It’s been a crazy, turbulent couple of weeks, full of anxiety, sleepless nights and one category five meltdown…which has forced me to do a little soul-searching.  Not surprisingly, I find that I always seem to think better when I’ve got something sweet to soothe my soul…even better when it’s sweet AND fried.  The first thing that came to mind was donuts.  But then I decided I wanted something NOW and donuts (even the cake variety) still took too long to make.  As I was watching the latest episode of The Great British Bake Off on YouTube (don’t even get me started on how devastated I am that this will most likely to be the last season!), which was all about batters, the idea hit me.  Yes, I can make a batch of churros! Fresh out of the hot oil and liberally bathed in a shower of cinnamon sugar, these crispy yet tender batons of love provided me with a much needed dose sweet fry therapy.  They were so good on their own I didn’t even need to dunk them in thick hot chocolate…but if you are so inclined, go for it!

Churros

Yields:  about 2 dozen 4″ batons

• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. oil
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. kosher or sea salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1 cup sugar mixed with 2 tsp. cinnamon

The process of cooking the churros batter is very similar to pate a choux.  Make sure that you beat the flour in well to avoid any flour lumps.  Since there is only one egg in the recipe, the batter will be very stiff and harder to pipe so if you are using disposable plastic piping bags, double up, and don’t cut the hole for the star tip too big because the pressure you exert from piping might force the tip out of the bag.  The batons should be firm enough for you to pick up easily and drop into the hot oil.