Churros with chocolate orange sauce

When I first visited Spain on an exchange programme as a teenager, I was delighted to discover that they eat doughnuts – of a sort – for breakfast. Deep-fried, dusted in sugar and dipped in thick, velvety sauce, churros con chocolate are a particular Spanish delicacy that it’s well worth trying to recreate at home, especially as the autumn chill creeps in.

The best churros I’ve ever had were at a little café in Seville, piled up on a sheet of greaseproof paper and served alongside a pot of bittersweet chocolate so thick that each individual churro stood up in it. Here I’ve added a little orange to the sauce as a nod to the beautiful Seville orange trees that surrounded us as we ate.

For perfect churros you’ll need a piping bag and star-shaped nozzle, a deep-sided pan for frying and a thermometer to check the temperature of the oil. If you don’t have a thermometer to hand, toss a cube of bread into the oil when you think it has come to temperature – if it turns golden brown in 15 seconds, you’re good to go.