Sunday 13 April 2014

Challenge 2014 - Week 13 - Churros

Desserts are one of my favourite meals, full of sweet delicious goodness, how can you go wrong. So for this weeks challenge, we made churros.

I scoured my cook books, and came across two recipes for the choux pastry, one that didn't work and was a horrid disaster, and the other, from Margaret Foulton, which was a massive hit!

So, I'm going to share Marg's recipe, which we found came out much fluffier and nicer.


Churros, with Chocolate Sauce, and Butterscotch Sauce

Churros

I forgot to have the eggs and butter in this pic as well
1 cup plain flour 
1 cup water 
125 g unsalted butter, cut into pieces 
1 teaspoon sugar 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
4 eggs, beaten lightly 

1. Sift the flour on to a square of greaseproof paper.
2. Put the water, butter, sugar and salt into a saucepan. Bring to a rapid boil and, using the greaseproof paper as a funnel, pour the flour all at once into the boiling mixture.
3. Over a gentle heat, incorporate quickly and thoroughly with a wooden spoon and beating until the mixture balls around the spoon and leaves the sides of the pan (a bit of muscle is needed here). This process dries the paste and cooks the flour.

4. Remove from the heat, transfer to a plate and cool to lukewarm. 
5. Put into a bowl and gradually beat in the eggs. If the paste is very stiff, beat an extra egg and add gradually, until a pliable consistency is obtained. Beat the paste until well combined, shiny and smooth.


Chocolate Sauce

Getting things ready for the chocolate sauce!
100gm dark chocolate, chopped into bits
1/2 cup cream

1. Warm the cream on the stove, but make sure not to boil
2. Pour the warm cream over the chocolate, and stir to melt and combine!







Butterscotch Sauce

So few ingredients for such a yummy sauce!
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt (regular or large-flake sea salt)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Melt the butter, add sugar, and cream, stirring till all combined.
2. Bring to the boil, and boil for 4-5 minutes.
3. Take it off the heat and allow it to cool for a few minutes, before adding the vanilla extract.

Okay, so now you have everything ready to go, it's time to cook these little beauties!

1. In a large saucepan, heat a few cups of oil. We used vegetable oil, but you can use canola, or bran oil, which ever you prefer. Heat it over a medium flame, until a small cube of bread sizzles when dropped in the hot oil.
2. Place your dough in a piping bag, with a medium-large start nozzle. Try to push it down to the tip, before squeezing it in the bag. Otherwise you end up loosing dough that could make another churro!
3. Gently squeeze the dough out of the piping bag, over the oil, until about 4-5cm is hanging out, then cut off with either a sharp knife, or cooking scissors, into the oil. It's a good idea to stand back a little when doing this, because sometimes the oil can splash. And definitely don't do this naked.
4. Fry in the oil, a few at a time, for 5 or 6 minutes, stirring/turning with metal tongs, until golden. 
5. Take out of the oil, drain on paper towel, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (white/caster sugar, with a sprinkling of ground cinnamon).
Delicious right?
Then, dip in your choice of sauce, and enjoy!


*Allergens/Vegetarian*
 - If making these for any vegetarians, first make sure they're okay eating eggs, and make sure if you make either of the sauces, that you purchase cream with no gelatin.

 - If making for people with allergies/intolerance's to:
  •  Wheat - You can use gluten free flour with very minimal difference in texture or taste.
  • Eggs - Unfortunately an egg substitute isn't really suitable for this recipe, so I would advise against eating them.

These are such a simple yet delicious dessert!

If you have any other dipping sauce recipes, feel free to share them!

Love,

Jayde xx

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