Crispy on the outside, soft with just the right amount of doughiness in the centre. The light dusting of icing sugar melts gently in your mouth. These churros stay crisp well over an hour. Like me, you might not be able to stop eating them. 

Even before they fry, they look delicious.

I like this recipe because it is so easy! I have made it so often, I can get it on the table in 10 minutes. It is a handy recipe to possess when you have guests over and realise you forgot to prepare dessert!

Crispy Doughnut-like Churros

Prep: 5 minutes 
Cook: 10 minutes
Inactive: –
Level: Easy
Serves: 4 greedy persons
Oil  Temperature: 340F (170F)
Can recipe be doubled? Yes. You can pipe the dough out, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 
Make ahead? Yes. Mine stay crisp well over an hour. You might want to hold off dusting it with icing sugar until your are ready to serve.

Ingredients

Dough
1 cup water
2 – 3 Tablespoons sugar
1 and 1/2 Tablespoons neutral tasting oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose/plain flour
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Everything else
2 to 3 cups (enough to cover the churros completely) neutral tasting vegetable oil for frying
1/3 cup icing sugar for dusting*
* I have a recipe for Home Made Vanilla Icing Sugar using a vanilla bean and 2.2 lbs (1 kg). It makes the churros so much tastier. Recipe in this link, Vanillekipferl, Europeans Cookies. 

Method

Make the dough
1. In a long handled saucepan, bring the water, oil, sugar and salt to a boil. Takes less than 5 minutes.
2. Have a wooden/silicon spoon or a similar sturdy utensil ready.
3. Once it has come to a boil, turn off heat and remove saucepan from stove.
4. Pour in vanilla extract, mix quickly.
5. Quickly pour flour into the liquid. Hold the saucepan handle firmly and stir with the spoon until you have a ball of dough. This takes me 1 to 2 minutes. Most likely 1 minute. Do not worry too much if you have little pockets of flour.
6. Roll the dough into a cone shape so that it will be easy to plop it into the icing bag. Leave aside to cool a little.

Pipe the dough
1. It is important to have your dough piped out into a diameter that is not more than 1/2″ (1.25 cm) (measure the star-shaped end of your icing nozzle please). Any thicker and you will have just too much dough within that will taste uncooked. Adding an egg or 2 would have helped with some rising of the dough but this recipe is specifically egg free for my family and friends who can’t eat eggs.
2. A star-shaped icing nozzle and piping bag would be ideal here. If not, use a good quality heavy duty plastic bag as a piping bag (I sometimes use two bags, as in a bag within a bag if I think the plastic bag is not hardy enough).
3. If you do not have piping bags or good quality plastic bags, here is an alternative. Gently roll the dough into slightly less than 1/2″ (1.25 cm) tubes/logs. That’s about the width of your finger. Snip off at 2″ (5cm) intervals. Set aside on baking tray.
4. Have a silicon or parchment paper lined baking tray ready.
5. Place icing nozzle in bag, fill the bag with the still warm dough. Cut off a slightly less than 1/2″ (1.25cm) width of an opening so that the nozzle can be pushed through. Better to cut it a little too small than big as you can always cut the hole wider. Cut it too wide to begin with and the nozzle might slip right through.
6. Pipe 2″ (5cm) long dough onto the baking tray. It might be easier to snip off the dough with scissors.

Let’s fry
1. Have the oil heated to 340F (170C). Fry dough for ~5 minutes turning them often to brown evenly. Remember not to overcrowd pan with too many dough at a time. Once browned, remove and drain on racks before dusting with icing sugar.
2. Serve and watch the speed at which these churros disappear.

Tips

(1) I prefer using icing sugar and not caster sugar.  I like the feather-like feel of the icing sugar and the icing sugar adheres better to the churros and makes less of a mess.
(2) When you use a star icing nozzle, the extra ridges means you end up with crispier churros. So use it if you have it.
(3) These should not only be served as dessert, in fact, they are more like sweet snacks!
(4) You can dust churros with cinnamon, cloves and/or chocolate powder. Go light on the cloves. A little goes a long way.
(5) I often serve churros after my version of the Spanish Paella. In keeping with the Spanish theme, it makes my dinner parties seem so well thought out. Just remember the Sangria!

See how crispy they fry up on the outside but are still a little doughy on the inside.

WHAT’S COMING UP NEXT?

And, this is what I am working on. I cooked everything you see here except for the chips. Slow cooked tender pork sandwiches with my crunchy coleslaw that does not turn rubbery with keeping. There is also my ‘House Special Pork Sandwich Sauce’.  The buns are also home made. This is great party food for a crowd!

Yum!