A very Spanish morning treat: Churros.

It is believed that the history of the churro begins in China, where Portuguese merchants met the Youtiao, sometimes also referred to as fried bread sticks. Conventionally Youtiao is slightly salty. It is often used as breakfast, as a natural accompaniment to rice congee or soy milk. It was initially served in pairs as a symbol of the Song dynasty Qin Hui and his wife.

The Portuguese took this food to the Iberian Peninsula, where they added sugar, and gave it its characteristic star shape, thus giving origin to the delicious churro we know. As time went by, the churro spread until, during the time of the Conquest, the Spanish brought it to the American continent.

As a child, one of the Christmas traditions with my family was to go to the international fair market, where there was a stand dedicated to selling these Spanish delicacies. It was a moment that my siblings and I looked forward to with great excitement. Now I am delighted that as part of the Escoffier workshops, I am learning how to make this recipe for continuing the Christmas tradition with my twins.

For this recipe, you need:

Churros

· 200 g of water

· 3g of vanilla extract

· 1g salt

· 30g of unsalted butter

· 128 g of all-purpose flour

· 51g Eggs (Approximately 1 large egg)

· Cinnamon

· Sugar

Prepare the cinnamon sugar by mixing both and set them aside.

Place the water, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan and bring them to a boil. Once the water is bubbly and there is no butter on the immediate surface, introduce the flour and stir using a wooden spatula until everything incorporates evenly. This is similar to the pate a choux pastry technique. Next, you can separate the dough ball from the pan.

Use a stand mixer with the paddle and place the hot dough inside the bowl on low speed initially and then medium speed as it starts mixing.

When the dough is lukewarm, incorporate the eggs and the vanilla extract. Remember to scrape the bowl to bring it all together until getting a smooth dough.

Once you have the dough ready, place it in a sleeve. I used the star tip 829 and fixed the edges to have them rounded towards the inside. This facilitates piping without a mess.

Heat the oil. Be careful not to overheat it. Use a thermometer to measure the heat. Once it reaches 350 degrees F, it’s time to pipe the churros!

Make sure that the temperature is right, fluctuating between 350 and 375 F. Below 350, the churros won’t hold their shape; above 375, the churros will not cook inside, and your outside will be overdone.

Fry the churros until getting a nice brown and gold color. The texture should feel crispy.

Place the churros on paper towels to remove any excess oil.

Finally, tossed them in cinnamon sugar.

And that’s it! Churros are best eaten hot with a rich, thick hot chocolate on the side. You can do it the Spanish way and have them for breakfast or the Latin-American way and have them around 4 pm, just in time for coffee!

Enjoy!!