Baked Churros

Cinco de Mayo is only a few days away and there’s nothing better than tacos, margaritas and baked churros to celebrate! This is, hands down, my favourite Spanish/Mexican dessert (okay, I know churros aren’t Mexican, they originated in Spain but they are in every Mexican restaurant here in Toronto)!

If you’re not familiar with churros, you are missing out! A churro is a fried-dough pastry rolled in sugar, served with caramel, dulce de leche, or chocolate. You can normally find these treats at fairs and food trucks scattered around your city. Or simply hit your local Mexican or Spanish restaurant to see what you’re missing. Then once you know what they taste like, try making them at home!

I’ve been dreaming about making churros for years now, but the problem is I really dislike deep frying in my house; the smell, the mess and I just feel greasy afterwards! Am I alone on this?  I’ve been perfectly fine enjoying fried churros at restaurants and food trucks until now, when I decided it was about time to see how a baked churro would turn out at home. I was pleasantly surprised!!

They didn’t take long to make and they were fairly easy to do as well.  You need to make sure you have a piping bag and a star tip or else you won’t be able to accomplish the classic churro shape. After making the simple dough, you pipe strips of the dough onto a baking sheet, bake for 25 minutes and then roll the churros in sugar.  Sounds pretty simple? It absolutely is, and with less mess than frying! Of course I still love fried churros but I really, really enjoyed the baked version, and I’d choose the baked version over frying any day!

I paired the baked churros with my caramel sauce and ohhh the pairing was perfect! I highly suggest my fool proof caramel sauce recipe to go with these, you’ll be happy you did. I actually had a batch in the freezer that I just pulled out and reheated on the stove. You see guys, lots of baking can be frozen so you don’t always have to do everything the same day. I normally make a double batch of everything and freeze my baking for unexpected guests and/or cravings!

The day I was testing this recipe my neighbour invited me over for taco Tuesday with a few friends! Talk about perfect timing! I came with 2 dozen baked churros and a jar of caramel sauce ready to be tested! I found after packaging up the churros in a container they went soft and I lost the sugar coating, so I reheated them in the oven and re-rolled the churros in sugar at her place. I left with an empty container and a jar licked clean, needless to say they were a big hit!

Alfajores (Dulce de Leche Cookies)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Whether or not you’re celebrating this May 5th I hope you try this recipe out and see just how easy it is for yourself!

Baked Churros

Print Recipe

This delicious Spanish treat is baked not fried for a mess free dessert. They are made with pastry dough, piped, baked and then rolled in sugar. Served with caramel sauce, dulce de leche, or chocolate sauce.

• Author: Alie Romano
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 40 mins
• Yield: 2 dozen 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Cuisine: Spanish

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

Churros

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup (115 g) unsalted butter
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Coating

• 1/4 cup instant/caster sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Caramel sauce, or dulce de leche for dipping.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375˚F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large pot add water, butter, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once water boils, turn heat down to medium. Add flour and with a wooden spoon consistently stir until dough forms into a ball.
3. Remove from heat and let cool for approx. 10 minutes (I flattened the dough and spread it apart in the pot to cool the dough faster).
4. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and vanilla together.
5. Add a small amount of eggs to the dough and quickly mix in, do this in 3 additions until the eggs are completely mixed in (work quickly, if the dough is still really hot the eggs will cook and become scrambled).
6. Add dough to a piping bag, fitted with a star tip (I used tip # 849). Pipe dough into long lengths on prepared pans. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut the end of the dough from the piping tip, making sure to leave about 1 1/2 inches between each churro.
7. Bake one pan at a time for 25-30 minutes, until churros have puffed up and are golden.
8. Meanwhile, make your coating. Add cinnamon and sugar together and place in a small shallow bowl.
9. Once churros have baked, let cool on pan for approx. 3 minutes then roll each churro in the sugar mixture while still a little warm.
10. Serve warm with dipping sauce.

Notes

If you’d like to fry the churros you just fry the dough in 350˚F oil until they’re golden brown.

Churros are best enjoyed right away.
If you are making them ahead of time you can reheat the churros in the oven at 400˚F for 5-8 minutes. Then re-roll the churros in cinnamon and sugar. Serve warm with dipping sauce.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1
• Calories: 65
• Sugar: 0.8g
• Sodium: 59mg
• Fat: 4.5g
• Saturated Fat: 2.6g
• Unsaturated Fat: 0
• Trans Fat: 0
• Carbohydrates: 4.9g
• Fiber: 0.2g
• Protein: 1.3g
• Cholesterol: 31mg

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