Churros with vanilla-sugar and chocolate sauce

We went off script this past Sunday and had churros for breakfast!  Real fried churros because I've been feeling this urge to fry something.  Maybe this cold, messy weather is doing weird things to my brain.  Whatever the motivator, I got to make something I've wanted to for a long time (that list of things is so long, by the way).  It was fun and a delicious treat.

Do you know what I think about when I think of churros?  The subway.  Yes, I think of the New York subway system because in the days when I was going to college and working in NYC, I'd be hopping around on the subway and I remember seeing a lady selling churros on one of the number train platforms.  I'm not sure if it was the same lady each time but she'd be carrying a tray with these long sticks of fried churros, calling out: "Churros...Churros..."  The tray was covered with a large dish towel (to give it some protection from the inevitable whirl of dust that comes with the territory) and while I was somewhat enchanted by her and her offering, the reality of buying food from the train platform brought me back to reality and I refrained from ever being a customer.  Maybe if she sold them with a side of chocolate dipping sauce, it would've been different. 

Churros are one of my "fantasy foods", a food that I feel familiar with but, in reality, have rarely eaten. The last time we had a churro was at SeaWorld over a year ago...and sadly, it was not very good.  I vowed to make it at home one day so I can finally claim some familiarity with this food item whose name I love to chant.  And I longed to take advantage of eating some fresh, warm from the fryer.

So it was a struggle to take these pictures and capture my first churro-making moments because I was bent on enjoying these fresh and warm with my family.  I managed well enough.  And we dined on a breakfast of freshly fried churros rolled in vanilla-sugar, with some chocolate sauce on the side.  We all had a bit of a sugar high that morning but what a fun and delicious treat! 

Rolling the warm churros in vanilla-sugar

As you probably know, the dough for the churro is similar to pate a choux in that you mix the dough together over the stove-top.  In researching recipes for this inaugural churro endeavor of mine, I realized that churros can contain eggs or not.  In the end, I settled on Rick Bayless' recipe.  I figured it was a safe bet since Rick Bayless is a very well-respected source for Mexican cuisine.  Secondly, his no-egg recipe is super easy, as you'll see from the instructions to follow.  I think I was very lucky to land on this recipe.  The dough was quick and easy to mix up, as well as easy to handle and fry.  The churros turned out super crunchy, which is most satisfying since that's ultimately what you're after when frying!

Instead of the more traditional coating of cinnamon-sugar, I decided to coat my churros in vanilla-sugar.  It's delicious and you really taste those fresh vanilla beans. And without a doubt, I looked forward to dunking our churros in some chocolate sauce.  I made a water ganache, a chocolate ganache made with water instead of cream.  

I love ganache and I've been thinking about using/substituting with a water version more often.  This has as much to do with convenience as anything because I don't often have cream in the house.  And it might be silly to talk about saving some calories and fat grams when I'm frying up churros for breakfast, but making a sauce or ganache by just melting chocolate with water makes sense because you actually get a deeper chocolate flavor so you're not sacrificing taste.  A water ganache might not look as creamy as one made with cream, or one that has butter added to it, but is still smooth and tastes great!


In the face of frying, which I don't do very often, I wanted to be prepared.  I put myself in a good starting position with this recipe.  It's very simple.  You bring a cup of water, 2 tablespoons oil, a tablespoon of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to a full boil.  Take it off the heat and add a cup of flour to the pan all at once.  Immediately stir everything together vigorously until the flour is absorbed and you have a smooth ball of dough.

And you have your churro dough!  Let it cool to room temperature (you can prepare this dough a few hours in advance and leave it covered at room temp).  Now, for piping.  I wanted to make things easier for myself and, for me, I thought piping the dough out in advance onto a piece of parchment paper would work better for me than to drop it straight into the fryer. 

I settled on using the Wilton 1M star tip and I'm very happy I did.  It gave the churros very distinct ridges that increase the crunchiness after frying.  For this special occasion, I brought out and used a canvas piping bag - something I've had in my baking tin for years and years but never used before.  Since the dough is very firm and stiff, a heavy-duty canvas or disposable piping bag is best.

You can pipe the churros onto the parchment paper.  No need to flour the paper.  I found the dough easy to pick up and move around.  I also tried piping this dough straight into the oil and it was actually not as difficult as I imagined.  The dough - maybe because there are no eggs - did not curl much at all in the hot oil.  I'd read that to get a straight churro, you need to pipe and freeze the dough first.  I wasn't too keen on the idea of freezing the dough and I'm glad to know it wasn't necessary.  I made my churros about 4" in length and piped a few 1" mini's for fun.

In the interest of safety, I kept my camera away from the frying pan.  I fried the dough in 375 degree oil and they take about 2-3 minutes per side and should be ready when golden.  I used a thermometer but you can always make one first as a tester.  Fry until golden and when you open it up, it should be crisp and done inside.  I cooked 3-4 at a time in a small enamel cast iron pan.  To serve these warm all at once, you can place them in a 300 degree oven until everything is ready.

Once fried, I drain the churros for just a minute on paper towels and then rolled them in vanilla-sugar while they were still warm.  I actually remembered to use my jar of vanilla sugar but also amped it up by adding the seeds of 1/3 of a vanilla pod to 1/2 cup of the sugar.  

I used just chocolate and water to make the sauce for dipping

For the chocolate dipping or dunking sauce, I melted 60% dark chocolate and water over a pan of barely simmering water.  When it comes to ratios, I've seen different ones for water ganaches and it depends on the thickness you're after.  In this case, I wound up using an equal amount.  The ganache thickened up pretty quickly and I was looking for a relatively thin sauce for dipping.  I started with a bit less water but added more in the end to about an equal ratio of each.  Keep the sauce on the side over warm water so you can warm it back up and stir it together, if necessary, right before serving.

This was a fun project! I really enjoyed making myself better acquainted with churros. And there is just so much satisfaction from doing something you've wanted to do and learning things along the way.  It's all the better that this hobby of playing with food often leads to something delicious to eat like it did in this case.  Besides making churros this past weekend, I also tried the one-pot pasta method for the first time. Both were eye-opening in its own way.  The weekends seem to revolve around food and what to cook and eat during these long, cold winter days.  Since we had yet more snow last Sunday (...and continue to because it just doesn't seem to want to stop...), I was glad that we had plenty of hearty food in our bellies.  That said, I'm ready for Spring, even if it means giving up churros!

Have you ever made churros?  If so, did you use an egg or no-egg recipe?

March 11, 2014: My son's Spanish class has been learning about food lately.  He told me that they had to come up with a dessert idea today (how fun is that!).  He and his partner decided on churros - with ice cream, chocolate sauce, and sprinkles.  Hearing that, I cannot stop asking myself why I didn't have some churros with ice cream and chocolate sauce!

Another update (April 2015): We recently took a trip to Chicago and had the pleasure of trying the "real deal" at Rick Bayless' eatery, XOCO!  The churros were wonderful, certainly better than the ones I attempted at home!  Fresh and warm from the fryer, the churros were crisp on the outside and soft in the center (it's that softer center I really enjoyed).  The chocolate sauce was fruity and full of deep, dark chocolate flavor.

I've learned that there is no shortage of amazing eats in Chicago, and getting a chance to try Rick Bayless' food was a major highlight.  I had no idea the man was such an amazing chef; the flavors of his food was so unique and quite simply, delicious.


Recipe:

Churros with Vanilla-Sugar and Chocolate Sauce
Churro recipe adapted from Rick Bayless

- Makes approximately eighteen 4-inch long churros - 

For churros:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
Vegetable or canola oil, for frying

For vanilla-sugar coating:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 to 1/2 vanilla bean

For chocolate sauce:
4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup water

Make dough: Place the oil, sugar, salt, and cup of water into a medium-small (about 2-quart) saucepan.  Bring to a boil over high-heat, stirring occasionally.  Remove pan from the heat, add all the flour into the pan at once, and stir vigorously until mixture turns into a smooth, thick ball.  Let cool to room temperature in the pan.

Fit a pastry bag (since this is a stiff dough, a heavy-duty pastry bag like a canvas one would work best) with a large star tip (I used Wilton 1M) and set aside.

Prepare vanilla-sugar and chocolate sauce:  For vanilla-sugar, place 1/2 cup sugar into a wide shallow bowl.  Cut open the vanilla bean pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds into the sugar.  Stir seeds into the sugar with a fork to combine.  Set aside.

For the chocolate sauce, place chocolate and water into a bowl set on top of a pan of barely simmering water.  Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.  Set pan nearby to warm up again right before serving, if necessary.

Fry the churros:  Heat about 3 inches of oil in a cast-iron or a heavy-duty, high-sided pan over medium to medium-high heat to about 375 degrees.  

Transfer dough into the prepared pastry bag.  You can pipe churros directly into the oil by holding the pastry bag a few inches above the hot oil, piping out about 4 inches of dough and detaching it from the pastry tip by cutting it off with a knife, scissors, or using your fingertips.  (Alternatively, you can pre-pipe the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet like I did.)  Fry a few churros at a time - so as not to overcrowd the pan - about 2 to 3 minutes per side until golden.  Remove the churros from the oil, let drain on paper towels for about a minute.  Then roll warm churros into the vanilla-sugar to coat.  

Serve churros immediately, with the chocolate sauce for dipping.  (If you can't serve churros immediately, warm them for 3-4 minutes in a 350 degree oven before serving because they are best warm.)