Thyme-sugar churros

Serves 6 Cakes, Bread and Pastries

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Method

To make the thyme-sugar, grind the sugar and thyme leaves with a pestle and mortar until fragrant, then pour into a shallow dish and set aside. Alternatively, rub the thyme into the sugar with your fingertips until it resembles wet sand.

To make the churros, pour 200ml water into a medium pan, add the butter, lemon zest and 2tsp sugar and bring to the boil. Pour in the flour all at once while stirring continuously. It will be lumpy at first, but keep mixing until you have a thick, smooth ball of dough. Turn the heat down and continue to cook the dough for 1 minute, stirring continuously. Remove from the heat, transfer the dough to a clean bowl and leave to cool for around 5 minutes.

Crack the eggs into a jug or cup and gently beat with a fork. Pour the eggs into the dough a little at a time, beating well after each addition. The dough will look as though it’s not coming together at first, but keep mixing and it will begin to combine. You may not need to use all the beaten egg – you’re looking for a consistency that is thick enough to pipe and that will slowly fall off a spoon after a few seconds.

Pour the oil into a medium, heavy-based pan or a deep-fat fryer to a depth of 10cm and heat to 170C. If you don’t have a thermometer, test by adding a little bit of the dough – it should sizzle and float quite quickly and take about 30–60 seconds to brown. If it darkens quickly but is still raw in the middle, turn down the heat.

Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large open star nozzle (such as 1M). Once the oil is at temperature, hold your piping bag directly over the oil and pipe in an 8–10cm strip of dough. Use a pair of clean scissors to snip off the end, letting the dough float into the oil. If you don’t feel confident piping the dough directly into the oil, you can pipe shapes on to small pieces of baking paper first.

Repeat until you have 3–4 churros in the pan. Let them fry for 1–2 minutes on each side until they’re puffy and golden. Use tongs to remove them from the oil, placing them on a plate lined with paper towels. Continue to cook in batches until all the dough is used up.

Toss the warm churros in the thyme-sugar to serve.

This recipe is from the May 2022 issue of Food and Travel. To subscribe today, click here.