Choice Morsel: International Doughnut Culture, Part 7

Sometimes the doughnut you’re looking for is just a drive-thru away.

When I returned from my first trip to Madrid, I searched high and low for churros con chocolate, to no avail. I had become addicted to that combo, and although I am not a morning person, I took to rising early on my vacation in Spain to seek out the country’s thick, pudding-like hot chocolate accompanied by its national doughnut, the churro.

Churros are long, thin, deep-fried doughnuts, chewy on the inside and extra crunchy on the outside, thanks to the ridges formed when the pastry batter is pushed through a cookie-press-like gadget for churros, a churrera. The crisped edges make churros a perfect dipping food, but like traditional doughnuts in the U.S., they’re also perfect for stuffing, and that’s just how they’re sold in South America, filled with dulce de leche, chocolate or vanilla pastry cream.

These days you can find churros in Seattle, thankfully, with chocolate, either drizzled with Valrhona as they do at Brasa or served with a cup of hot chocolate as they do at Barrio. But locating the stuffed version seemed out of the question until I was given a tip from a friend and discovered that filled churros were, in fact, right under my nose. They’re right under your nose too, no doubt, because Jack in the Box has more than one hundred outlets in Washington State, and they sell cinnamon sugar filled mini churros hot from the fryer. They’re not just conveniently located. They’re also finger lickin’ good.

Above (from left): Churros drizzled with Valrhona chocolate sauce and served with whipped cream at Brasa, cinnamon and sugar filled mini churros from Jack in the Box, and churros accompanied by cup of Xocalati chocolate at Barrio. Photos by Tracy Schneider

For more finger lickin’ good doughnuts from around the world, try French beignets, Polish paczki, Portuguese malasadas, Chinese saa jung and Greek loukoumades and Italian zeppole.

Join us next week for the final installment of our international doughnut series, when Choice Morsel samples Filipino karioka.