The best churro I ever ate was in Tijuana, driving back state side after a week long mission trip to Mexico to help a pastor and his family move into their new home. In a 15-seater Ford, with 14 other girls, slowly creeping along with traffic, through the street vendor area just before the border, we bartered with the men and women for blankets, candy and figurines. Then we catch this amazing aroma, over the mix of exhaust, frying fish, and that “desert” smell, hot and dusty. Over all of that, we smell the sweet, spiced fragrance that only can be cinnamon and sugar, coating the crisp and chewy sweet dough, fresh out of the fryer. We instantly pooled the rest of our pesos, and bought as many churros as we could afford. As I bit into that piping hot cinnamon sugary scepter of heavenly flavor, I fell in love. That was six years ago, I find my self, even today, craving them, and it has taken me this long to try to make them. They aren’t the same as the ones from that street vendor, but they definitely make for a craving of their own.
I used a small piece to top a cupcake for a festive dessert for a Cinco de Mayo party.
I took a vanilla cupcake, mixed some cinnamon into the butter cream, just to taste (I rarely use measurements for flavoring anymore, the trick is to start with less, you can always add more!). Frost the cupcake, then cut a churro on a bias (that means to cut the ends diagonally parallel) about 2” long, and stick into the top of the frosting like a straw. SOOOOOO tasty!
Before making the dough, heat some vegetable oil, about 4” deep, to about 350°
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup of butter (or margarine if you prefer)
-- bring these to a boil in a quart sized sauce pan, melting the butter completely.
While you wait for this to boil, go ahead and prepare your last steps: take a baking sheet, line it with paper towels, and place a cooling rack over it.
Take a second baking sheet and put 2 cups of sugar, and 1/4 cup of cinnamon and mix together.
Once the butter is melted, and the mixture is boiling, pour in all at once:
1 cup AP flour
-- Remove from heat, and stir to incorporate the flour, place back over medium heat, and cook stirring constantly for about 5 minutes. This cooks out the “floury” flavor from the dough. Put this mixture in a bowl and beat on high speed until cool.
Then add one at a time:
3 eggs.
--mix this for 2 more minutes after incorporated. Place this mixture into a pastry bag fit with a large star tip.
Once the oil has reached 350°, use your left hand to squeeze the dough into the oil, and with your right hand, use a pair of scissors to snip off the dough from the bag. Hold the tip of the bag close to the surface so you don’t splash yourself with the hot oil. Do about 4 at a time so the oil doesn’t cool off too much.
Give these several minutes to do their magic. Once they rise to the surface, give them about 3 minutes before rolling them over. They should be a rich brown color when you pull them from the oil, about five minutes total. From the oil place them on the cooling rack to drip some of the oil, then roll them in the sugar mixture.
Serve as is, or with vanilla ice cream!
Happy eating!
