Churros Bajio con Piloncillo

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy Dutch oven or deep clay cazuela suitable for frying
• •Deep-fry thermometer
• •Sturdy pastry bag with large closed-star tip
• •Kitchen scissors
• •Wire rack set over a sheet pan

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the sugar

   Mix the grated piloncillo, granulated sugar, and ground Mexican canela in a wide shallow dish. Break up any hard piloncillo pieces with your fingers. You want a sandy coating, not rocks. The churros must roll in this while warm, so have it ready before the fat is hot.

2. 2

   Cook the dough

   In a medium saucepan, combine the water, 3 tablespoons manteca de cerdo, 1 tablespoon grated piloncillo, and salt. Bring it to a firm boil. Add the flour all at once and stir hard with a wooden spoon until the dough pulls away from the sides and leaves a thin film on the bottom of the pan, about 90 seconds. This cooks the flour and gives the churro enough structure to hold its ridges.

3. 3

   Beat in eggs

   Transfer the hot dough to a bowl and let it cool for 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing fully after each addition. Add the vanilla. The dough should be thick, glossy, and sticky, able to stretch from the spoon without pouring. If you add the eggs while the dough is too hot, you scramble them. No me vengas con atajos.

4. 4

   Heat the manteca

   Melt the 2 pounds manteca de cerdo in a heavy Dutch oven or deep cazuela until it reaches 365F. Keep the fat between 350F and 365F while frying. Too cool and the churros drink fat. Too hot and the ridges darken before the center cooks. This is the part the feria vendors know by eye, but you use a thermometer until your eye is trained.

5. 5

   Pipe the churros

   Fit a sturdy pastry bag with a large closed-star tip. Fill it halfway with dough. Pipe 5-inch strips directly into the hot manteca, cutting each strip with clean kitchen scissors. Do not crowd the pot. The star tip is not decoration. Those ridges create crisp edges and help the inside cook evenly.

6. 6

   Fry until crisp

   Fry 4 or 5 churros at a time, turning once or twice, until deep golden brown and firm at the ridges, 4 to 5 minutes total. They should sound lightly hollow when tapped with the tongs. Pale churros are undercooked. Very dark churros taste of burned sugar. There is a narrow road here. Walk it.

7. 7

   Sugar while warm

   Lift the churros onto a wire rack for 30 seconds, just long enough for excess fat to drip away. Roll them immediately in the piloncillo-canela sugar until the ridges are coated. Serve warm in a paper cone or piled on a barro plate. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Use Mexican canela, the soft Ceylon cinnamon sold in thin, fragile quills at the mercado. Cassia cinnamon is harsher and thicker. It works in an emergency, but it is a compromise.
• •Piloncillo should smell like cane, molasses, and earth. If it smells dusty or has gone pale and dry, buy another cone. Start at the market, not the stove.
• •Manteca de cerdo gives the churros their old feria flavor. Neutral oil makes a lighter churro, yes, and a flatter one. La manteca es el sabor.
• •Do not make the dough too loose. Churro dough must fight the pastry bag a little. If it flows easily, the ridges collapse in the fat.

Advance Preparation

• •The piloncillo-canela sugar can be made 1 week ahead and kept airtight.
• •The dough can be cooked up to 4 hours ahead, covered tightly, and held at room temperature. Beat it briefly before piping.
• •Fried churros are best the day they are made. To refresh, place them on a rack in a 350F oven for 6 to 8 minutes, then roll again in a little fresh piloncillo-canela sugar.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 38g)