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Churros:Mexican Doughnuts

Churros/Mexican Doughnuts

The history of churros begins in China, where Portuguese merchants first ate crispy fried pastry for breakfast. When they brought this treat home, they swapped the traditional salt for sugar and the churro was born. In Mexico today, churros and hot chocolate are sold for breakfast from many a roadside food stall. At La Boca Loca, we serve churros with individual small dishes of warm orange-chocolate sauce for maximum dipping pleasure.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine Mexican
Keyword treat

Ingredients

Equipment

  • large pastry bag fitted with a large star-shaped tip 11mm
  • kitchen shears
  • deep-fry thermometer optional

Batter

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 cups water
  • 200 g butter
  • 3 eggs beaten
  • vegetable oil for frying

To finish

  • 50 g caster sugar
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Orange-Chocolate Sauce

  • 250 g dark chocolate chopped
  • 250 ml orange juice
  • 30 ml tequila
  • 30 ml Cointreau or other good-quality orange liqueur

Instructions

  1. Place flour in a large bowl and set aside. Put water and butter in saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Pour water -butter mixture over flour, then mix into a batter. Allow batter to cool for 10 minutes, then add beaten eggs to the batter in three batches, whisking until smooth.
  2. Choose a smallish fry pan with straight sides, one that is not too deep, so churros will be easier to handle. Add enough oil to come about a third of the way up the side of the pan. Heat oil to 170°C. (To test temperature, drop in a small piece of bread. If it browns in about 30 seconds, oil is ready).
  3. While oil heats, combine sugar and cinnamon in paper bag or shallow dish; set aside. Load the pastry bag with cooled churro dough. Squeeze the bag to pipe churros directly into the hot oil, using kitchen shears to cut dough off the pastry tip every 7 to 10cm. Watch out for splashing oil!
  4. Cook a few churros at a time; avoid overloading the pan, which will drop the oil temperature. Churros are done when they turn a lovely golden brown. Retrieve each churro with tongs or a slotted spoon and transfer to a paper towel–lined plate. Once all churros are cooked, drop churros in the cinnamon-sugar and shake gently to coat.
  5. To make chocolate sauce, place chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring orange juice to a boil in large saucepan. Lower heat and simmer until orange juice is reduced by half. Carefully add tequila and Cointreau; they will flame! Cook until alcohol is cooked off and flames die down. Pour juice mixture through sieve onto the chocolate and whisk until smooth.