Baked Churros with Light Chocolate Sauce

📝 Ingredients

• 125 ml water
• 30 g unsalted butter (25 for the dough, 5 for brushing)
• 75 g caster sugar (10 for the dough, 35 for the coating, 30 for the sauce)
• 1 pinch of salt
• 80 g plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 300 ml semi-skimmed milk
• 15 g unsweetened cocoa powder (2 tbsp)
• 15 g cornflour (1 ½ tbsp)
• 20 g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa

🍴 Utensils

• 2 saucepans
• Wooden spoon
• Piping bag and star nozzle
• Baking tray and baking paper
• Whisk
• Pastry brush

📖 Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C and line the baking tray with baking paper. In a saucepan, put the water, 25 g of the butter cut into cubes, 10 g of the sugar and the salt, then heat over a medium heat until the butter has melted and the mixture comes to the boil.
2. Remove from the heat, tip in the flour all at once and stir vigorously with the wooden spoon. Return to a low heat for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly, to dry out the dough: it should form a smooth ball that comes away from the sides and leaves a thin film on the bottom.
3. Off the heat, let the dough cool slightly in the pan for 5 minutes so it doesn't cook the eggs. Add the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously after each, until you have a smooth, glossy, thick dough that falls from the spoon in a ribbon.
4. Fill the piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle (about 1.5 cm) and pipe around twenty 10 cm sticks onto the tray, 3 cm apart, snipping the dough cleanly at the end with scissors. The ridges from the nozzle help the churros bake without bursting.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes without opening the oven for the first 15 minutes, until the churros are nicely golden and dry to the touch. Taken out too early, they collapse and stay soft inside.
6. While they bake, make the sauce: in the second saucepan, off the heat, whisk the cornflour, cocoa and 30 g of the sugar with a little cold milk until there are no lumps left, then whisk in the rest of the milk.
7. Heat over a medium heat, whisking constantly, and let it bubble for 1 minute, until the sauce thickens and coats the spoon. Off the heat, add the dark chocolate broken into pieces and whisk until melted and the sauce is glossy.
8. Mix 35 g of the sugar with the cinnamon in a shallow bowl and melt 5 g of the butter. As soon as the churros come out of the oven, quickly brush them with the butter and roll them straight away in the cinnamon sugar: while still hot, they hold it better.
9. Serve the warm churros immediately with the hot chocolate sauce in small bowls, for dipping. If the sauce has thickened while waiting, reheat it for 1 minute over a low heat, whisking.