Churros

I will never forget the first time I had a churro.  I was at a local mall, walking by the Great American Cookie store (best place ever!), and I begged my mom if I could get something due to my caving in toward the mouth-watering smells of baked goods.  She said yes, of course, and I was about to order a couple cookies when I spotted a long, sugar coated, stick-like thing - a churro.  Since I was in Spanish at the time, I had heard of them and seen them in my textbooks.  I knew they were a popular breakfast/snack item in Mexico and Spain, and people often ate them with coffee or chocolate.  So I decided to try one...and I loved it sooo much.  It was crunchy on the outside, with a sweet, cinnamon sugar coating, and super moist, cakey, and soft on the inside.  It was like a cinnamon sugar donut, but ten times better.  This morning, I decided to try making it myself.  I was surprised at how easy the recipe I had saved was; there were no eggs, and the dough itself only had three main ingredients (vegetable oil, sugar and flour).  The result was even better than the churro I had at the cookie store! Mine literally -->melted in your mouth<--, and were incredibly addicting.  I think mine tasted so much better because they were fresher and very warm, whereas the one I had at the mall was room temperature and had probably been made a few hours earlier.  I was planning on saving one of my churros to see how it tasted at room temperature, but they didn't last that long - now that I think about it... the lasted maybe five minutes. These are very tasty with coffee, chocolate, or dipped in caramel sauce, but I love them the most hot from the frying pan - coated in lots of cinnamon sugar - with a refreshing, cold glass of milk on the side.  Yum.

Yield: about 2 to 3 servings (about 8 donut-hole sized churros, and 3 larger, long ones)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water

• 2 1/2 tablespoons white sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 2 quarts oil for frying (I used vegetable oil)

• 1/2 cup white sugar, or to taste

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, salt and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in flour until mixture forms a ball.
2. Heat oil for frying in deep-fryer or deep skillet to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Pipe strips of dough into hot oil using a pastry bag, or make round, bite sized balls with your hands.  Fry until golden; drain on paper towels.
3. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon. Roll hot, drained churros in cinnamon and sugar mixture.