Today’s foodie theme is a Superbowl Challenge! I decided to come up with two savory and two sweet things that symbolize the (Northeast) New England Patriots and the (So Cal) Los Angeles Rams. This wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be because … well, evidently I know very little about what is “typical” food in LA. For the “sweet component” for The Southern Left Coast, I decided to go with these Cinnamon Churro Bites. I don’t know is they are more Mexican than So Cal, but I did see them on dessert menus in LA when I was googling, so I went with it. I was too lazy to make the chocolate sauce that usually accompanies churros though!
Ingredients
for the churros
1 stick butter
1 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Directions
Start by making the churro base. Add water, butter, sugar, salt to medium sauce pan. Simmer over medium heat until butter has completely melted and water is steaming. Right when water reaches its first boil, remove pan from heat and dump all of the flour in at once. Stir rapidly with a wooden spoon to incorporate flour into wet mix. Return to medium heat and continue stirring. The dough will form a ball and start to leave a film on the bottom of the pan. Continue stirring. After cooking for about 2 minutes over the heat, remove and allow to cool slightly for 5 or 6 minutes. Transfer dough to mixer with paddle attachment. On medium/low speed, add one egg at a time, allowing the mixer to completely incorporate each egg before adding the next. It will start to look like it is separating. Just allow it to continue mixing and it will incorporate. Add the vanilla.
After all of the eggs have been added and the mixture is smooth, stop mixing and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe snug spirals onto silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet that will fit in your freezer. You can pipe these pretty close to each other, as you will just remove them to fry to finish them off. Freeze for at least 30 minutes.
Heat oil (at least 2 inches) to 350F. When oil is at temperature, remove churros from freezer and fry until golden, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove to paper towels on a cooling rack and let cool and harden slightly. They should still be a little warm though.
Combine sugar and cinnamon in a bowl large enough to fit the churro circles. Dredge churros in cinnamon/sugar mixture to completely cover. Return to the paper-lined cooling rack try to cool completely.
