Choux Pastry
Churros are a fried dough, called Choux Pastry that is rolled in cinnamon and sugar. They are most popular in Spain, Portugal, and Mexico, but have recently become very popular world-wide. Choux pastry, or pâte à choux, is a light pastry dough. The key ingredients consist of butter, water, flour and eggs. Instead of a leavening agent, it employs high moisture to create steam during cooking to raise the pastry. This is what gives Churros a hollow, fluffy texture.
Piping
Churros usually have a ruffled pattern to them. This is created by piping with a “star tip”. While you can pipe with a regular round, or even get creative with cutting a hole in a plastic bag, the pretty ruffled churros will need proper equipment. Below are the steps to piping Churros, as well as links to the proper equipment.
- Open up a Piping bag
- Place tip inside the piping bag on the pointed bottom.
- Cut the point off to create a small opening in the piping bag.
- Secure tip by screwing the coupler over the tip from the outside of the bag.
- Fold the edges of the piping bag over a cup and fill the piping bag halfway full with the dough. (over-filling the bag makes for a mess and less control)
- Pipe the dough over your hot oil and cut with scissors into long shapes.
STAR TIP: Ateco 828 – Open Star Pastry Tip .63” Opening Diameter- Stainless Steel
COUPLER: Ateco, 1-Pack, white
PIPING BAGS: Keenpioneer Piping Bag – Disposable Cake Decorating Bag 56 Count (16 inch, Clear)
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Frying
Be sure to pick an appropriate frying oil for this. Different types of oil smoke at different temperatures. Olive oil actually becomes harmful for consumption if over heated. I recommend frying with a high heat oil such as, canola, vegetable, sunflower, peanut, or soybean oil. Do not fill the pot more than halfway full to avoid a hot oil splatter. Use long tongs, or frying utensil to navigate the food. Oil should be heated to 350° F, avoid letting it get higher than this. I recommend frying in a cast iron pan, however enamel or stainless steel will work as well. Be sure to avoid anything nonstick, as you don’t know what kind of chemicals are being loosened with that much hot oil bubbling above it. Using nonstick for frying will also ruin the nonstick coating on your pan.
Churro Dips
I highly recommend dipping churros in sauces. My Caramel sauce is a great pairing as well as my Mexican hot chocolate. If you would like the hot chocolate to be thicker; more sauce-like, simply leave the milk out of the recipe.
PrintChurros
- Prep Time: 12
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 10–12 churros 1x
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 4 eggs
- Cinnamon and sugar for rolling
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200° F. Set aside a sheet pan or baking dish to store churros in warm oven. Prepare piping bag and set aside in a tall cup. Prepare Sugar cinnamon mixture in a container where you can roll the churros (i.e. casserole dish) and set aside.
- In a small sauce pan, bring water, salt, sugar, and butter to a boil. Add flour and cook until the dough pulls from the sides of the pot.
- Remove from heat and transfer into an electric mixing bowl with paddle attachment. Mix a little to cool slightly, then add eggs one at a time, until a soft peak forms.
- Heat oil to 350°F for frying. I prefer to use cast iron. (see “Frying” above)
- Transfer dough to prepared piping bag. ( see “Piping” above)
- Pipe dough and cut into hot oil to fry. Be sure to hold it low to avoid big splashes of hot oil. Fry until brown.
- Transfer from oil to cinnamon sugar mixture and roll to coat evenly. Transfer to sheet pan and keep in the oven until all the dough is fried.
- Enjoy your churros while they’re warm! (:
Notes
- Fried and sugared churros may be kept warm in a low temperature oven for up to an hour.
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