I love churros – I mean anything fried, topped with cinnamon and sugar, then dipped in chocolate naturally has my love. For the longest time, I was accustomed to Mexican churros until I went to Spain. Spanish churros are different to their Mexican counterparts. They are airier and fluffier on the inside, do not have those distinct ridges and are served with very soupy chocolate. Yes, soupy chocolate. This is the best way I can describe it okay?! On the other hand, Mexican churros are denser, have the ridges, are topped with cinnamon and sugar and are served with a thicker chocolate sauce. AKA less soupy chocolate sauce. Today I am sharing with you a very easy Mexican Churros recipe with chocolate ganache. Both are acceptable to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Or, if you are like me – they are the perfect snack to make at 10:57 p.m. I mean I cannot think of a better way to spend a Thursday night in isolation than to make churros. What is sleep even?
TIPS FOR MAKING CHURROS
I made Mexican churros once before a few years ago, during Ramadan of all times. They did not turn out too well. We made them and then let them sit for 6 hours until we broke our fast. Churros that are not eaten immediately will become hard and stale, with a chewy texture that is tough and gummy. Also, if you are not immediately consuming these fried strips of goodness, I suggest you seek medical attention immediately because what sort of monster has that sort of discipline?!
Fear not! If you are unable to eat the churros immediately you can keep the batter in the fridge until you are ready. I suggest transferring the batter into a cloth piping bag (or disposable piping bag) until you are ready to make the churros. When you are ready, take the batter out of the fridge to come to room temperature. While you wait, go and heat up the oil. That way, when the oil is heated properly you can go ahead and pipe the dough.
Normally, most of my recipes are easy for one person to do – since I am normally the one baking, and I bake alone for the most part. However, the process of piping the churros into the oil requires two hands in my opinion. That is because the dough is a bit thick and requires two hands to squeeze out. While you are squeezing the dough into the oil you will need someone to take a pair of scissors and snip piped dough at the appropriate length (about 3-4 inches long). If you are unable to get help then you can pipe the churros onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Freeze the churros for about 10 minutes and then carefully (using your hands or tongs) place the churros into the oil. Don’t worry the notes section of my recipe will have all this information for you 🙂
There are three types of churro recipes out there – one with eggs and no butter, one with eggs and butter and one with no eggs and no butter. The latter is not that popular – but is still doable for those who would like a vegan option. My Mexican Churros recipe is the second one – has eggs but no butter. I opted for no butter for two reasons – easiness and access. Sometimes we have all the ingredients except butter. The flavour and final texture of the churros will be about the same as the butter ones. The real difference you will notice is in the texture of the batter prior to frying it. Butter based churros have a softer batter that is easier to pipe out (making it easy for one person to do it). The butterless batter is a bit thicker – but the egg helps add that softer creamy texture.
MEXICAN CHURROS
cinnamon. sugar. chocolate.
Mexican Churros with Chocolate
These are like the mini donuts you get at the fair. Only you can eat these for breakfast and and you can dip them in chocolate!
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 2 tbsp canola oil (or any vegetable oil)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp brown sugar (can use white sugar but brown gives more moisture!)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 egg, beaten (optional)
- 3 cups canola oil, for frying (you want to have about 1 1/2 – 2 inches of oil)
Cinnamon Sugar
- 4 tbsp cane sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Chocolate Ganache
- 4 tbsp heavy cream (around 1/4 cup minus a tablespoon)
- 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (about 2 tbsp)
Instructions
-
In a medium sized sauce pan bring the water, oil, sugar, salt and vanilla to a boil over medium heat. Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved. Once the sugar has dissolved the mixture has come to a boil, turn off the heat.
-
Using a wooden spoon, carefully stir in the flour and the beaten egg (if using, if you want to keep this vegan omit the egg). You want to mix the flour and egg until incorporated and there are no traces of flour or egg. The mixture will be very sticky. Allow the batter to cool for 10 minutes before transfering into a piping bag. fitted with a star tip.
-
While the batter is cooling, place the 3 cups of canola oil into your frying pan and place on medium-high heat. You will know when the oil is ready to fry when you dip a wooden spoon and bubbles start to rise, or you can pipe a bit of dough and once it rises up to the top it is ready to fry. Reduce the heat to medium (otherwise the churros cook to fast on the outside and remain raw on the inside)
-
Start piping out the dough into the oil, using a paper of scissors to snip the batter once it reaches about to 3-4 inches in length. Depending on the size of your frying pan you can cook 3-5 at a time. Be sure not to crowd the frying pan. Cook the churros for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes or until they are nice and brown). To see how to pipe and cook the churros see the video link in the notes section.
-
Using a slotted spoon remove the churros and drain them on a plate lined with paper towel (to absorb excess oil). While the churros are still hot place them in a shallow dish (that has your cinnamon and sugar mixture) and coat the churros.
-
Serve immediately with the chocolate ganache.
Chocolate ganache
-
Either in a saucepan or a microwave heat up the heavy cream until scalded. Around 2 minutes on low heat on the stovetop OR 30 seconds in the microwave. Remove from heat and place the chopped chocolate into the heavy cream. Stir the mixture until the chocolate has dissolved. Serve immediately with the churros.
Recipe Notes
Video on how to pipe and fry churros:
Sometimes you skip over the blog post and go straight to the recipe. Don’t worry I do that too. To avoid writing a lot – I am sharing a video from Bon Appetit that shows you how to fill the piping bag with the batter and how to pipe the churros into the oil. Skip to the 2:50 minute mark. You may notice that their dough pipes out easier than my recipe – and that is because they use butter. To make this recipe easy (with the option for vegans) I have omitted butter entirely and instead use an egg to give it some structure.
Frying seems scary but it is not. Just ensure that you pipe the churros as close to the oil as possible. Snip the churros and use the (clean) scissors to gently place the churros into the oil.
Making it a day ahead:
You can make this recipe a day ahead. Simply follow all the instruction of making the dough. Once the dough has cooled – transfer to a piping bag and then place that piping bag in the fridge. When you are ready to cook, bring the piping bag out to allow the batter to come to room temperature. While you wait for this heat your oil.
Chocolate sauce:
You do not need to make the ganache. You can eat them as is or serve them with any chocolate sauce you have. In the photos I actually used Nesquick Chocolate Syrup! And then when I started cooking another batch for the family I made the ganache.
MAKING CHURROS HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER. THE BATTER COMES TOGETHER IN MERE MINUTES AND IT ONLY TAKES AROUND 2 MINUTES TO FRY EACH PORTION. THE AROMA OF FRIED DOUGH COVERED IN CINNAMON AND SUGAR, THEN DIPPED IN CHOCOLATE IS DEFINITELY A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN! DO YOU GUYS PREFER SPANISH CHURROS OR MEXICAN ONES?
Thank you for sharing your recipe! It was a hit at our party. This churros with chocolate ganache is wonderful tasting. It has a great favour, I’ll be adding this healthy recipe to my successful list!
I am so pleased to hear that! Thank you for letting me know 🙂 These are absolutely fab and so easy to make.