Baked Churro Eclairs w/ Chocolate Custard filling

 I think the best upside to explorers and conquerors of the old moving across continents across vast oceans is that the food traveled with them. And even better, it stayed longer than the explorers did. Food set up new homes in new lands, mated with native foods of the region and made incredibly delicious fusion-babies that passed down generations and generations! Yum!

The quickest Churro-history lesson

Churros are a Spanish breakfast pastry that possibly originated in China and were brought to Spain by Portuguese merchants. Some say that they are native to Spain, created by Spanish shepherds, inspired by the horn of a type of sheep called Navajo-Churro. No matter the origin, Churros are now popular in most European countries, and spread like wildfire across Latin America.

It it essentially made of choux pastry, deep fried and later smothered in chocolate before being devoured. The Mexican variation, includes rolling in cinnamon sugar. Eaten while still hot, it is gorgeously crispy on the outside, and sinfully molten on the inside. The pastry itself is flavoured with vanilla and that carries through in every bite. Churros to me are a piece of deep-fried heaven!

The first time I ever had a Churro was in Mexico, during my very brief cameo as a pastry chef in the kitchens of Rosewood Mayakoba.  This one below, came straight out of a 5-star fryer and went straight into my mouth. Can you see the molten center, and the sugar coated, crisp exterior?

Read about my 5-star experience in a real kitchen here. It was every baker’s dream come true!

I’ve been wanting to make these myself ever since that time, and if I was going to make it, I had to make it BIG!

Churro batter, as I already mentioned, is basically choux pastry that’s used to make Chocolate Éclairs, profiteroles, croquembouches and the like. So I figured, why not do just that – an éclair fashioned from churro batter, and filled with a chocolate custard, instead of being dipped and eaten like Churros normally are. Bingo!

The choux pastry, despite how complicated and French it sounds, is not that difficult to make. C’est pas difficile! It starts with melting butter, water and sugar in a saucepan. When it comes to a simmer, you add in the flour and whisk (yes, please use a whisk to prevent lumps). After about a minute, you will have something like this.

All that’s left is to just pipe it onto a baking tray using a Wilton 1M star nozzle tip. I twist the pastry bag as I get to the end and pull. Better than cutting off each churro as you pipe, and this way, your churro gets a nice ‘tail’ 🙂

Quick Tip: Sprinkle a little water on the baking tray to help the churros ‘rise’ in the oven.

Bake and let it cool for 10 minutes inside the oven with the oven door left slightly ajar. I prop my oven door open using a large wooden spoon. Make holes on one side of the pastry shell to help the steam escape. This will ensure that your shells don’t collapse as they cool.

Fill a small pastry bag with the chocolate custard (prepared in advance and chilled until use), and pipe the custard into the shells using the hole you just made. Tap the shell as you fill to make sure the custard gets to the bottom.  Brush with butter and roll into cinnamon sugar. Devour. 

 Simple, right?

Note:
Your Baked Churro Éclairs are best served as soon as they are filled. That way, you get that churro crunch and an éclair’s gooey center – the best of both worlds. If you must make it in advance, refrigerate after filling for up to 1-2 hours and you will get an éclair like soft crust instead.

When you make these (which I really think you SHOULD!), be sure to SHARE YOUR PHOTOS with me through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. I’d love to see what you cook from here!

Adapted from Bigger Bolder Baking

Baked Churro Éclairs

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings: 12

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

For the Churro

• 0.5 cup water
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp brown sugar/regular sugar
• 0.125 tsp cinnamon powder
• pinch of salt
• 0.5 cup all purpose flour
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste / extract

For the sugar coating

• 0.25 cup granulated sugar
• 0.25 tsp cinnamon powder
• pinch of salt
• 0.5 tbsp butter, melted

For the Chocolate Custard

• 500 ml (1cup + 1tbsp) milk
• 2 tsp vanilla custard powder
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 0.5 cup bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao)

Method

 

Make the chocolate custard

1. Take about 2 tbsp milk and dissolve the custard powder. Set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, bring the remaining milk to a rolling boil.
3. Lower heat, and stir in the dissolved custard and sugar.
4. One the custard begins to thicken, add in the chocolate and stir till it is completely dissolved.
5. Turn off heat when the custard is thick enough that when you dip a spoon, and draw a line through the custard, the line holds.
6. Strain the custard through a sieve, let it cool slightly. Press cling film onto the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Cover and let it chill in the fridge until ready to use.

Make the Churros

1. Combine the butter, water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat.
2. Once the butter melts and begins to simmer, whisk in the flour, cinnamon and salt.
3. Reduce heat to low, and stir the flour with a spoon, kneading it as it cooks for a minute.
4. Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.
5. In the meantime, whisk the eggs and vanilla in a bowl. Set aside.
6. Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Line a medium baking tray with parchment paper, and place this into a large baking tray.
7. In small additions, mix the whisked egg using a spoon. Continue to add a little egg at a time and mix until you get a smooth batter.
8. Transfer the choux batter into a large pastry bag fitted with a 1M tip.
9. Pipe 4-5 inch strips of batter onto the prepared baking tray.
10. Bake at 400°F/200°C for 18 minutes until golden brown.
11. Let it cool in the oven for 10 minutes.

Assembling

1. Using a skewer, make a hole on the side of each churro éclair to let the steam escape.
2. In a small ziploc bag, combine the sugar, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
3. Transfer the chocolate custard into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip.
4. Pipe the custard through the hole into each churro éclair.
5. Brush a little melted butter onto each filled éclair.
6. Roll each éclair into the cinnamon sugar.
7. Serve immediately.