Growing up, I and many other people enjoyed eating churros from the ubiquitous carts and stalls that would pepper the landscape of every carnival, fair, theme park, and sporting event. The long, crunchy fried Mexican/Spanish doughnut dusted with cinnamon sugar carries a lot of nostalgia for me that I wanted to bring to a dessert at Fern Bar, and as a result it’s become one of our most popular dishes.
For the churros we use a basic patê a choux recipe, a French dough made by cooking flour in a boiling liquid with butter and then adding eggs. This dough is versatile enough to be used for both sweet and savory applications, from eclairs, gougères, and cream puffs, to Parisian gnocchi.
We pipe our dough to order into a hot fryer, then cook until golden brown with a crunchy exterior and a slightly creamy interior. The churros are served with a Mexican-inspired chocolate sauce infused with chiles and warming spices to create something that’s slightly bitter and complex to pair with the sweet crunchiness of the churros. That being said, the churros are also delicious all by themselves or paired with a variety of sauces.
Churros
Yield: 25 churros
3 cups water
1 cup (or 2 sticks) butter
2½ oz. dark brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
6 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean, scraped
2 quarts of high-heat cooking oil (or fill your cooking vessel 4 inches high)
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 cups white sugar
Spiced Mexican chocolate*
In a large pot, bring the water, butter, brown sugar, and salt to a boil on the stove. Add the flour and stir until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the pot. Transfer to mixing bowl and allow to cool, about 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, heat oil in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pan to 350 Fahrenheit. Crack eggs into a bowl and add vanilla. In a stand mixer on medium-low speed, mix the dough, adding the egg mixture a little at a time, until fully incorporated and the dough is smooth and shiny.
Transfer the dough to a piping bag with a fluted tip and pipe segments three inches long directly into the oil (use kitchen shears to cut the dough from the tip). Be careful not to overcrowd the Dutch oven. Fry for about eight minutes or until dark brown, flipping the doughnuts over with a spoon or a pair of chopsticks halfway through. Drain with a skimmer or on paper towels, mix cinnamon and sugar together, and roll churros in mixture while still hot. Serve with spiced chocolate.
*Spiced Mexican Chocolate
Yield: 1½ quarts
2 cups whole milk
½ cup (1 stick) butter
2 guajillo chiles
1 árbol chile
1 chipotle chile
1 tsp. salt
1 pod cardamom
1 stick cinnamon
2 cloves
2 cups 70% dark chocolate
½ cup evaporated cane sugar
Bring the milk, butter, chiles, salt, and spices to a simmer on the stove. Turn off heat and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve back into a pot. Bring mixture to a simmer and add the sugar and chocolate, a little at a time, whisking until melted and smooth. Serve with piping hot churros! Will last for two weeks in the fridge.
Want more chocolate recipes? Try Lowell’s decadent Flourless Chocolate Cake or Sea Salt and Chocolate Chip Cookies!
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