Churros

Although Churros originated in Spain, many, including myself associate them with Mexico. The best churros I've ever had were in Mexico City at a place called Churreria El Moro (and I've tried quite a few throughout Mexico!) .  They serve nothing but churros and chocolate drinks and have been around since 1935.  Apparently their  recipe  consists of only flour, water and salt.  This recipe has some extra ingredients, but after having experimented with several different recipes, I feel that this recipe comes closest to Churreria El Moro.   They are great served plain, with chocolate sauce or condensed milk.

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sugar
1/2-1 tsp cinnamon

Combine water, brown sugar, salt and butter in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.  Remove from heat and add the flour. Stir vigorously until the mixture balls up like play doh and forms a ball

Remove from pan, transfer to a large bowl and cool for 5 minutes.  Add egg and vanilla and blend with a beater.  The mixture will turn into tiny pieces but keep beating and the egg will incorporate into a smooth firm batter. If you don't have a beater, vigorous stirring with a wooden spoon will work too.

Place the batter into a piping bag with a 1M star tip.   Don't use a bigger tip or else the churros won't cook inside properly

Pipe into hot oil and cut to desired size with scissors.  I like making small ones 2-3 inches long.  Fry until brown, drain on paper towels and roll in sugar and cinnamon mixture.  For convenience, I have made the dough a few hours before frying and just keep it at room temperature.  I have never tried it,  but I've read that the dough keeps in the fridge for a couple of days.  Make sure that you let it warm up to room temperature before piping and frying.