Paula’s Banana Split Churros | Cooking with Gucci Osteria Florence Chef Karime López

When Paula Requena joined the Gucci Osteria in Florence team as a pastry chef, she communicated mainly through Karime López, as she spoke most confidently in Spanish. To forge bonds with the others on the team she promised to make churros, and a year passed until Karime announced “today’s the day for a staff meal with churros”. That day, half the team wanted banana split, and the other half wanted churros, so Paula and Karime decided to mix the two, to resounding success. “This banana split churro is dessert heaven, our team fell for this mash-up and request it all the time,” Karime said. Karime gives her tips on getting churros to the right golden crispiness: the importance of having the oil at the right temperature of 350 F / 175 C otherwise you risk having a raw or burnt churro. 100 ml water 80 ml whole milk 30 ml cream (35% fat) 90 g butter 10 g sugar 5 g fine salt 180 g 00 flour 4 eggs 1 vanilla pod Sunflower seed oil for frying 2 litres METHOD 1. Bring the water to the boil with the whole milk, cream, butter, salt, sugar and vanilla seeds. Once it’s boiled remove from the heat, add the flour and stir until there are no more lumps. 2. Put the mixture back on to a medium heat until the flour is cooked. 3. Remove the mixture from the heat and put it in a mixer. Mix with the flat beater attachment at medium speed and slowly add in the eggs. 4. You should end up with a soft yet solid dough. 5. Place the dough in a pastry bag fitted with a st