Name: Tremendous Churros
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 1 cup water; 4 tbsp unsalted butter; 1 tbsp granulated sugar; 1/2 tsp kosher salt; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 2 large eggs; 1 tsp vanilla extract; about 1 1/2 quarts neutral oil for frying; 3/4 cup granulated sugar (for coating); 2 tsp ground cinnamon; 4 oz dark chocolate (for dipping, optional); 1/2 cup heavy cream (for dipping, optional)

Tremendous Churros

Prep

20m

Cook

15m

Total

35m

Bigly says

Churros. CHURROS! We are doing churros. Tremendous churros. The greatest churros in the history of churros, and I'll be honest with you — I have eaten more churros than any single human being currently breathing on this planet. I had people look it up. The numbers are STAGGERING. The numbers will hurt your feelings. And at the very, very top of that mountain of churro consumption, the absolute summit, are the ones I'm about to give you. It's not close. It's a slaughter. A cinnamon-sugar slaughter.

I've had churros in Spain. The Spanish, TREMENDOUS people, they dip them into a thick hot chocolate so heavy a spoon stands up in it, they call it desayuno, they have it for breakfast, those people know how to live. I've had churros in Mexico City from a street cart at 11pm, filled with cajeta, filled with dulce de leche, filled with chocolate — the Mexicans looked at the Spanish churro and said 'what if we put MORE inside of it,' and the entire world is better for that decision. And I have had churros, sadly, at certain American mall locations that shall remain unnamed, where the churro is essentially a stale breadstick wearing a cinnamon costume. A betrayal. Embarrassing. I have NEVER been afraid of the mall and I will say it to their faces.

The secret is choux paste. C-H-O-U-X. Fancy French dough, simple as anything. You boil butter and water, you dump in the flour all at once, you beat in the eggs, you pipe it through a star tip into hot oil. That's the WHOLE GAME. Crisp ridged outside, tender custardy inside, rolled in cinnamon sugar while it's still steaming. Look. It is almost unfair how good these are. It's just a fact.

Ingredients

1 cupwater
4 tbspunsalted butter
1 tbspgranulated sugar
1/2 tspkosher salt
1 cupall-purpose flour
2large eggs(room temperature, cold eggs scramble in hot dough)
1 tspvanilla extract
about 1 1/2 quartsneutral oil for frying(vegetable or canola)
3/4 cupgranulated sugar (for coating)
2 tspground cinnamon
4 ozdark chocolate (for dipping, optional)
1/2 cupheavy cream (for dipping, optional)

Steps

1
Combine the cinnamon and 3/4 cup sugar in a shallow dish or pie plate. Set aside.
2
In a medium saucepan, combine the water, butter, 1 tbsp sugar, and salt. Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat.
3
Reduce heat to medium. Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the dough pulls away from the sides into a smooth ball, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and cool 5 minutes.
4
Transfer the dough to a mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, mixing until smooth and glossy. The dough should be thick but pipeable.
5
Fit a piping bag with a large open star tip (1/2 inch). Spoon the dough into the bag.
6
Pour 2 inches of oil into a heavy pot or Dutch oven and heat to 350°F. Line a sheet pan with paper towels.
7
Pipe 4-5 inch lengths of dough directly into the oil, snipping the dough with kitchen shears as you go. Fry 3-4 churros at a time.
8
Fry, turning occasionally, until deeply golden and crisp, about 4-5 minutes per batch. Adjust heat to keep oil at 350°F.
9
Lift to paper towels for a few seconds, then immediately roll in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Repeat with the remaining dough.
10
For the chocolate dip (optional): heat the cream in a small saucepan until just steaming. Pour over the chopped chocolate, let stand 1 minute, then whisk smooth. Serve alongside the churros.

One more thing

That is churros. Real churros. Crisp ridged sticks of fried choux, rolled hot in cinnamon sugar, with a little cup of dark chocolate sitting next to them looking like a coach ready to put a player into the game. Dunk them. Dunk them HARD. Get chocolate on your face. That's how you know it's working. Make them on a Sunday morning, make them after dinner, make them for absolutely no reason on a Tuesday afternoon — there is no wrong time for a churro. Anybody who tells you otherwise is wrong, and you can tell them Bigly said so. Now go eat.

★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★

Ask Bigly about Tremendous Churros.

Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.

Tremendous Churros

Ingredients

Steps

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