One of my blog resolutions this year (yes, blog resolutions are a real thing, and yes, one of those resolutions was to bake a pie a month) was to be more mindful of “bloggable holidays” and plan recipes around them. And nope, I’m not talking about the weird, fake made-up ones like “National Chocolate Cake Day” or “National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day” (where did those come from anyway???). I’m talking about making stuff like hamantashen for Purim, and Bailey’s Irish Cream desserts for St. Paddy’s.
But of course, this week is like, the Perfect Storm of bloggable holidays. It’s Chinese New Year today, Mardi Gras tomorrow, and Valentine’s Day this weekend. So do I make a round dessert for Chinese New Year (‘cuz round foods eaten on that day symbolize reunion and being together with your loved ones), or make some beignets in the spirit of a New Orleans Mardi Gras celebration? And how exactly do I throw Valentine’s Day into the mix? Ugh, my head hurts.
But thank goodness for these donut holes.
These churro holes come from my extraordinarily talented blog friend, Aimee from Twigg Studios, and her awesome new cookbook Love, Aimee. They’re pretty much exactly what they sound like — instead of piping churro batter into their traditional tube shapes, Aimee’s recipe calls for rolling the batter into balls for donut holes!
And Aimee didn’t know this when she sent me her beautiful book, but this recipe kills hella birds with one stone. They’re pretty much the perfect dessert for all the holidays this week! They’ve got that symbolic lucky round shape going on for Chinese New Year, and their fried nature is a great homage to the famous beignets of New Orleans. And served with dulce de leche caramel on the side, that kinda ties in Valentine’s Day too, right? Because isn’t caramel usually associated with Valentine’s Day? Am I trying too hard? Whatever, these are delicious. I’ll gladly eat them any day, holiday or no holiday.
Happy Chinese New Year / Mardi Gras / Valentine’s Day, folks!
also featured:
canvas home tinware mug || crate and barrel mallorca saucer || sur la table oil and vinegar tray || brook farm general store jute trivet || crate and barrel mercer mini bowl || crate and barrel mercer appetizer plate || sur la table copper spoon || canvas home tinware creamer || crate and barrel suit napkin
Some baker’s notes:
So if you’ve never made choux pastry before, this recipe will probably confuse you since churros are made from deep-fried choux dough. Choux dough is created by cooking butter, water, flour, and eggs in a pot over heat. These ingredients combine together to make a dough with high water content. You then cook off the water in the dough to create steam that helps puff the pastry. It’s awesome and makes you feel like a bad-ass pastry chef. Unfortunately, because the end result is basically a dried out dough, it doesn’t keep very well after a day or so and tends to go stale very quickly. Eat these churros as soon as you make them! Though let’s be honest — that probably won’t be a problem.
These churros are deep-fried, but I assure you that you don’t need any fancy equipment to deep-fry things at home. I usually just pour enough oil into my trusty Staub cocotte (which is apparently on sale now for a great price, good lord) and use a candy thermometer to get it to the temperature the recipe needs. Get a candy thermometer! It really makes the kitchen a much more wonderful place. I like digital ones, but the old-fashioned ones tend to work best for deep frying.
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