Spanish Churros & Cinnamon Ice Cream

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I think I’m actually going to make my entry for Sugar High Friday # 34. The Sugar High Fridays event was created by Jennifer of the Domestic Goddess and is the "oldest and most revered virtual food blogging event" ever.  Goodness.  Am I worthy?  It will be the very first time I manage to enter (because my Raspberry Creme Brulee was a day late last month), although by my Pacific Coast time, it is a bit after 10 PM, so I’d better write quickly.

The event is being hosted this month by thepassionatecook who has asked us all to consider local food with tradition, if possible, and a story to accompany it as well.  Hmmm…so this one takes me back to 1964 when I was about 8 years old and my family had moved to the south of Spain.  My father was in the Navy, and the five of us packed up and left the United States for a stay that ended up lasting for four years — one of the only families in my grade school who had stayed that long.  Lucky me.  They were the best years of my childhood.

When we first arrived, we lived in a small town called Chipiona.  We lived not too far from the town market that I loved to visit.  One of my favorite places in the outdoor market was the place where churros were made.  Ahh…churros.  The lovely combination of crunch on the outside and warm softness on the inside.  Perfect.  The smell wafted through the marketplace, and athough I couldn’t have one each time we went, I’d still long for some.  When I was fortunate enough to have churros, I’d watch the man pipe spiraling tubes of dough into the large tub of very hot fat, frying it until golden brown, flipping it once, and then dousing it with a dose of granulated sugar before breaking it into sticks, and wrapping it in a newspaper cone.  Fried dough heaven if there ever was one.

When I was much older, and purchased an electric wok, the first thing I wondered about wasn’t Asian cuisine.  It was whether I could make churros.  At that time, I was able to purchase a box mix and attempt to form the lovely strips of fried loveliness with a cookie press.  A bit awkward, but tasty, just the same.  The only part of it all that bothered me was heating oil to such a high temperature with small children in the house, and I had two at the time.  Unfortunately, I did not try to make churros more than once, and have gotten by on those sold in local shops that sometimes have to heat them before serving because they aren’t fresh.  How sad is that?

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Churros, which are long narrow Spanish fritters, are not difficult to make, nor is the recipe complicated.  If you search for recipes on the Internet, you will find all kinds of interesting ingredients and claims of "authenticity."  In reality, churros are made of flour, water, a bit of oil, and a pinch of salt.  That’s all.  No butter, no cream, no eggs, and no… no cinnamon.  Just a liberal sprinkling of sugar when they’re fresh out of the hot oil.  Simple — if you can get past the heated oil, which still makes me nervous.

A friend of mine gave me a cookbook for my birthday last year called, La Cocina de Mama:  The Great Home Cooking of Spain by Penelope Casas.  This recipe is published in her book, and is one taken from Rufino Lopez, owner of Solera in New York City.  It is the closest version to the marketplace churros of my childhood that I have found.

Churros de Rufino Lopez

1-1/2 tsp mild olive oil
1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt
1 cup unbleached flour

oil for frying
granulated sugar for dusting

To make the churros, bring 1 cup water, the oil, and the salt to a boil in a saucepan.  Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously with a  wooden spoon until a smooth ball forms.  Lower the heat and cook, flattening and turning the dough for 2 minutes.  Cool and transfer to a pastry bag equipped with a 3/8-inch star tip (the fluted edge is essential).

Pour the oil to a depth of at least 1 inch in a skillet (or better still, use a deep-fryer heated to 360 degrees) and heat until the oil quickly browns a cube f bread.  Squeeze 5-inch lengths of dough through the pastry tube into the oil — as many as will comfortably fit. 

Reduce the heat to medium-hot and fry until the churros puff and have barely begun to turn golden, about 20 seconds.  Do not overcook — the churros should be crunchy outside and still soft within. 

Drain on paper towels. Dredge them in sugar while they’re warm.

If it wasn’t August and very warm, I’d have served my churros with hot chocolate, which is traditional.  And Rufino Lopez provides such a recipe.  But I made Donna Hay’s "Cinnamon and Mascarpone Ice Cream" from flavours for a dinner party last night, so knew it would be the perfect accompaniment to the churros tonight.  And it was.  And my son was right there, doing his mom the courtesy of listening to my churros story, and watching the action.  Nice kid!
 

Cinnamon and Mascarpone Ice Cream

1-1/2 c. sugar
1-3/4 c. water
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
14 oz. mascarpone
1/2 c. cream

Place the sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Simmer for 3 minutes, then remove from the heat, add the cinnamon and leave the syrup until cool.

Mix the syrup with the mascarpone and cream.  Place in an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions until the ice cream is thick and scoopable.  Alternatively, place the mixture in a metal container and freeze, beating well at 1-hour intervals, until the ice cream is scoopable.

Serve in scoops with fruit and crisp biscuits (or churros!).  Serves 6.  Note:  If mascarpone is not available, combine equal quantities of cream cheese and thick (double) cream.

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All these many years later, I still hesitate to heat up an inch of oil in any pan.  But in this case, it was very much worth it.  The end product was excellent, not only because of the taste, but of the many memories I enjoyed while thinking about and making my own churros after so many years.

Recipe Notes:  The churros dough is very thick, so has to be scooped and placed into the piping bag.  Because of the thickness, you have to really press hard to pipe it.  I used vegetable oil and a cooking thermometer to gauge the the temperature.  Twenty seconds is not enough and with extra time, they never really begin to brown.  They are, however, very crispy on the outside.  One batch makes about 6 "looped" churros.  When I do this again (and I certainly will since it’s so easy…) I will double the batch.  No, I don’t need the calories, but my goodness, they’re delicious!

With respect to the ice cream recipe, it is by far, the least complicated ice cream recipe I’ve made.  There’s no bother with making custard, and when you eat the ice cream, your mouth isn’t coated with the fat of the heavy cream.  It’s quite refreshing.  Also, I only had 1 tsp. of cinnamon in the house, so I used that, added a 2" piece of cinnamon stick, and added a 1/2 tsp. of ground cardamom for good measure.  YUM.  Lovely.
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