The Churros are frutas de sartén (sometimes also called dulces de sartén), which are culinary preparations fried in boiling oil, made with water, flour (usually wheat), oil, and salt.
The most common proportion is usually one liter of water for each kg of flour with one tablespoon of salt.
They can have the shape of sticks, rings, or curls (spirals).
In their modern variations, they are sometimes filled or coated with sugar, chocolate, custard, or dulce de leche.
They are usually consumed at breakfast, along with a cup of hot chocolate (champurrado) or coffee with milk.
Very popular in Spain, Portugal (one theory says they were exported from China to Europe by the Portuguese, as a modification of youtiao), Latin America, France, the Philippines, Belgium, and in some areas of the United States.
Once the dough is prepared, it is placed in a cylindrical device called a churrera, similar to a pastry bag, and pushed with a piston from which it extrudes, and with a cross-section of a star shape, it indeed takes the name from the nozzle’s shape, “star”.
Finally, they are fried in the oil (ideally olive oil, sometimes mixed with sunflower oil to reduce costs) and, once cooked, sometimes coated with sugar.
In Mexico, the churros, also called Mexican crullers, are made with the addition of eggs, unlike the Spanish ones, and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, or filled with chocolate, jam, condensed milk, vanilla, or cajeta.
They are sold in churrerías, bakeries, or on street corners – as we tried them during our trip to Mexico in November 2023 – distributed by street vendors in wicker baskets.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Cooking time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 10/12 pieces
- Cuisine: Latin American
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup water
- 5 2/3 oz butter
- 1 1/3 cup flour
- 2 3/4 oz sugar (+ for decoration)
- 4 eggs
- as needed olive oil (or sunflower oil)
- as needed ground cinnamon
- 1 salt
Tools
- 1 churrera
Steps
Sift the flour with a sieve.
In a saucepan, heat the water with butter, sugar, and salt.
Once the butter has melted and the milk has reached a boil, slowly add the flour and start mixing well with a spatula or wooden spoon.
After 5 minutes, add the eggs one at a time.
Note: The dough is prepared like fritters, by suddenly pouring the flour into boiling water (with salt and sometimes a bit of oil and sugar) and stirring for a few minutes until it looks pasty (this operation is called water shot).
Once ready, remove the dough from the container and work it, still warm, until you obtain a homogeneous dough.
With the oil hot at 356°F, (the dough is introduced into the churrera), insert the dough into a pastry bag with a large star nozzle and cut small strips of dough directly into the oil.
Note: I recommend using scissors to cut the churros when they have the size and shape you prefer.
With a skewer to pierce the churros, when they are coiled, or with a slotted spoon when they are straight.
Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Why do churros have a star shape?
The star shape is necessary for making Churrus because, when frying the churro, the oil seals the outer surface, while the dough rises significantly with the heat.
If it didn’t have this shape, which increases the sealed surface, it would burst as the mass expands.What is the difference between porras and churros?
The dough for porras (also known as churros de Rueda) has three differences from churros:
– a small “pinch” of bicarbonate
– the dough is left to rest for about ten minutes
– the relative proportion of flour to water: the amount of water is greater than that in churros dough.
The churrera is called combrera and is placed at the center of the pan with boiling oil.
In some regions of Spain, such as Murcia, the Andalusian provinces of Almería, Granada, or Jaén, Extremadura, or Castilla-La Mancha, porras are called churros, and “churros” are known as churros finos, delgados or pequeños or churros madrileños (ribbon-shaped, crunchy, and streaked).
What is called porra is the end part of the spiral, usually thicker and claw-shaped or like a “club” (hence the name).What are churros called in Spain?
Besides porras, in some southern provinces of Spain, especially in Granada, churros are also called tejeringo, referring, according to the Royal Spanish Academy, to the syringe-shaped tool used in their preparation.
In Seville, the general name for both types has long been calentitos, calling the spiral and more spongy ones (which are called porras elsewhere) and calentitos de patatas those with a star shape that are called churros elsewhere.
