Cheers for Churros con Chocolate

Churros Success

Churros con chocolate have been part of my diet ever since I was a kid. We used to get them from the Dulcinea inside Robinson's Galleria and munch on them for merienda.

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Leña's Churos

La Carnita's Churros

Although they are not quite as ubiquitous here in Toronto as they are in Manila, churros have slowly appeared on the menus of many Latin American restaurants, often tossed in a sugary mixture and accompanied by dulce de leche or something to that effect. O&B's Leña (176 Yonge St), for example, sells the sugar-coated variety, which are good, though terribly sweet for my taste.

My friend Maria once mentioned that you can buy churros mix from Superstore, but Brian and I chose to make them from scratch one Sunday afternoon. It took a bit of searching, but I found what I was looking for on the Food Network, whose recipe came from Madrid's very own Chocolateria San Ginés.

Making churros afforded us some new experiences. It required us to boil ingredients and form a paste; use piping bags and pastry tips; and deep-fry batter, something we typically don't do.

Watching videos of people making churros was certainly helpful in the cooking process: It reassured me that we were heading in the right direction even though the batter looked bizarre to the two of us. We guesstimated the frying temperature and began piping those churros out as if we knew what we were doing.

It definitely pays to have a thermometer because my first churros were close to burnt. Brian's churros, on the other hand, had a nice colour to them. With that said, because he could not find the proper piping tip, they were mini, crunchy versions of the deep-fried dessert.

My aunt's version using the same recipe

It took a while to get the hang of the things and to reach a stable frying temperature, but we managed to pull-through in the end. And the results were beyond delicious churros that made me think of home. They paired well with the dark chocolate dipping sauce we made after we had done away with the batter.

For this portion of the recipe, I must stress that one should not be impatient. Brian figured out that higher heat was required to get the mixture boiling, and not long afterwards, the sauce will thicken almost instantly. I grew impatient, added more baking powder than what it called for, and ended up with a tasty albeit goopy dip.

Goop or no goop, our churros made for a tasty merienda. They were a blast to make and a joy to eat. I have yet to duplicate Dulcinea's tear-drop-shaped churros, but I am more than satisfied both emotion- and stomach-wise with our first run at this childhood favourite.