A churro is a type of fried dough from Spanish and Portuguese cuisine. They are also found in Latin American cuisine and the cuisine of the Philippines and in other areas that have received immigration from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries, especially in the Southwestern United States and France.
The origin of churros is unclear. One theory suggests the concept was brought to Europe from China by the Portuguese. The Portuguese sailed for the Orient and as they returned from Ming-dynasty China to Portugal, they brought along with them new culinary techniques, including altering dough for youtiao in southern China which bears a resemblance to the churro. The new pastry was soon introduced to Spain, where it was modified to have the dough extruded through a star-shaped nozzle rather than pulled. Others say Spanish shepherds invented them as an easy alternative to baked goods since the dough is easy to make and fry.
Regardless of the origin, churros became a cheap and popular snack food in Spain and it is likely that Spanish immigrants spread the recipe to Latin America, where today they are quite different and often are stuffed with chocolate, dulce de leche, etc. or sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.
Spanish chocolate is delicious and a part of the national diet! And Spanish hot chocolate is commonly served with churros at churrerías. But often adults will opt for coffee and leave the rich chocolate for the kids. You can make authentic Spanish-style hot chocolate at home with this recipe.
Just in case you don’t happen to live a five-minute walk from a delicious churrería, these crispy tubes of fried dough can easily be made in the comfort of your own kitchen. This churros recipe is astonishingly easy and makes a truly great churros that’s hot and crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside. The molten chocolate dipping sauce is mandatory, and you’ll have an entire batch on the table in a mere 20 minutes!
All you need is flour, baking powder, oil and boiling water to make the batter, then cinnamon and sugar for coating. Boiling water is key here – it makes the batter a unique “gummy” texture so when piped and cooked, it retains the signature ridges. There’s no sugar in the batter – with the cinnamon sugar coating plus mandatory dipping sauce, you absolutely don’t need it.
The batter is a mere dump-and-mix job, and it’s got a unique thick “gummy” texture so the churros holds its form when it’s piped, even before it hits the oil. The safest and easiest way to cook churros is to use scissors. Because the batter is so thick, you can pipe the batter out and it will hang from the piping bag as you lower it into the oil (as opposed to dropping out, causing the oil to splash), then just snip with scissors.
They come in varying lengths, with longer ones (ie 30cm / 1 foot) being more of a novelty type at carnivals and tourist hot spots. Around 15cm / 6″ is a more practical length – still long enough to look impressive, but short enough to cook in a standard size household pot. You could also make shorter ones for small bite size options, and if you don’t have a piping bag, just drop balls of dough into the oil and make churros doughnuts!
After, you can just pile them up on a platter with a little cup of the dipping sauce, then you just dunk and eat!
