Churros con chocolate
Churros with hot chocolate
Crisp Madrid-style churros with thick Spanish hot chocolate for dipping
Churros con chocolate is Madrid's most famous treat, eaten at the city's historic chocolaterías for breakfast, as a late-afternoon merienda or at dawn after a night out. Churros are made from a simple dough of flour, water and salt piped straight into hot oil, fried until ridged and crisp, and dunked into a cup of hot chocolate so thick it almost holds the churro up. The dough has no egg or sugar, so the churros are light and crunchy; the sweetness comes from the chocolate and a dusting of sugar. Chef's tip: pipe through a star nozzle; the ridges let steam escape so the churros don't burst in the oil, and they create the extra crunch that makes a good churro.
- Total time
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the churros
- 1 cup water
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 5 ½ oz plain floursifted
- 4 ¼ cups sunflower or olive oilfor frying
- 3 tbsp caster sugarfor dusting
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
For the chocolate
- 2 cups whole milk
- 4 oz dark chocolate (60–70%)chopped
- 2 tsp cornflour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 pinch salt
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Method
0/8 doneStep 1: Make the chocolate first. Whisk 2 tsp cornflour into 4 tablespoons of 3 ½ tbsp whole milk until smooth. Heat the rest of 2 cups whole milk in a pan over a medium heat until steaming.
Step 2: Add 4 oz dark chocolate (60–70%), 2 tbsp sugar and 1 pinch salt and whisk until melted. Whisk in the cornflour mixture and simmer gently for 3–4 minutes, whisking all the time, until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon thickly. Keep warm over a very low heat.
5 minStep 3: Make the dough. Bring 1 cup water, ½ tsp salt and 1 tbsp sunflower oil to a rolling boil in a pan. Take it off the heat, tip in 5 ½ oz plain flour all at once and beat hard with a wooden spoon for 1 minute, until you have a smooth, stiff dough with no dry patches.
3 minStep 4: Leave the dough to cool for 5 minutes, then spoon it into a sturdy piping bag (or a churrera) fitted with a 1 cm open star nozzle. The dough is stiff; a cloth bag or a double plastic one is best.
5 minStep 5: Heat 4 ¼ cups sunflower or olive oil in a deep, wide pan to 375°F (a cube of bread browns in 20 seconds). Mix 3 tbsp caster sugar and ½ tsp ground cinnamon on a plate.
Step 6: Pipe 12 cm lengths of dough straight into the oil, snipping them off with scissors, 3 or 4 at a time. Fry for 2–3 minutes, turning once, until deep golden and crisp all over. If the oil isn't hot enough they'll be greasy; too hot and they'll be raw in the middle.
12 minStep 7: Drain on kitchen paper for a few seconds, then roll in the sugar while hot.
Step 8: Pour the hot chocolate into cups and serve with the churros straight away for dunking.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 520 kcal
- Protein
- 9 g
- Carbs
- 62 g
- Fat
- 26 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does churros con chocolate take?
- About 40 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of sunflower or olive oil?
- Vegetable, sunflower or rapeseed oil, same amount (for cooking; keep olive oil for dressings if you have a little).
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