COOKING: Churros

Sunday morning, churros y chocolate for breakfast... welcome to real Spain!

If you've never had a churro before, basically you are looking at a long, slim, slightly crunchy donut, traditionally served with a sprinkling of sugar and dipped into a cup of steaming hot chocolate. 

Usually available early in the morning at local cafes, they can also be taken away wrapped in a paper cone and enjoyed at home. 


But churros are really easy to make - and you'll find they disappear pretty darn quick off the plate! Here's how to prepare your own. This recipe serves about 4-5 people.


Ingredients:

500 g white flour
500 ml water
3 tsp of baking powder (or 1 x 16g sachet of Royal Baking Powder)
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
For frying: 1 litre vegetable oil
For serving: a few pinches of caster sugar

Materials:

Two medium sauce pans
Cake icing plunger or bag, with a large nozzle
Spatula
Kitchen paper or tissue


Instructions:

1. Sieve the flour and mix it with the baking powder and salt in a bowl.

2. Bring the water to the boil in a medium sauce pan. Then remove from heat, add 3 tbsp olive oil and tip in the whole of the flour mix. Start stirring with a wooden spoon and don't stop, making sure the ingredients are blending together smoothly.

3. Keep stirring the mixture until it begins to come away from the sides of the pan and forms a ball. Keep mixing until the dough feels even, and quite hard. Leave to cool for a short while.

4. Pour 1 litre of vegetable oil into a sauce pan and put it onto the hob to heat it up - or switch on your deep fat fryer. The oil should be somewhere between medium and maximum heat - you can always turn it up if needed.

5. Prepare a clean, dry surface to pipe your churros onto. Put the slightly cooled dough into an piping sleeve or plunger. You will find the dough very hard, so you may need some strength to push it through. If you are using a sleeve instead of a metal plunger, it's easiest to twist up the sleeve's open end really tight, then lay it on the surface you are piping onto and press down on the bag with your fist.  

You can roll the dough up into cigar shapes between your palms, but the end result will be a much harder churro. For a proper, crunchy, chewy texture, piping is recommended because it gives the churros a rugged outside that allows the oil to seep in when they cook.

6. Aim to pipe the churros into strings of about 7-10cm long. Once they are done, pop two or three in the oil to test the frying temperature. They should be done in about 1-2 minutes, be golden in colour and be completely done on the inside when you take them out. Adjust your oil temperature if needed and fry the rest in batches. Lay them out on some kitchen roll or tissue to absorb some of the cooking oil before serving.

And there we are. Your pile of yummy breakfast churros is ready to be devoured. Sprinkle with caster sugar to taste, serve with hot chocolate - and don't forget to dip!