Churros con Chocolate

One of the great treats enjoyed in Spain are Churros con Chocolate (Churros with Chocolate).  Although available throughout the year, it was never better served up in the cold of winter.

Churros con Chocolate at SEPU

When we lived in Zaragoza as kids, my mother would to take my sister and me to SEPU, a 5-story department store that carried everything from furniture, household supplies, tools, groceries and it included a food bar.  I still remember that it was on the 2nd floor of the building! 

Back in the 1960s SEPU was uncommon as a store given most stores in Spain were small and specialized in a few items, like fruits, meats, fish, hardware or drinks (wine and hard liquors), or they were stalls in larger open markets. SEPU was an all-inclusive store, selling everything under one roof.   

We loved going to SEPU because it reminded us of home in the U.S. where we had stores like Montgomery Wards, Sears and Woolworths. 

We would cozy up to the counter at the food court and order churros con chocolate and be served a dozen foot-long deep-fried golden pastries sprinkled with granulated sugar.  It would come with a mug of hot, thick, sweet chocolate that you would dip your crunchy churro into before eating.                                                                         

Silky sweet, thick chocolate and the deep-fried churros made for the perfect cold winter treat!   

The trick was to eat all the churros before you finished the chocolate so that we could ask for a second serving of churros to mop up the last of the chocolate, or, vis-a-versa, finish all the chocolate so that you had to ask for another mug of chocolate to finish the churros!

In 2018 when I took my wife to Cordoba to see the world-famous mosque, we came across a small outlet across the street that sold churros.  This was my chance to introduce her to the delicacy.  We ordered two servings and I sat back and watched her relish the treat, with a grin from ear to ear!