Ridged strips of fried dough, crisp outside and soft within, dipped into thick hot chocolate.
What makes it churros con chocolate
A simple dough of flour, water and salt, piped through a star nozzle.
Fried in hot oil until crisp.
Hot chocolate thick enough to coat them.
Where it comes from
Where churros began is unclear. One story gives them to shepherds cooking dough over open fires; another says the Portuguese brought the idea back from China. Neither is more than a story.
Chocolate came from Mexico and became a fashionable drink at the Spanish court, drunk thick. Paired with churros, it's now breakfast, an afternoon treat, and what Madrid eats at dawn after a long night out, above all on New Year's morning.
How it varies
Porras
Thicker and fluffier, fried in one big spiral and cut into lengths — Madrid's favourite.