Spanish Chocolate with Spiced Doughnuts

Chocolate: Put the cornflour in a small bowl and stir in 3 tablespoons of the milk to make a smooth paste. Stir this into the remaining milk and tip into a saucepan. Heat to just below boiling point then whisk in the chocolate until smooth. Stir the egg yolks and condensed milk together and whisk into the chocolate mixture. Slowly bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Doughnuts: Combine the flour, salt, cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. Whisk the melted butter, eggs and milk together and stir into the dry ingredients to make a thick batter.

Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish.

Put 4 cm of canola oil in a medium sized, heavy-based saucepan and heat to 180°C on a sugar thermometer. A piece of bread dropped into the oil should be golden within 30 seconds if the oil is at the right temperature.

Carefully drop teaspoonfuls of batter into the pan and cook for 1 minute each side. Don’t overcrowd the pan as the oil temperature will drop rapidly and the doughnuts will be heavy.

Remove with a slotted spoon and roll in the combined sugar and cinnamon. Keep warm in a low oven until all the doughnuts have been cooked.

To serve: The chocolate can be served chilled or warm. Pour into small pots or ramekins and refrigerate if serving chilled. If serving warm, gently reheat, stirring constantly and pour into small pots to serve.

Makes about 30 doughnuts and 8 x 90 ml pots of chocolate.