Saturday 7 July 2012

Churros are served!


Sick with the flu now for over 5 weeks and with my whole body acking I am craving those lovely sugary, oily and chocolaty churros. Wishing I could be at home, with mum giving me all the attentions a sick patient needs and where I could so easy ask dad to go pass the churreria and buy two dozen churros (in a house with dad, 4 nieces, 2 sisters, 2 brothers in law and mum you have to order big!).

Churros are a type of fried long-shaped doughnut cover in sugar and with a ridge surface, traditional cooked for breakfast in Spain. They often also come accompanied of a thick chocolate to dip the doughnuts in and sold by street vendors or in churrerias. They are within doubt a great sugar fix!

Here in Australia even though is not accessible everywhere you can buy churros at http://www.sanchurro.com. It's nowhere near as good or cheap as an spanish churreria and not really design to have them take away but not a bad effort at all.

This delicious spanish delicacy can also be found on the dessert menus of most abroad spanish restaurants. Here are some:



If your rather have them on the comfort of your own home following my easy and quick recipe you now can!

There are many different of recipes for churros some containing milk, butter and more complex processes and some others as simple as just flour and water. 

I have come up with the recipe that I believe works best for the regular everyday cook and without the need for  professional equipment. They don't look like exactly like those long fried strings found in Spain but their rustic looks make them even more irresistible and special and the reward of making them yourself priceless. 

In the recipe below I have combined sweet and savoury ingredients to find what for me is the perfect balance. Not too sweet not to savoury just perfect to have churros as a dessert and dipped in chocolate.

CHURROS CON CHOCOLATE (4-5 serving each serving containing 4- 5 churros)
125gr Self Raising Flour
125gr Plain Flour
30 gr cornflour or 60gr for crunchy
430ml Water 
20 ml Milk
1T Melted butter
1T EVO (Extra Virgin Oilive Oil)
1 Cup full cream milk
1T Vanilla essence
1t salt
1T sugar
1t cinnamon

Cinnamon sugar to cover the outside (Just mix white sugar with a bit of cinnamon)

For the chocolate:

1L Milk
200gr Spanish Chocolate the taza (Spanish drinking chocolate that comes in a block and contains a little bit of flour to thicken. You can use another good quality and high in cacao dark chocolate and add flour to thicken)

Method

1. Combined dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, cornflour salt, sugar & cinnamon)
2. Boil water with oil and vanilla essence.
3. Add a little of boiled water with flour. Stir with wooden spoon.
4. Add melted butter & milk. Stir again.
5. Insert the mixture in a pipping bag with a start nozzle.
6. Pour the mixture in the deep fryer. Don't use the basket. The churros will float.
7. Melt the chocolate in hot milk while churros finish frying.
8. In a bowl place the cinnamon sugar and add churros so they cover well with the mixture.
9. Place the chocolate on a small bowl. I like add some fresh berries or a berry syrup to the plate to give it the freshness and sweetness of the fruit. Churros are now served!!!! Que aproveche!


Notes:

a. The consistency of the dough must be lumpy so do not mix too much.
b. If you want your churros crunchy add more cornflour. This will make them also more hallow and less doughy.
c. If you want them sweeter add more butter, reduce the amount of water and increase amount of milk. I like this better for breakfast churros as the milk & butter with result in a very soft & sweet dough also harder to work with on a pipping bag and too milky for dessert.
d. You can have longer, shorter, thinner or thicker churros. It's up to you. The thicker the more dough you will taste. The thinner the crunchier will be.
e. When ready to fry I prefer to pipe them out in front of the fryer as if you place the churros on a tray they will stick and loose their start shape which gives them crunch. I do not use the basket of the fryer either as same thing happens and churros will come to the surface as the float in the oil.
f. You can also purchase a chorus gun for domestic use. You can purchase this over the internet or in Sydney you can find them at www.elmercado.com.au  I personally prefer the pipping bag. It's easier to work with, holds more quantities, easier to store and to clean and you can buy nozzles of different sizes that might suits best the size of churro you wish to obtain. However with the gun as the dough is pushed out with more pressure the churros have a more star marked resulting in a more crunchier churro.
g. When you make the dough and place it inside the pipping bag you can store this just like that in a air tight container inside the fridge and it will last for at least 5 if not more.
h. You can freeze churros but I am not a big fan of freezing anything but if you must this can be done. The result if not the best but not bad. In fact a lot of spanish food suppliers sell frozen churros.


Ok amigos it's now time to seat down in front of the tv, watch a great movie and enjoy your churros con chocolate. Enjoy!