Barcelona has to be one of my favorite cities in the world. I haven’t visited in over 10 years, but it left such an impression on my that I still dream Gaudi dreams.
The city on the sea – like any port city is a mix of languages, culture and food. It is know for its architecture, proud Catalan roots, tapas bars and of course its nightlife.
The clubs in Barcelona are world-renowned and don’t close down at 1 or 2 in the morning like wimpy American clubs. Last call is around 6 am if you want to literally dance the night away. Not done yet? You can go to an “after-hours” club that will shut down around 9 – 10 am.
Large pastry tips – the better to pipe dough into a hot vat of oil
If you make it to that point, you will be exhausted, dehydrated, and your feet may or may not be bleeding – dancing the night away is a *little* rough on the toes should you make the mistake of wearing platform heels. The painful voice of experience speaks… I have memories of wandering home with the smell of sunrise and city streets and fried dough in the early hours before climbing into crisp/cool sheets with the window open to the sounds of Las Ramblas.
Cinnamon and sugar – just waiting for dredging…
It is the Barcelona tradition to swing by one of the little cafes to get xurros y chocolate on the way home – just to give you enough sugar and calories to keep you going until you get home and fall into bed.
Piping churros into hot oil
Catalan Xurros aka Churros are not the straight wands of over-sweetneess that you find in ballparks around here. They are rich and twisted and doughy-warm. They are always served with rich chocolate – almost drinking chocolate, but thick to the point that it can’t be drunk and is well served for dunking instead. The chocolate isn’t exactly sweet, but a little bitter – the better for dipping deep fried, cinnamon-sugar dusted, scalloped dough.
Can I say, I LOVE my ceramic knife for shaving chocolate!
My other churros relationship was with the street sellers when I was living in Miami – you could buy 10 mini churros at stop lights for a buck. They were just tidbits, but warm and delicious. At stoplights with churro sellers, you’d hold a dollar out the window and yell “Churro, churro, churro.” and the seller would dart through traffic to bring you your treat.
Who can resist licking this whisk? Not my brother.
My dancing until dawn days are behind me, but 10 years later I can still taste, and still crave Spanish churros. My brother spent some time in Spain this past summer and when I discovered we had a mutual craving, we decided to try and recreate the experience. After a couple of mishaps we found a formula that got us very close – without the built in ambiance of the Spanish city by the sea. Close enough, without hopping on a plane.
A twisty nest of churros with chocolate in the center for dipping
I usually don’t go in for needing a lot of specialized equipment for a recipe, but you will need a large pastry tip and a pastry bag for this one. We had a couple of mishaps trying to get a regular old ziplock bag to work for us.
Dunking churros in chocolate
Ingredients
- For the Churros:
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/4 cups Water
- 2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
- A pinch of Salt
- 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
- Oil for Frying - you want about 3.5" in the pan
- Cinnamon Sugar for Dusting - about 1/2 cup for this recipe
- Recipe can be doubled.
- For the Chocolate:
- 8 oz high quality Dark Chocolate, grated
- 1 cup Heavy Cream
Method
- For the Churros:
- Measure flour and place in a heat-proof glass bowl, and make a well in the center with a spoon. Combine water, sugar, salt and vegetable oil in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Remove the warm liquid from the heat and add to the well in the flour. Stir mixture until everything is combined and the pastry forms a ball.
- Heat the oil for frying in a large dutch oven pot to 375 degrees.
- Put 1/2 of the dough into a pastry bag with a large, fluted tip. Pipe dough into the hot oil in batches using the pastry bag. The strips don't have to be perfectly straight or even. When the pastry gets long enough and heavy enough it will pull away from the pastry bag and drop into the oil.
- Fry until golden, drain on paper towels. While churros are still warm but drained dredge them in cinnamon sugar - coating completely. Continue cooking churros in batches, refilling the pastry bag with the remaining dough.
- For the Chocolate:
- Roughly shave the chocolate with a sharp knife. I used Mexican Chocolate that was flavored with vanilla.
- Heat the cream just to the scalded point over medium-low heat. Do not bring to a boil, or even a simmer.
- Put the shaved chocolate into a heatproof bowl and pour the steaming cream over the top. Whisk until combined in a rich, loose ganache - it should be the consistency of very thick hot chocolate.
- Serve the chocolate and churros together while warm and dunk to your hearts content.
- *The recipe for the churros is adapted from a recipe on AllRecipes.Com
Craig and I loved Barcelona, but we didn’t dance the night away. We sampled some of the churros and chocolate. This will be fun to recreate.
I would second that Ellen – Barcelona is one of the great cities of the world. Please do have a little churro night in honor of Spain! 😉
I love churros. Definitely have to try these sometime!
They are like a little piece of fried heaven on earth!