Churros with chocolate sauce

Churros and chocolate sauce and another day of sun… It’s enough to make you feel like you’re on holiday…

They would have been even better if a charming Spanish street vendor had fried them up for me. But making churros was less hassle than expected – once I got to grips with the piping bag.

The dough is quite thick, and I found it worked better when I didn’t overfill the bag. A second person to cut the dough strips with scissors also improved the production process.

The recipe is adapted from one on the BBC Good Food website.

Churros with chocolate sauce
(serves 6)

For the churros:

• 400ml boiling water
• 50g butter, melted
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 250g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• sunflower oil, for deep frying

For the sauce:

• 100g dark chocolate (70%-80%) bar, broken into pieces
• 50ml double cream
• 50ml milk
• 1 Tb golden syrup or honey

To serve:

• ¼ cup caster sugar mixed with 1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. In a measuring jug, stir together the boiling water, butter and vanilla.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.
3. Pour the liquid into the flour mixture, stirring until it forms a dough. Leave to rest for 15 minutes.
4. Heat the oil in a deep-fat frying or heavy-bottomed pan to about 375°F (190°C).
5. In a saucepan (or the microwave), melt the chocolate, double cream, milk and syrup to form a sauce. Set aside, and keep warm. (I did this by putting the jug of sauce in a bowl of hot water.)
6. Fit a star nozzle onto a piping bag and fill with the churro dough.
7. Squeeze strips of dough into the hot oil, cutting it with scissors when it reaches the desired length.
8. When the churros are golden, transfer to a tray lined with paper towels.
9. Toss with cinnamon sugar, and serve with a little cup of chocolate sauce for dipping.

Family score: 9.3 out of 10

Tags: chocolate sauce, Spanish food, vegetarian