Churros con Chocolate

I’m in Spain on holidays at the moment so I feel this recipe apt! Churros are a not so secret guilty pleasure of mine: the crispy fried sugary dough with the not so sweet dark chocolate sauce tastes out of this world! I make a chocolate ganache type sauce to go with my churros which slightly differs to the traditional chocolate sauce the Spanish serve with theirs (it’s like a milky thick hot chocolate/custard). Recipe is from Thomasina Miers: Mexican Food Made Simple

Churro dough

90 grams caster sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
125 grams plain flour
125 grams self-raising flour
1 pinch of sea salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 litre sunflower oil (for frying)

Chocolate sauce

200 grams dark chocolate (roughly chopped)
50 grams milk chocolate (roughly chopped)
2 tablespoons golden syrup
250ml single cream

Method

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and set aside.
Make the chocolate sauce. Put all the chocolate in a heavy bottomed saucepan with the golden syrup and cream and heat over a low heat, stirring continuously, to melt the chocolate, being careful not to let it burn. Alternatively, heat with short bursts in the microwave, stirring between each burst.
Sift the flours with a good pinch of salt into a metal or heatproof bowl and make a well in the centre.
In a separate bowl, mix the olive oil and 450ml boiling water together, and pour into the well, beating it well with a fork to get rid of any lumps. The dough should be slightly soft and sticky to touch. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
Fill a large, heavy bottomed saucepan with the sunflower oil – it should be about one-third full. Heat the oil to 170C or until a small piece of bread browns in less than 30 seconds.
Add the dough to a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle and squeeze out churros directly into the hot oil, cutting them with a pair of scissors into the length you want. I personally prefer to make them about 1 1/2 inches long as i prefer them smaller. Be careful not to cook more than three at any one time, or they will all stick together. Fry for about 3 to 4 minutes until crispy and golden. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. I have an aga at home and so i keep the completed churros hot by keeping them in the warm oven. This isn’t a necessary step. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Reheat the chocolate sauce and pour into little dishes for dipping with the churros.

Below: churros I got at a local food market

Above: my homemade churros con chocolate