Churros Pastry Twists with Warm Dipping Chocolate
Photography by Claire Aldous.
As much as I love traditional churros, sometimes a quicker, cheat's version is called for. I always have frozen sheets of pastry and this means I can whip up this super dessert on the spur of the moment.
INGREDIENTS
¼ cup caster sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon each ground cinnamon and ginger
pinch ground nutmeg
3 pre-rolled sheets butter puff pastry (25cm x 25cm)
1 egg, lightly beaten
Dipping Chocolate
2 tablespoons cornflour
500ml milk
200 grams good-quality dark chocolate, chopped (I used Whittakers 62% cocoa)
2 large egg yolks, size 7
½ cup condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan bake.
Put both sugars and the spices together in a bowl and rub together with your finger tips.
Working with one sheet of pastry at a time, brush with egg wash then sprinkle half of the sheet with 2 teaspoons of the sugar. Fold the top half over the sugar side to make a rectangle and gently press together. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with more sugar then turn over and repeat on the other side.
Cut into short, 2cm strips. Give each strip a couple of twists then press the ends flat so the pastry doesn’t unravel during cooking. Place on a lined baking tray and repeat with the remaining pastry, egg and sugar.
Bake for 10 minutes then turn the pastries over and bake for a further 8-10 minutes until crisp and a good golden colour. Serve warm or at room temperature with the warm dipping chocolate. Makes about 30 twists
Dipping Chocolate
Put the cornflour in a small bowl and stir in 3 tablespoons of the milk to make a smooth paste.
Heat the remaining milk in a saucepan to just below boiling point. Take off the heat and whisk in the chocolate until smooth. Stir the cornflour/milk, egg yolks and condensed milk together and whisk into the chocolate milk mixture. Place back over the heat and slowly bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. If you think there may be a few lumps, pass the chocolate through a sieve into a bowl. Serve warm.
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