In the grasslands of mainland Spain many many years ago, a nomadic group of shepherds tended over their flock of churro sheep (a now endangered species of sheep with curved horns). As nomads they carried with them only the essentials, as much of their needs were met by the sheep they tended. For these nomads bread was a special treat that they had to cook by frying in skittles.
During the early years of the second millennia, one shepherd decided to sprinkle some sugar onto his fried bread and the Churro was invented.

This tasty treat soon grew in popularity throughout mainland Spain. The Spanish explorer Diego Velasquez came, saw and conquered Hispaniola (Cuba) in 1511 and with him, among many other things, he brought the Churro. In 1518 he sent the young Hernando Cortez with an army to explore Mexico, and he took the Churro with him, travelling north into what is now New Mexico and Arizona. From its very humble beginnings the Churro is now to be found all across the world and is often accompanied by a delicious glass of hot chocolate.

Churreria´s can be found all over Spain, street vendors who cook the Churro´s fresh at their carts filling the streets with the mouth watering aroma of sweet fried dough. If there´s no Churro stall near you, here's a recipe to make Churros con Chocolaté at home.
Ingredients:

Vegetable or olive Oil
1 cup of water
½ cup marg/butter
¼ teaspoon of salt
1 cup all purpose flour
3 eggs*
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon *
* These ingredients are optional, but do make for a far tastier Churro

- Heat 1 to 1 ½ inches of oil in a pan to approx 360 ºF.
- While the oil is heating place water and salt into a pan and bring to the boil
- Add the flour to the water all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon over a low heat until the mixture form into a ball (should take about a minute)
- Beat all the eggs together
- Let the mixture cool slightly and then beat in all the eggs at once until the mixture is smooth
- There are special Churro makers that you can purchase but don't worry if you don't have one, you can use a decorators tube with the star tip attached or even put the mixture into a pastry bag with a corner snipped off
- Whichever you choose squeeze 4 inch strips of dough into the hot oil. You should only do around 3 or 4 strips at a time until golden brown. Turn them once, about 2 minutes on each side.
- Drain the churros on a paper towel
- Cover with sugar
(Best served straight away)

Chocolaté for Churros:

4oz dark chocolate
2 cups of milk
1 teaspoon corn flour (don't worry if you cant find any, it is not essential but does make the chocolate thicker and creamier)
4 teaspoons sugar

- melt the chocolate and half the milk together in a saucepan
- mix the corn flour into the rest of the milk and whisk into the chocolate with the sugar (if not using corn flour add all the milk at the beginning)
- keep stirring until sauce starts to thicken or for about 5 mins

Serve in cups as accompianment to the Churros. Do not pour over the Churros.

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