One of Spain’s most famous desserts are churros. Make a healthier version at home with these baked churros!
I couldn’t get enough of the food in Barcelona when we visited it over spring break. After we arrived via a 6-hour train from Paris, we hightailed over to the Boqueria market to sample some snacks. We bought a cone of jamón (Spanish-style Iberico ham, similar to prosciutto) and scarfed it down in less than a minute.
Unfortunately, many of the stands were closed when we arrived so we moved on and kept exploring. As we were trekking our way through the city, we found a cute little shop that sold churros. I ordered a small container of churros – and even managed to ask for the chocolate caliente on the side. The vendor was ready to drizzle the chocolate on top, but I wanted a cup of it to dip the churro in. Plus I could drink the extra!
I knew that I needed to make some churros when I returned home. But since I’m not very good at frying things, I made a baked version instead. The original recipe made 30 so I cut it in half. You can certainly double this if you’re serving for a crowd or if you just want some extra churros to eat.
These churros were light and crispy. While they weren’t as good as the ones in Spain, they were a really tasty alternative. They were OK plain, but they were definitely better dunked in some Spanish hot chocolate!
Baked churros
Ingredients
Churros
- 1/2 cup water
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- Pinch salt
- 1/2 cup + 1/6 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs
Coating
- 1/8 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Stack two baking sheets on top of each other and line with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Set aside.
- In a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, mix together water, brown sugar, salt and butter. Keep heating until the butter melts and the mixture starts to simmer. Add in the flour and mix well until a dough ball forms.
- Turn the heat to low and stir for another minute. Then take the saucepan off the stove and set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix the eggs and vanilla together. Slowly add this to the saucepan and mix well until everything looks like mashed potatoes.
- Transfer the dough to a pastry bag fitted with an open star tip (if you don't own a pastry bag, you can use a zip-top bag).
- Pipe the churros onto your prepared baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each churro. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Then turn the oven off but leave the churros in there for another 10 minutes.
- While the churros are baking, mix the sugar, salt and cinnamon together in brown bag or zip-top bag. Put the churros in the bag, seal it shut, and shake.
- Dip churros in hot chocolate, caramel or enjoy them plain. These are best enjoyed immediately.
How does one make the thick dipping chocolate?
Author
Iām sharing that on Sunday!
Looking forward to trying these! BTW, 1/2 + 1/6 = 2/3 (for those without a 1/6 cup measure). It sounds like you had fabulous trip.
Author
I was too lazy to do the math so thank you! My dry ingredient cup measures have halfway markers so I used that. š