Churros
Churros are a Spanish fried pastry, piped through a star tip into long ridged sticks, fried until crisp and rolled in cinnamon sugar. This recipe uses choux dough (flour cooked with water and butter, then beaten with eggs), so the outside is shatteringly crisp while the inside stays soft like a cream puff. Dipping them in hot chocolate sauce is the most traditional way to enjoy them.
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Rising or chilling
- 10 min
- Total time
- 1 hr
- Method
- Fried
Ingredients
Churro dough
Cinnamon sugar coating
Chocolate dipping sauce
Frying oil
Instructions
Step 1
Put 250 g water, 60 g unsalted butter, 15 g granulated sugar and a pinch salt in a saucepan and heat over medium heat until the butter has completely melted and the liquid comes to a full boil. The butter needs to melt completely before the boil so the fat spreads evenly through the dough. The mixture is ready when it is bubbling vigorously across the whole surface, not just at the edges.
Step 2
Add 145 g all-purpose flour to the pan all at once, lower the heat and stir hard with a spatula for about two minutes. Cooking the flour gelatinizes the starch so it can hold steam, which makes the inside of the churros puff up light and airy. The dough is ready when it comes together into a smooth ball and leaves a thin film on the bottom of the pan.
Step 3
Transfer the dough to a bowl and beat on low speed for about five minutes to let the heat escape. The dough needs to cool so the eggs you add do not cook into lumps. The dough is ready when it feels only warm to the touch and is no longer steaming much.
Step 4
Gradually add 150 g beaten eggs along with 4 g vanilla extract to the dough, beating well after each addition until the egg is fully absorbed before adding more. The eggs make the dough supple, help it hold its piped shape and puff up crisp when fried. The dough is ready when it is glossy and smooth, fairly thick and hangs from the beater in a V shape when lifted.
Step 5
Pour to taste oil for deep-frying into a deep pot or deep skillet and heat over medium heat to 180 degrees Celsius. While you wait, spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and mix the sugar and cinnamon together. The oil is ready when a thermometer reads the right temperature, or when a little dough squeezed in sizzles and floats up right away.
Step 6
Pipe the dough straight into the oil in sticks about 12 cm long, snipping them off at the tip with scissors, frying four or five at a time for about four minutes and turning them evenly. The star tip creates ridges that help the churros crisp evenly and keep them from bursting while frying. The churros are done when they are golden brown all over and feel firm and light when lifted out.
Step 7
As soon as the churros have drained and are still hot, roll each one in the mixture of 100 g granulated sugar and 4 g ground cinnamon. Hot churros still have a little oil on the surface, so the cinnamon sugar sticks firmly. The churros are ready when they are evenly covered all around in sparkling cinnamon sugar.
Step 8
Heat 120 g heavy cream until it steams and bubbles gently at the edge of the pan, turn off the heat, add 100 g chopped dark chocolate, wait one minute and stir well. The hot cream melts the chocolate gradually, so the sauce is smooth and never scorched. The sauce is ready when it is thick and glossy and coats the back of a spoon; serve it with the churros while still warm.
Equipment
- Small saucepan
- Spatula
- Hand mixer
- Piping bag
- Deep skillet
- Thermometer
- Wire cooling rack
- Kitchen scale
- Mixing bowl
Tips
- Pipe and fry the churro dough right after adding the eggs, because if it sits too long the surface dries out and it becomes hard to push through the star tip.
- If your piping bag tears easily, use a cloth bag or two plastic bags one inside the other, since churro dough is quite thick.
- For a thinner dipping sauce, stir in a little warm milk.
Storage
Churros are best eaten within an hour of frying. If you have leftovers, keep the uncoated churros in an airtight container at room temperature for one day and reheat them at 180 degrees Celsius for about five minutes to crisp them up. The chocolate sauce keeps in the fridge for five days.
Common problems and how to fix them
- The churros burst or spatter oil while frying.
- The dough has large air pockets, or the piping tip is too small and smooth. Use a large star tip with deep teeth and press the dough down to the bottom of the bag to push out all the air.
- The churros are soft and lose their crunch quickly.
- The oil was not hot enough or the churros were not fried long enough. Keep the oil at 180 degrees Celsius and fry until the outside is firm and a deep golden brown.
This recipe is based on the common ratios for this bake and is written entirely in our own words.
