So, you’ve decided to stop paying $12 for a lukewarm bag of dough at the fair and want to try making Churros yourself. Bold move. Prepare to have your kitchen smell like a state fair and your forearms covered in a fine mist of cinnamon sugar.
It’s just water, flour, and a dangerous amount of hot oil. How hard could it be? (Don’t answer that).
The “I Can Do This” Ingredients
For the Dough (The “Soft Inside”):
- 1 cup Water (from the tap is fine, don’t get fancy).
- 2 ½ tbsp Granulated sugar (because the coating isn’t enough).
- ½ tsp Salt (to balance your poor life choices).
- 2 tbsp Vegetable oil (to keep things slippery).
- 1 cup All-purpose flour (the glue holding your sanity together).
For the Coating (The “Crunchy Outside”):
- ½ cup Granulated sugar.
- 1 tbsp Ground cinnamon.
- Plenty of Vegetable Oil for frying. Use enough to submerge a small ego.
The Instructions (Try Not to Mess This Up)
1. The Boiling Point
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the water, 2.5 tablespoons of sugar, salt, and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Bring it to a boil. If you can’t boil water, please close this tab and go buy a pre-made donut.
2. The Arm Workout
Remove the pan from the heat. Dump in the flour all at once. Stir it like you mean it until it forms a ball. This requires actual physical effort. If your arm doesn’t hurt a little, you’re doing it wrong. Let it sit for a minute so you don’t burn your hands in the next step.
3. The Piping Disaster
Shove that dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. If you use a round tip, you’re making long, beige hot dogs. They won’t be crunchy. The ridges are the only reason these things work. Science.
4. The Baptism of Fire
Heat about 2 inches of oil in a heavy skillet to 375°F. If the oil isn’t hot enough, you’ll have soggy, oily breadsticks. If it’s too hot, the outside will be charcoal and the inside will be raw paste. Find a middle ground.
- Pipe 4-inch strips of dough into the oil.
- Snip them off with scissors unless you want to use your fingers (not recommended).
- Fry until they look like the color of a mahogany desk.
5. The Sugar Bath
Drain them on paper towels for approximately five seconds—just long enough so they don’t drip oil everywhere, but short enough that the cinnamon sugar actually sticks. Roll them in the sugar mixture while they’re still screaming hot.
Pro-Tip for the Impatient
Eat them immediately. Churros have a shelf life of about twenty minutes before they decide to become sad, limp shadows of their former selves. If you leave them on your nightstand until morning, maybe try resurrecting them in an air fryer, 250F, for 5 minutes.
Pairs well with: Thick chocolate sauce and the realization that you now have to clean your stove.