After almost six weeks of being so blooming ill I have finally turned a corner wahoo!! In true Me style I totally over did it today and I’m most certainly paying the price tonight but I don’t even care 😀 I woke this morning feeling pretty good, I had work first thing, then I managed a lovely long hack on Ashley (my horse), delivered some flowers for my mums flower shop, walked my dog AND baked some delicious churros! It may not sound much but for me that was a huge achievement, I felt shattered but so incredibly satisfied with myself!

So GBBO batter week was awesome, wonky yorkshires, beautifully delicate lace pancakes and those incredibly tricky looking churros. I’m not a fan of deep frying foods but when a recipe for baked churros came up on my newsfeed I just knew I had to give them a go and I am so glad I did, they really were a crispy yet squishy sweet but not sickly delight! They were so easy to make and not at all time consuming, I used a cinnamon and mixed spice sugar coating but you could do any flavour you fancy really, here’s the recipe so you can make your very own – I must warn you these are incredibly moreish so don’t worry when the recipe makes quite a lot!

Ingredients

• 225g water
• 115g softened butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp light muscovado sugar
• 145g plain white flour, sifted
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 large eggs
• 115g caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinammon
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 50g milk chocolate
• 50g dark chocolate
• 150ml double cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

• Preheat oven to 200c or 180c if fan assisted, grease and line two baking sheets
• Add the water, butter, sugar and salt to a pan and slowly melt, continue to heat until the mixture is simmering
• Still over the heat, add the flour and beat until you have smooth dough, keep beating and lightly cooking for a further minute then remove from the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl
• Beat the eggs with the vanilla and once the dough has cooled slightly add gradually to the dough stirring inbetween until all the egg is added and you have a thick batter
• Fit a piping bag with a star top and fill the bag with your mixture then pipe lines onto the baking sheets. I did mine around 4 inches long, keep an inch gap between them. The recipe I used didn’t say too but at this point I put them in the fridge for 10 minutes which just helps the churros hold their shape better when cooking
• Bake them in the oven for 18 minutes until they’re golden, switch off the oven and leave them in there to dry out (if you’re doing more than one batch put them in your top oven on really low for 10 minutes)
• Combine the sugar and spices in a bowl
• Break the chocolate into pieces and put in a heatproof bowl, add the cream and heat in the microwave, stirring at 30 second intervals until the chocolate is melted and you have a glossy sauce. If you don’t have a microwave you can do is over a pan of simmering water too. Stir in the vanilla essence and pour into a dipping pot
• Once all the churros are cooked put them into a large freezer bag and tip the sugar mixture in on top, give them a good shake until all are covered
• Arrange the churros on a plate with the pot of dipping sauce and tuck in!

I seriously cannot tell you how scrummy these are, most definitely would recommend trying them if you get a moment 😀 I am organising a party for my sisters 30th birthday next weekend and I’m quite tempted to try and pipe churros in 3’s and 0’s, how fun would that be?!

Be back soon, I think I may have to try the Bakewell tart from pastry week – yum! Xx