even layer on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Bake for 25 minutes, tossing halfway through the baking time, until they are golden brown and crunchy. Let cool on a wire rack completely. (They will continue to harden as they cool.)

To make the tart shell, whisk together the egg yolk, cream and vanilla in a small bowl; set aside. Place the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a food processor. Process briefly to combine. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture; process to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses. With the machine running, add the egg mixture and process until the dough just comes together, about 12 seconds. Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a rectangle (or disc, depending on what shape of tart you want to make.) Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 48 hours.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. (If refrigerated for more than an hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable.) Unwrap and roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface so that it is large enough to cover your tart pan, including the sides, with a small amount of overhang on all edges. Transfer the dough to the tart pan. Mold the dough to the sides of the tart pan and remove the excess off the top. Set the dough-lined tart pan on a large plate and freeze for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to middle position. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Set the dough-lined tart pan on a baking sheet, press a 12-inch square of foil into the frozen shell and over the edge, and fill with pie weights. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time. Remove from the oven and carefully remove the foil and weights. Continue to bake until deep golden brown, 5-8 minutes longer. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before proceeding.

To make the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Warm the cream in the microwave or a small saucepan just until bubbling. Pour over the chocolate and let stand 1-2 minutes before whisking into a smooth, thick ganache. Whisk in the butter cayenne and cinnamon. Pour the ganache into the cooled tart shell and spread into an even layer. Refrigerate until chilled and fully set.

Up until several years ago, this churros obsessed food blogger thought Churros was native to Mexico. Thus on her first (but certianly not last) trip to Mexico, she was expecting to be in churro heaven. Churros, churros, churros everywhere.

The safest and easiest way to cook churros is to use scissors. Because the batter is so thick, you can pipe the batter out and it will hang from the piping bag as you lower it into the oil (as opposed to dropping out, causing the oil to splash), then just snip with scissors.

Thank you for the recipe. The recipe is simple and very easy to make. Just that the dough 50-50% flour:water ratio makes quite a tough dough. I made x4 of the portion. For the first batch it did turns out really well but for 2nd batch the dough is quite dry so I added a little bit more water to soften the dough. Piping churros requires a lot of patience because this is when the chaos begin. My piping bag burst out and I had to replace it 7 times. Also using scissors is quite troublesome as the extra seconds I took to grab the scissors each time makes the piped dough becaming slimmer and slender the longer I took to cut it. In the end I just pinch it with my finger. Otherwise if it is has already fell into the oil due to gravity, I just cut them with scissors inside the oil. The churros is really crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Will definitely make this again but I need to find a cookies press gun to pipe the dough next time.

Fantastic recipe. Saved the day when the local Mexican restaurant put chocolate and strawberry syrup all over our churro order and I had a dissapointed boy. Was a fun easy recipe for a 9 year old to help with.

After reading the comments I used a gallon freezer bag instead of a pastry bag and had no issues.

As a Spaniard living in Australia, I appreciate finally seeing a proper authentic recipe for churros! It is exactly the way my grandma would make them! For anyone struggling with a piping bag I would recommend using a cookie press instead if you have one.

I have created this delicious churro recipe which is vegan and gluten-free. Churros are traditionally enjoyed with a chocolate dip so I made a divine & very rich dark chocolate ganache which is perfect to dunk these scrumptious cinnamon churros in!

Step 4- Add the 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of caster sugar, water, salt and vanilla extract into a small saucepan, then place onto the hob on a medium heat and bring to the boil.

Hello, Thankyou so much! They taste amazing and would be the perfect treat for a movie night! I may have to try that ? Let me know how you get on and make sure to tag me in photos on social media (my media links are in the side bar) xx

Hello, Holly Jade here and Welcome to The Little Blog of Vegan. A multi-award winning vegan food and lifestyle blog. Food Blogger of the Year 2017, Top 10 must follow blogger 2018, to being featured in Hello! Magazine, multiple recipe Magazines etc. All recipes are 100% vegan & delicious! They never fail to impress!

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