May Day Churros

I've been meaning to write about churros con chocolate for a long time now since it's one of my favorite things. I grew up eating churros almost every Sunday morning with my grandparents at a little Spanish pastry shop in Manila called La Cibeles that sadly, no longer exists. Now, the only place that still serves churros in Manila is Dulcinea but it's not the same as it used to be. I haven't had churros for ages but since we moved to Marbella a year ago, I've been tempted to indulge in my churros craving at least once a month.


What are churros? They're choux pastry piped straight onto hot oil and then fried till crispy. Similar to crullers, in Argentina, they are usually filled with dulce de leche (a sticky sweet caramel spread) while here in Spain, they are served plain accompanied by hot chocolate that's meant to be used as a dip since it's too thick to drink.


How do you eat them? Well, you sprinkle sugar on the churros, then break off a piece, dip it in the hot chocolate, making sure to dip between bites. There are usually three portion sizes that can be ordered:
- rueda (wheel), just like the one in the photo above and enough for three to four,
- media rueda (half a wheel), and
- racion (portion) which is 4 cut-up sticks about 12 centimeteres long and perfect for one.


Two places in Marbella's Casco Antiguo (old town) serve churros - Ramon Churreria on the Plaza de Los Naranjos (Orange Square) and another just at the first small plaza on the way into the old town - Marbella Churreria. Both places serve the same thing, churros and hot chocolate, coffees and fresh fruit juices.


Ramon Churreria was suggested by a high-school friend, Rica, who holidays in Sotogrande at her grandfather's home. She urged me to go and try the churros there and I did many times. It's a good place to take visitors who have never tried churros since the setting is picturesque. At Ramon Churreria, expect to pay a premium for sitting in Marbella's main square amongst the many tourists and surrounded by the fragrant orange trees.


Marbella Churreria was a recent discovery in the last year. It's smaller and not as fancy and one I go to when I'm alone and just want a quick snack. I think both are very good but most days, I prefer Marbella Churreria because it's simpler and usually filled with Spanish families having their churros fix.


If I can't get to Marbella, then I sometimes have the churros en lazos, ribbon-style, at home. (see photo on the left). They're available in the frozen section of either Mercadona or Hipercor supermarket. (These are similar to the ones I used to have when I was younger.)

Of course, if you want to try and make them at home, you can too and here's an easy churros recipe I read about on another blog called Market Manila . Although I have to say that there's nothing like getting them from a churreria - hot, crispy and freshly-made.

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Churreria Marbella
Buitrago, 24
Casco Antiguo, Marbella
Tel: +34 659 069 042

Churreria Ramon
Plaza de Los Naranjos
Casco Antiguo, Marbella
Tel: +34 952 823 550

* Both are open daily from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., close for the afternoon siesta, and reopen at 6 till 9 p.m.