Spain · Dessert · Medium
Churros
Rome's most famous pasta. Silky egg and Pecorino sauce clinging to every strand, studded with crisp guanciale. No cream, ever.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Churros, in 5 ideas
- The star tip is functional, not decorative. The ridges create surface area that crisps. A round tip gives you sad smooth sticks that stay soft.
- Cool the dough before the eggs. Hot dough scrambles the eggs. Five minutes on the counter is enough.
- Fry in small batches. Crowding drops the oil temperature and the churros steam instead of crisp. Three or four at a time, no more.
- Roll in sugar while warm. The sugar needs the residual heat and slight oil to stick. Cold churros shed their coating.
- Make the chocolate thick. Spanish drinking chocolate should coat a spoon, not pour like sauce. Less cream, more chocolate.
What you need
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp sugar, plus 1/2 cup for coating
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 4 cups neutral oil, for frying
- 6 oz dark chocolate, chopped
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
How to make it
Directions
- Bring the water, butter, 1 tablespoon sugar, and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Dump in the flour all at once and stir hard until a smooth ball forms and pulls from the sides, about 2 minutes.
- Move the dough to a bowl and cool 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time until glossy and smooth, then stir in the vanilla.
- Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. The ridges are what get crisp.
- Heat the oil to 350F in a deep heavy pot. Pipe 4-inch lengths directly into the oil, snipping with scissors. Fry 3 or 4 at a time until deep golden, about 3 minutes per batch, turning once.
- Drain on a rack for a minute, then roll warm in the cinnamon sugar mixed with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar.
- For the chocolate, heat the cream until steaming, pour over the chopped chocolate, rest 2 minutes, then stir smooth. Serve the churros with the chocolate for dunking.
Keep the oil at 350F. Too cool and the churros absorb grease and go soggy. Too hot and they brown before the center cooks. A thermometer is the difference between crisp and sad.