Want a fun and easy cooking project to make today? Churros are great to eat at the fair, but you can make them at home too! A churro is a type of fried dough from Spanish and Portuguese cuisine. They are also found in Latin American cuisine. They are made of a simple choux dough that is deep fried and coated in cinnamon and sugar.
Choux is also used to make cream puffs and eclairs. Choux dough is made by combining flour, water and butter on the stove top and stirring until it forms a nice ball like this:
After the dough comes together, it is cooled for a few minutes so it doesn’t cook the egg that gets added into it. I use a stand mixer to combine the egg with the dough because it takes a while to come together and you want it well mixed. You want to add enough egg to get a piping consistency, but not runny. It should hold its shape. The resulting mixture is then put in piping bag with a star tip if making churros.
To make the churros, the dough is squeezed out in 6 inch sections and cut with clean kitchen scissors into 360 degree oil. The dough is fried for about 6 minutes until it deep golden brown and the churros are cooked in the center.
Once they are cooked, they are drained on paper towels and dumped into cinnamon and sugar to coat them. I think they are best served with my salted caramel sauce as a dip. The combo is totally amazing.
Churros
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup AP flour
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- oil for frying
- cinnamon sugar for coating
- caramel or chocolate for dipping
Coating:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and 3/4 tsp cinnamon. Set aside.
- Heat about 2-3 inches of oil in a large pot or deep skillet. You want the oil at 360 when you are ready to cook.
- Add water, butter, sugar and salt to a sauce pan and heat over medium until boiling.
- Add the flour and reduce heat to medium low. Cook, stirring constantly until it comes together in a smooth ball. Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer. Rest for 5 minutes.
- Turn the mixer on and add the egg and allow the mixture to fully combine, scraping the bowl as needed. Immediately transfer mixture to a piping bag with a star tip. Pipe 6 inch sections of dough into the hot oil and cook for 5-6 minutes until dark golden brown and fully cooked in the center. Drain on paper towels.
- Toss in the cinnamon sugar coating and serve with dip.