How and where to eat them

After walking the Camino de Santiago to reach Santiago de Compostela you deserve a treat! One option, that we highly recommend, are traditional Spanish Churros con Chocolate. The chocolate is so thick you can almost stand your spoon up in it. The idea being to dip your warm churros in it, rather than trying to drink it.  You will often see people eating these early in the morning on their way home after a night out!

Cafe Metate

One of our favourite places to eat Churros is Cafe Metate, on Rúa do Preguntoiro. You can’t miss it, as they have a large sign outside that reads “CHOCOLATE”.

Cafe Metate is a family run, former chocolate factory. Today, they serve their home made chocolate and fresh churros. These recipes have been in the family for 5 generations. We can guarantee, they know what they are doing! In the downstairs dinning area, you can see all of the old churros and chocolate-making equipment. This part is open to the public in the evening.

On our fully-guided walking tours, we will make sure we point out the cafe or even take you there to enjoy Churros and Chocolate ourselves!

If you feel like making some Churros con Chocolate at home on your return from the Camino de Santiago – here is a recipe to try!

Recipe

Ingredients – for the churros

  • 50g butter, melted
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 250g plain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • about 1 litre sunflower oil

Ingredients – for the chocolate

  • 200g dark chocolate, not too bitter, broken into chunks
  • 100ml double cream
  • 100ml whole milk
  • 3 tbsp golden syrup
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract

Method

  1. Place water, butter, and a pinch of salt into a medium size sauce pan. Bring to a boil.
  2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a big mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre, then pour in the contents of the jug and very quickly beat into the flour with a wooden spoon until lump-free. It should be a thick batter, like a wet sticky dough, not thin and watery.Rest for 10-15 mins.
  3. Put all the chocolate ingredients into a pan and gently melt together, stirring occasionally until you have a smooth shiny sauce. Keep warm on low heat.
  4. Fill a large deep saucepan full of oil. It should come about a third of the way up the sides of the pan. When you think it’s hot enough, toss in a cube of bread and if it sizzles and browns in about 30 seconds, the oil is hot enough
  5. Fit a star nozzle to a piping bag, 1.5-2cm wide is a good size. Fill with the rested dough.  Pipe 2-3 strips directly into the pan, snipping off each dough strip with a pair of kitchen scissors. Fry until golden brown and crisp, then remove with a slotted spoon. Drain on a kitchen paper-lined tray. Carry on cooking the rest of the dough in batches.
  6. Sprinkle the cooked churros with sugar as they come out. Once you’ve cooked all the churros, toss with any remaining sugar.
  7. Serve hot Churros with the chocolate sauce for dipping.