Churros

Ingredients

• 6⅓ ozwheat flourfor the dough, added all at once
• 1 cupwaterfor the dough
• 1¾ ozbutterbrought to the boil with the water
• 3eggsstirred one at a time into the cooled dough
• 1 pinchsaltfor the dough
• 4¼ cupsvegetable oilfor deep-frying
• 3½ ozsugarfor coating or sprinkling, alternatively icing sugar
• 1 tspcinnamon stickmixed with the sugar
• 3½ ozdark chocolatechopped, for the chocolate dipping sauce (optional)
• ½ cupcreamheated to melt the chocolate in (optional)
• 1 tbsprumstirred into the dough, alternatively brandy (optional)

Method

1. Bring the water, butter and salt to the boil in a saucepan. Tip in the flour all at once and beat hard with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together in a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan.
2. Keep stirring the dough over the heat for a little longer to dry it out, until a thin white film forms on the bottom of the pan. Then transfer it to a bowl and let it cool slightly.
3. Beat the eggs into the cooled dough one at a time, working each one in completely before adding the next. Stir in the rum or brandy now if you're using it. You're after a smooth dough that's soft enough to pipe.
4. Heat the vegetable oil in a wide pan or deep-fryer to 170–355 °F. Meanwhile, mix the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish.
5. Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Working in batches, pipe 10–15 cm lengths straight into the hot oil, snipping them off at the nozzle with a knife or scissors. Don't crowd the pan, so the oil stays hot.
6. Fry the churros for 2–5 minutes, turning them as they go, until golden brown, then lift them out and let them drain briefly on kitchen paper.
7. Roll the churros in the cinnamon sugar while they're still warm, until they're coated all over.
8. For the chocolate sauce, heat the whipping cream, add the chopped dark chocolate and stir until it melts. Serve warm alongside the churros.

Tips and variations

You can swap the butter in the dough for oil or lard. There are even churros made with no eggs at all, just flour, water, salt and oil. For a richer dough, use milk instead of water with a little sugar and grated orange zest, or melt some cream caramels into it. If piping straight into hot oil makes you nervous, pipe the lengths onto paper or the worktop first, shaping some into loops, and then fry them. Instead of rolling them in sugar, you can simply dust them with icing sugar. Besides the chocolate sauce, apricot compote or a chocolate-cinnamon mousse from a cream siphon go well with them. Eat your churros as fresh as you can, while they still crackle.