Recipe: Venezuelan Churros

One of the warmest memories of my childhood are crispy hot churros.   It was custom for my family to have Sunday lunches at our Grandparents’ house, and sometimes even go for a treat afterwards.   My grandparents live near a cute little park called Parque Agustín Codazzi in the Prados del Este development in Caracas, Venezuela… and sometimes I was good enough to be taken to the park after visiting the grandparents.   But as we would drive towards the park and try to find a parking space, I was exited to go to the park, sure… but mostly I was scanning the place for a big white truck… the “Churros Truck”.   Sometimes it wasn’t there, but when it was, we were sure to get some churros to-go, before we left the park.   It was just so exiting to wait in line (because there was always a line) and grab your brown baggy of delicious goodness.   They were the best churros in the world to me.   Then as time went by and people saw a potential business venture in these churros, several shops started popping up here and there, a fast-food version of churros (like Churro Mania).   They came in different shapes and sizes, and even toppings. But to me there is nothing like the Churros from the white truck at the Codazzi Park.   So here I am telling my husband this story and I decide I have to make some myself, because now the Codazzi Park isn’t exactly right around the corner.

Ingredients for Venezuelan Churros

What you need:

– 1 1/8 Cup water
– 2 Tablespoons butter
– 3/4 Teaspoon salt
– 1 Cup flour
– 1 ½ Eggs
– Vegetable oil (enough for frying)
– ½ Cup sugar
– Pastry Bag with the largest star-shaped tip you have
– Toppings: Chocolate Fudge, Condensed Milk, Dulce de Leche (optional)
– Brown Paper Bag

Preparation:

1. In a large saucepan add the water, the butter and the salt.   Bring the mixture to a simmer just so that the butter melts and the ingredients are mixed in well.
2. Reduce the heat to low, add the flour and mix in well using a wooden spoon.   The mixture will begin to form a ball and it should break away from the sides of the saucepan.
3. Let the mixture cool for 15 to 20 minutes.

Let It Cool Down

4. In the meantime, you can begin to heat up enough oil either in a deep fryer or large enough saucepan at about 350ºF.
5. Add the eggs one by one to the dough and mix in well with an electrical mixer with a dough attachment for about 5 minutes (or mix by hand with wooden spoon).
6. Spoon the dough into the pastry bag, and squeeze out the churros right into the oil.   You can make them as long as you wish, but not too long that they don’t fit in your frying container.   I made them about 3” long, but they are usually about 6” long.

Spoon Mixture Into Pastry Bag

7. Use kitchen scissors or a knife to cut between churros as they come out of the pastry bag.   Cook until golden, about 6 minutes.   But don’t do the entire batch at once; do as many as they fit in your fryer without being to close to one another so they don’t stick to each other.

Squeeze Right Into The Oil

8. In order to coat them with sugar you can do two different methods.   One is to put the sugar inside a brown paper bag, and as soon as they come out of the fryer, place them in the bag and shake the bag.   The other is (the one I tried here, because I did not have a paper bag handy) to place a layer of sugar on a paper towel and toss them on top as they come out of the fryer and roll them on top of the sugar, or just sprinkle sugar on top.   They will get coated with sugar either way.

Coat With Sugar

9. You can eat them just like that, with the sugar. Or you can get creative and add some delicious toppings like Chocolate Fudge, Condensed Milk or Dulce de Leche.

Add Toppings

Venezuelan Churros with Chocolate Topping

Venezuelan Churros with Dulce De Leche Topping

Venezuelan Churros with Condensed Milk Topping

Tips

– If you like this recipe (and so do your kids) I suggest you get a “Churrera” or a churro making machine or gun. It will make it a lot easier. Some even have the capability to have the topping on the inside of the churro.

Old School Churrera - Photo By Cesar Astudillo (Flickr)

Churro Pastry Gun from La Tienda

*This recipe makes about 20-25 churros.
*Also, please forgive my “mini-churros” pictured here. I did not have a large enough tip for my pastry bag.