Churros

• Cooking time 1 h
Churros

Churros are sometimes called Spanish waffles or doughnut sticks but no matter what you call them, the golden pieces of fried dough dipped in chocolate sauce taste delicious. In many parts of the world, the treat is most often enjoyed at fairs or street food markets, but with our easy churro recipe, you can make your own delicious homemade churro dessert served with a decadent dark chocolate sauce and decorative, frozen whipped cream peaks.

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Ingredients

Whipped cream peaks:

Double cream
200 ml

Hot chocolate sauce:

Double cream
100 ml
Coarsely chopped dark chocolate (ca. 55% cocoa)
150 g

Churros:

Water
250 ml
Butter
25 g
Coarse salt
¼ tsp
Flour (ca. 2½ dl)
150 g
Whisked eggs
3
Flavour-neutral cooking oil, like rapeseed oil
1 l

Instructions

Whipped cream peaks:

  • Whisk cream into a light whipped cream and put it into a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle.
  • Make small tips of whipped cream on a lined baking sheet and freeze the whipped cream peaks for about 30 minutes.

Hot chocolate sauce:

  • Bring cream to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
  • Remove saucepan from the heat and add chocolate to the cream. Stir until the chocolate has melted.

Churros:

  • Bring water, butter, and salt to a boil in a saucepan.
  • Pour all the flour into the saucepan at once and stir vigorously until the batter becomes a firm lump that does not stick to either pan or spoon.
  • Let the batter cool a bit (about 10 minutes) and mix in the eggs little by little – know that the batter is quite firm.
  • Put the batter in a piping bag tipped with a star-shaped nozzle nr. 8 or another bigger star-shaped nozzle.
  • Let the oil warm up in a saucepan. It needs to be 180-190°C (use a cooking thermometer or sugar thermometer to measure it or perform a test by dropping a small piece of churro batter into the oil – if it bubbles a lot, the oil is ready).
  • Fry about 10 churros at a time – pipe the batter directly into the hot oil. Use a scissor to make 6-7 cm long pieces.
  • Fry the churros for 4-5 minutes – use a slotted ladle to turn them around so they turn golden all over.
  • Let the warm churros drip off on some paper towels.
  • Serve the golden churros with chocolate sauce, still hot for dipping, and ice-cold whipped cream peaks.
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Tips

Churros may be straight, twisted into rings, or even fashioned like hearts. While it is more than possible to experiment with the shape and thus look of your homemade ones, there are some things you need to keep in mind. Using a star-shaped nozzle not only gives them a beautiful shape, but it also makes them highly suited for frying. The many ridges created by the star shape makes the surface area of the churros larger, meaning that there is more crust that may become beautifully golden and crispy. So, if you want to shape these homemade churros differently or pipe them using a differently shaped muzzle, pick a muzzle or shape that still provides them with a large surface area.

Questions about churros

With our easy churro recipe, you can serve a delicious dessert with lots of different textures and a complex flavour profile. Below this, you can learn more about the snack by reading our answers to questions about the Spanish classic, among other things, how to make churros at home, how to reheat them, and how to freeze the batter.

What is a churro?

A churro is a fried piece of choux pastry originally made in Spain. Churros are known for being crispy and golden on the outside, while they are tender and fluffy on the inside. While the treat, which is usually enjoyed dipped in hot chocolate sauce, is often served as a breakfast dish in Spain and Latin America, it is mostly viewed as a sweet snack or dessert in other parts of the world.

How to make churros?

After you have made your choux pastry using, simply pipe the batter straight into the oil and cook the cut pieces for 4-5 minutes. Make sure the oil has the desired temperature of 180-190°C to ensure an even cook for a churro with a crispy exterior and soft interior. Enjoy your homemade churros with our rich chocolate dipping sauce and ice-cold whipped cream peaks after cooling them for a minute to not burn your hands or tongue.

What does a churro taste like?

A homemade churro essentially tastes like fried dough. Specifically, the fried choux pastry tastes like a denser and crispier doughnut with a chewy mouthfeel. The batter itself is not sweet but since a churro is usually enjoyed with a dipping chocolate sauce, it becomes a sweet and rich-tasting treat.

How to reheat churros?

Reheat your churros for 5-10 minutes at 200°C regular oven. Place them on a wire rack with a tray underneath and make sure to turn them over half-way through to ensure that the entire surface is crispy. For a quicker method, reheat them in the microwave. Place them on a plate and cover them with a paper towel that is slightly damp. This damp paper towel will prevent the treats from drying out. Heat them on full power for only 10 seconds at a time until they are hot enough. Microwaved churros may be slightly less crunchy than oven-heated ones.

How to make chocolate sauce for churros?

Making a churro chocolate sauce is easy and requires just two ingredients: dark chocolate and double cream. After the cream has been brought to a boil, the saucepan is removed from the heat and the chopped chocolate is added. The mixture is stirred until the rich chocolate has melted and you are left with a thick, glossy chocolate sauce for your homemade treats.

Can churros be baked?

While it is possible to bake homemade churros in the oven rather than frying them, the result may not be the same. Specifically, the outside of the treat may not be as crispy, while they may not be as soft on the inside as their fried counterparts. The reason is that the hot air in the oven can easily dry out the treats. As such, they may need to be sprinkled with water as they bake to avoid this.

Can I freeze churro batter?

Preparing churros in advance and freezing them uncooked is possible. Piping the batter before freezing is recommendable as you can pop the frozen pieces directly into the hot oil without having to bother with thawing the batter itself. Simply pipe the batter into 6-7 cm long churro sticks on a baking tray and place it into the freezer for about 30 minutes. Once they have hardened up, place them into an airtight container – since they are already frozen, they should not stick together but if you want to make entirely sure they will not, you can use parchment paper to line the container and separate the different layers. In the freezer, uncooked churro pieces will last for up to 2 months.

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Churros – a delicious Spanish treat

While churros have become a favourite with many worldwide, they have been the favourite breakfast snack in the Spanish culture and preferred hangover cure for decades. The deliciously golden fried batter is made from choux pastry which is also known from French dishes like profiteroles and éclairs. In Spain and Latin America, they are usually enjoyed dipped in chocolate sauce, hot chocolate, café con leche, or dulce de leche.

In our churro recipe, we have chosen to serve them with a decadent, homemade chocolate sauce as well as ice-cold whipped cream peaks to play around with both textures and temperatures in this simple yet impressive churro dessert.

Scrumptiously crispy on the outside and soft on the inside

With churros, you get the best of both worlds – a golden, crispy exterior and an airy and fluffy interior. The crust has a beautiful crunchy texture that makes it even more surprising exactly how light and tender the inside of the choux pastry is. It is not hard to see why many have enjoyed churros and chocolate for many different occasions since they truly are a delightful comfort food. With the addition of our cold, refreshing whipped cream peaks, we have shown that the choux pastry treat may become a delectable dessert with an added layer of complexity as well.

Warm chocolate sauce for churros

These homemade delights deserve the very best churro dipping sauce, and since churros and chocolate go together like bread and butter, making an indulgent dark chocolate sauce will take your homemade treats to the next level. This chocolate sauce is easy to make and tastes amazing. The double cream gives the sauce a shiny surface and a velvety consistency that is perfect for dipping. The cream also keeps the rich chocolate sauce from setting or hardening before you have time to smother them with the decadent dark sauce.

Experiment with a savoury version

While sweet churros dipped in chocolate sauce are well-loved, savoury churros are equally mouth-watering and hard to resist. They are perfect as a snack, an appetiser, or as part of a larger tapas spread featuring other Spanish classics like a cold gazpacho soup.

Since there are no sweet ingredients in a churro batter like ours, you can choose to prepare them in the exact same way and simply switch up the dipping sauce. A churro tastes deliciously with a homemade mayonnaise flavoured with garlic or chili. Alternatively, a beautiful red Romanesco-like churro dipping sauce made from tomatoes, garlic, and lots of paprika also works beautifully with a savoury churro.

You can also choose to flavour the savoury churros themselves to experiment even further with our recipe. This may be achieved by adding, for instance, garlic powder, finely chopped shallots, and small pieces of fried chorizo to the batter. Or try making cheesy churros by enriching your batter with cheeses like a salty parmesan or the Spanish favourite Manchego and freshen this rich version up by adding fresh, seasonal herbs like thyme, chives, and parsley. For these savoury churros, serve with thinly sliced Iberian ham.

If you want to keep with the sweet theme, toss them in a cinnamon and sugar mixture as soon as they are done frying. Using the sweet and spiced cinnamon sugar for churros is a classic and they are still delicious dipped in chocolate sauce.

https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/recipes/churros/