Churritos with Chocolate and Hazelnut Sauce

If you live in Southeast London, you have probably been to Greenwich Market, and have most likely seen the Brazilian churro stand in there.

I went for dinner with my friends yesterday and passed by the market, in the corner of my eye I could see the empty stand, and that’s when it hit me, the big urge of having their chocolate filled churro…

Apparently, my willpower is weak, and the path of bikini bod is not the smoothest.

Some of you might know that I already have a churro recipe on here, but I have found an easier and quicker way to make them. Heads up, I have tried it before just hand rolling the dough, but it is not the same. Therefore, for the best result possible, I would recommend using the piping bag.

For the Churros:

• 175ml boiling water
• 25g melted unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 125g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1l sunflower oil for frying

 

For the chocolate and hazelnut sauce:

• 50ml condensed milk
• 50ml milk
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 10 hazelnuts, crunched

 

For the cinnamon sugar:

• 50g white caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

 

In a measuring jug, add the water, melted butter and vanilla extract. Sift the flour and baking powder in a bowl and make a little well in the centre. Pour in the liquid and very quickly beat into the flour with a wooden spoon until it’s combined. Let it cool for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, start making the chocolate sauce by combining all ingredients in a pan and gently melting everything together. Keep it warm on a low heat stirring it occasionally.

As some of you might know, I have a deep fryer, which makes it handy when making this kind of recipes. If you do not have one, simply use a large deep saucepan to fry your churritos in.

Put the churro dough in a piping bag with a star nozzle fitted. Start by piping finger length churros into a greaseproof parchment paper. Make sure you have a pair of scissors nearby, as you will need to cut the dough. Unless your aim is to have the Guinness world record for the largest churro.

Fry 4 or 5 at the time until golden brown and crisp. Once they are ready, remove them from the fryer or the pan – I like using wooden chopsticks for this job. You will need to kitchen towel, to drain any excess oil. Don’t forget to toss them in the cinnamon sugar. For that, you just need to mix the sugar and the cinnamon in a plate or bowl.

Serve the chocolate and hazelnut sauce in a small ramekin to dip the churritos in.

 

Pappardelle Bolognaise

I have a bit of an addictive/perfectionist personality.. So when I attempt to make something, I want to be able to make it in my sleep… So as you can tell, it’s the second day consequetive that I’m making this pappardelle pasta.

 

  In this instance I have made the pasta with roughly 100gr of 00 pasta flour and 1 free range egg – the pasta was enough for 1 big portion.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Borough Market for the first time (it’s food heaven) and got a few different French cured sausages. For the normal Ana, I would have finished the sausages in a heartbeat, however in this occasion one of the sausages is made of donkey meat and pork.. And not knowing which ones are which, I’m playing Russian roulette with a donkey sausage.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about trying new meats, but there’s something about knowing that it’s donkey that makes me gag.. Haha

For the bolognaise sauce, I’ve raided my freezer and found qorn minced meat, so I have added this to my bolognaise, which is just basically one onion, half of French cured (hopefully not donkey) sausage, qorn mince and a tin of tomatoes.

I’ve cooked the pasta twice, both times for no more than 2 min, then added the pasta to the bolognaise!

I’m definitely going to make more pappardelle, I feel like a seafood one id needed!

Please don’t hesitate to ask me any questions or give me any suggestions!

Ana x