Creamy Horchata Custard Dip with Churro Bites

Recipe first, chitchat below :)

My Cinco de Mayo dip contest entry

Needed

Medium pot
Whisk
Mixer (hand or standing, whatever you prefer)
Bowls (glass preferred)
Folding spatula
Smallish deep pot for frying churro bites

For Custard

5 eggs, separated
1/3 cup Klass Rice and Cinnamon Horchata Instant Drink Mix (I'm going to wager that 1/3 cup granulated sugar and 3-4 tsp cinnamon would also do if you don't pick up the mix, though the ricey flavor will lack. Try rice flour in place of or in addition to corn starch? Be daring.)
1 Tbsp corn starch
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Rice milk if needed for consistency

For Creamy

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp or to taste Klass Horchata Drink Mix
1 tsp vanilla extract
Rice pudding, if desired (I used one container Reynaldo's Traditional Rice Pudding)

Churro Bites

Tres Estrellas Flour Mix for Churros (Sorry guys, I went for quick and simple this time! There are lots of recipes online for making the pastry dough from scratch.)
Oil for frying

Optional
Raw flour tortillas
Strawberries

For Custard

Separate eggs. You won't need the egg whites for this recipe, but those are great for many uses so don't toss them if you can help it! Gather egg yolks in medium bowl, whisk in 1/3 cup Horchata mix and 1 Tbsp corn starch until yellow color lightens and sugar is well mixed, a minute or so. Set aside.

In medium pot, heat 1 1/2 cups cream over medium heat until just simmering—hot but not boiling. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and slowly pour hot cream into egg yolk mixture while quickly whisking. If you pour it in too fast the egg will cook and curdle—not what we want. When all cream is well incorporated, pour mixture back into medium pot and place onto medium heat. WHISK CONSTANTLY as your custard thickens. If it threatens to go lumpy, remove from heat, whisk madly, and incorporate teaspoons at a time of rice milk if it seems too thick. But if you give it constant whisking attention over medium heat, you should be good. Once it takes on a pudding thickness, remove from heat. Pour into a glass bowl or dish (the wider the faster the custard will cool in the fridge) and cover with plastic wrap that touches the surface of the custard to prevent it from forming a skin. Let cool completely in fridge (at least 2 to 3 hours or overnight).

For Creamy

Once custard is cool, remove from fridge and prepare the whipped cream to fold in. This is where we add the creamy to the custard. Pour cup of cream into high-sided bowl (I use a metal one that works great; glass also works great for whipping cream) or stand mixer bowl and using whisk attachments, begin whipping cream on low speed until bubbly. Sprinkle in Horchata mix and go to medium speed. Add vanilla. When your cream holds stiff peaks, you're ready to fold it into the custard.

I like to use my hand mixer so I can move it over to my custard bowl now and whip it up real quick so it's easier to stir and not holding its shape from the fridge time. Start with a large-spatula/rubber scraper scoop of whipped cream and press it into the center of the custard and then with a folding sweep, come up the side of the bowl and dive into the middle again. Continue this motion somewhat gently while turning the bowl in whichever clockwise direction feels natural. We're not really trying to preserve any height of the whipped cream as we fold (like we'd do with egg whites), but folding is how to get them to combine better than just stirring. Once the first scoop is incorporated and the custard is softening, you can dump one bowl's contents into the other and mix thoroughly. 

Taste and see if you like your creamy custard just like that. If you need that rice flavor to be stronger, definitely add that rice pudding. I tried a small spoonful of rice pudding with a scoop of creamy custard first to see if I wanted to commit to adding the whole container to my dessert. I liked it a lot so I dumped and stirred it in. SO good!

Churro Bites

Heat oil to 350/375 degrees F. I don't really use a thermometer for this. I've learned that on my stove if the pot of about 1 1/2 to 2" of oil sits on "4" heat (medium-lo) for about half an hour, it'll be ready. Plop in a little test batter and if it sizzled and rises up from the bottom after a second, it's ready. For preparing the churro batter, follow the box instructions. Stir boiling water into mix, let cool for a bit before scooping the mix into the awesome little (12") disposable pastry bag+tip the box provide and then squeeze into oil. Use kitchen scissors to snip the dough into bite-size drops. Drain on paper towel–lined plate and then toss with cinnamon-sugar(-and Horchata mix too if desired).

Careful not to let the dough drop into the oil! Lower it with the scissors. Watch the sweet video I made by pinning my phone between chin and chest. Skillz.

You'll see in my dip display that I also had fried tortilla bites coated in cinn+sug. Ever had those raw tortillas you can pick up in the refrigerated section, usually near the dairy? My husband and I love those and seriously don't eat flour tortillas these days unless they're the kind we can cook up ourselves. They taste so much better than precooked dry-shelf flour tortillas. Anyway, cut your raw tortillas into triangles or strips, then fry, drain, and coat. I bet frying already cooked tortillas might work too if that's what you have.

Grab your serving platter and make it all pretty. I sprinkled some sugar mix on top of the dip. Watch out, those churro bites will disappear in a flash! And yeah, the strawberries are suuuuper good in the dip too!

Now for the chitchat

The place I call work threw a party for Cinco de Mayo. They have a dip competition that anyone can enter. I knew there would be inventive salsa and creative guacamole entries, as in years past, but no one had yet attempted a dessert dip. Sounds like a job for Dish and Spoon.

I considered inventing a tres leches dip (which I might still try someday) or maybe somehow a churro-flavored dip, but nothing was coming together until I spied a horchata drink mix. Bingo!

I whipped up a custard using the Klass horchata drink mix and let it cool overnight. The next morning I literally whipped up some cream with sugar, cinnamon, and a bit more horchata drink mix and folded it into the custard. That was yummy and creamy, but I wanted to give the dip some texture and more rice-flavor kick, so I added some rice pudding! So it's a fix 'n mix recipe: not all from scratch, and that's okay, because it's amazing.

Did my dip win? No. Because at work, these contests are always about popularity and proofreaders aren't popular, no matter their fantastic skills beyond the red pen. But it's okay, because in my heart I know it was the fairest dip in all the office.