For the churros: In a medium saucepan, warm the water, half & half, butter, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt and vanilla over medium high heat and bring to a simmer. Add the flour and lower the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring constantly, with a rubber spatula until mixture comes together and is smooth and there are no lumps. Transfer to a mixing bowl and using a hand mixer, whisk until the dough is just barely warm. Add the two eggs and beat until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a closed star piping tip (I like the Ateco 846 tip). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pipe the dough onto the baking sheet in 6" lines. Repeat until the dough is used up. Freeze for at least 1 hour.

For the chocolate sauce: Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, combine the heavy cream, cinnamon, ancho, cloves, cayenne and vanilla and bring to a gentle simmer. Pour the cream over the chocolate and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Stir in the softened butter and set aside until ready to use.

To fry churros: In a shallow dish, mix together the remaining granulated sugar and cinnamon. Heat at least two inches of canola oil in a heavy bottomed pot or a dutch oven to 350 degrees F. In batches of 5 or 6, fry the churros over high heat as the frozen churros will cool the oil. Transfer to a wire rack set over a baking sheet to drain any excess oil and while the churros are still warm, roll them in the cinnamon sugar until well coated. Allow the oil to come back up to temperature between batches. Serve with warm chocolate sauce.