Recipe: Blueberry churros with minty chocolate dipping sauce

Ingredients

Blueberry cake
150g sugar
150g salted butter, at room temperature
3 large eggs
5ml (1 tsp) lemon juice
5ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence
120g polenta
90g self-raising flour
130g blueberries
5ml (1 tsp) cake flour

Chocolate sauce
80ml fresh cream
80ml milk
30ml (2 tbsp) honey
5ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence
100g dark chocolate, finely chopped
50g mint chocolate, finely chopped

French toast churros
4 large eggs
125ml (½ cup) milk
Olive oil, to fry
60ml (¼ cup) castor sugar
5ml (1 tsp) cinnamon
130g (1 cup) blueberries, to serve
Fresh mint, to garnish (optional)

Method

1. For the blueberry cake, preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 25cm x 8cm loaf tin generously with cooking spray. Use an electric mixer to beat the sugar and butter together, 2 minutes. Add the 3 eggs one by one and mix until well combined. Add the lemon juice, vanilla essence, polenta and self-raising flour, and mix until smooth.

2, Toss the blueberries and cake flour together. Fold into the cake batter. Spoon the cake batter into the prepared loaf tin, smooth out the top and bake, 45 minutes. Cool in the tin, 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool, at least 1 hour.

3. For the chocolate sauce, heat the cream, 80ml milk, honey and vanilla essence in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat just before boiling point. Add the dark and mint chocolate and whisk until smooth. If more heat is needed to melt the chocolate, return to the stove, 5 – 10 seconds, and whisk. The sauce can be served hot or cold.

4. For the French toast churros, cut the cooled blueberry cake into thick fingers. Whisk the 4 eggs and 125ml (½ cup) milk together. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add a splash of oil. Give the cake fingers a quick dip in the egg mixture and fry in the hot pan, 1 minute per side until golden all over. Drain on paper towel.

5. Combine the castor sugar and cinnamon. Gently toss the French toast fingers in the cinnamon sugar.

6. Top the French toast churros with blueberries and garnish with mint, if desired. Serve the chocolate sauce as a dip on the side.

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