Churros con Chocolate

Something broke in my brain this week, and I can't quite put my finger on what it was that triggered it. But a sudden and intense urge to devour churros overcame me. So I made some.

But besides only churros, I had an immense desire to consume chocolate with these deep fried delights. So let me tell you, drinking chocolate is not hot chocolate. drinking chocolate is essentially chocolate... that you drink. it is rich, and thick and delicious and creamy... i had it once at this cute little french restaurant, and never again. they had served us a tall shot glass worth of warmed chocolate, made with some sort of hazelnut paste, and it was decadent.

but let me tell you this too: i. need. these.


what other beverage glass is so perfectly suited to serve the melted chocolate drink in such appropriate portions and anatomical correctness? it would have been perfect for my churros con chocolate night... given that the only star tip i had with my piping bags was that of a miniature scale.


CHURROS

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
3 large eggs
vegetable oil, for frying
confectioners’ sugar

• Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add water and bring to a boil.
  
• In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt. When the water and butter come to a boil, add all the flour at once and stir rapidly for a minute or two until the flour is incorporated.
  
• Put the flour mixture into a bowl of a stand mixer and beat at med-high speed. Add one egg at a time, waiting until each egg is well incorporated before adding the next. The batter will be wet and chunky, so keep mixing it until it becomes a smooth dough (at least for a couple more minutes after the last egg is added)
• When the dough is finished, scoop into a piping bag fitted with the largest star tip (i had a little itty bitty star tip so i made mini french fry like churros.... sad... )
  
• Heat the oil in a sauce pan (about two inches of oil) to 375 degrees
• Pipe about 4-5 inches of dough into the hot oil and fry for a few minutes on each side until a nice golden brown color.
• Once fried, lay them out on some paper towels to drain some of the oil and dust with confectioners sugar. (next time, i think i will also make a batch of cinnamon sugar coated churros.... once i buy a larger piping tip!)
  

DRINKING CHOCOLATE

modified from “Essence of Chocolate”

2 1/2 cups whole milk
4 ounces 99% unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 vanilla pod
1 stick cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1 tsp corn starch, dissolved in some water

• In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk. Split the vanilla bean long ways and expose the seeds and put into the milk with the stick of cinnamon and heat for 15 min until barely simmering.
• Remove the pod and the cinnamon stick, at this point, the seeds should be free floating in the milk.
  
• Whisk in the chocolate and sugar, and continue whisking for 1 to 2 minutes until the sugar has dissolved. When the chocolate has melted, add the corn starch and stir til incorporated.
  
• Reduce the heat to low. Chocolate should get thicker and have a nice creamy consistency. Serve immediately, or remove from heat and mix with a hand blender for a lighter consistency.
  

So, the chocolate turned out to be a little bit of a disappointment, at least to me. Next time, i would take the time to melt in some semisweet or milk chocolate, or add a little more sugar... and really whisk it. I don't understand how my nearly complete kitchen is still missing a real wire whisk and one of those burger flippy things. um, fail. but yes, the chocolate... it was good. it was rich and chocolaty, but kind of lumpy. My sad excuse of a whisk definitely did not break apart the little remaining chunks of chocolate, so it left small lumps of semi-melted chocolate that would disintegrate in your mouth when it hit body temperature. in a way, it was decadent. and in other ways, not so much. but dipping the poorly dusted churros into the bittersweet melted drinking chocolate hit the spot.

Mini Churros con Chocolate

then we proceeded to consume wine.

and for your viewing pleasure: fiona. trying to bat a treat out of my hand :-)

A Girl on a Mission

Almost got it...

til next time-- eat well, drink well, live well

:-)