Nutella & Hazelnuts Churros

NUTELLA AND HAZELNUTS CHURROS

Churros are a Spanish doughnut recipe prepared from choux pastry, the same dough that dessert items like cream puffs and éclairs are made of. The most familiar version of the churro to North Americans is the long piped doughnut, but their shapes can vary from being spiraled or straight. One of the most usual ways to eat a churro is dipped in dulce de leche or hot chocolate, which turns this sweet treat into a heavenly dessert. It is no wonder that Tessa, the author of ‘Handle the Heat’ recipe blog, decided to fill her churro recipe with Nutella hazelnut spread for a dessert that is over the top.

The most common way to make churros recipes is with a choux pastry dough, which is prepared on the stove. Choux pastry is an eggy dough that is common in French cuisine to prepare cream puffs, éclairs, and the classic French cruller recipe. The dough is so light and airy that when baked or fried, it can form a hollow in the center, which is ideal for filling with pastry cream. The ingredients for churro dough recipes are very simple, involving just six ingredients, like flour, butter, and eggs. The dough is combined on the stove with one egg being incorporated one at a time. The eggs are the most important component of a proper choux pastry recipe because they are what leaven the dough and give the dough their texture. The process for how to make churros always ends up using a piping bag and large star piping tip as well. The star piping tip allows each doughnut to have its signature crispy edges when fried in the oil.Often churro recipes will involve piping the dough directly into the oil, which sometimes result in odd shapes for the churros. For more uniform shapes, Tessa has the genius option of piping out the churro dough onto a baking sheet and chilling it so that it is firm enough to drop into the preheated oil. Every churro will end up the perfect shape rather than curved banana shapes. If desired, you can even experiment with knotting the churros or twisting them into pretty designs.

INGREDIENTS

50 grams unsalted butter

1 teaspoon sugar

Pinch salt

100 grams flour

4 tablespoons water

4 tablespoons milk

4 medium eggs

100 grams Nutella

50 grams roasted hazelnuts

2 tablespoons popping candy

2 liters oil for deep frying

50 grams caster sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon powder

DIRECTIONS

1.Place the butter in a pan with water and milk, sugar and salt.

2.Bring to boil and add the flour, beat to form a paste.

3.Gradually incorporate the eggs little by little to get a thick paste.

4.Place into a piping bag with 1.5 centimeters fluted nozzle and pipe into 4 centimeters lengths.

5.Pop this into the freezer to firm up or pipe the mixture directly into the oil, pre-heated to 160C, snipping 4 centimeters segments as you go.

6.After 2 minutes or so, drain the churros on kitchen paper and toss in the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

7.Grab a straw and push all the way through.

8.Place the Nutella in a piping bag and soften for 15 seconds in a microwave.

9.Pipe the chocolate into the churros and top with hazelnuts and popping candy.