I LOVE MAKING CHURROS. They’re so easy to make, they don’t take that long and they taste amazing.
I make a lot of desserts but I feel like nothing excites me the way a warm churro does.
So I wanted to make some and since Valentine’s Day is soon, I felt like it was a good time to make cute little heart shaped ones!
Video Tutorial
Ingredients for the churros
Here are the ingredients you’re going to need to make the churro dough:
- Water
- Unsalted butter – I use unsalted butter so that I can control the amount of salt in the churros, but salted butter does work too. Just make sure not to add any extra salt.
- Granulated sugar – Caster sugar works too. Or you could also use brown sugar.
- Salt – This helps enhance the flavours. Don’t add this if you’re using salted butter.
- Plain flour – also known as all-purpose flour.
- 1 egg
Side note if you watched my video, in the video I doubled the recipe because I wanted more churros. So if you saw me add 2 eggs and are confused why there’s only 1 in this recipe, that’s the reason why!
A few tips
Cook the dough after adding the flour
The first step in making these is to heat the water, butter, sugar and salt together in a pot, until this mixture comes to a boil. Then you want to take it off the heat and add the flour.
Once the flour has been mixed in, you want to place the pot back onto the heat and heat the dough for about 2 minutes, whiles mixing.
This step is important because it helps get rid of the floury taste as well as giving you a smoother dough.
Let the dough chill before adding the egg
Since we just cooked the dough, it is hot.
You don’t want to add your egg into this straight away, otherwise the egg will just end up cooking.
So let the dough cool down for about 10 minutes first.
Don’t use a large piping tip
To pipe churros, you want to add the dough into a piping bag that has been fitted with a star tip.
I seem to make a lot of churros, I’ve learnt that it’s best to use a medium or smaller sized piping tip.
When I first started making them I would always use the largest start tip I had, just because the idea of a super thick churro seemed great.
But they don’t cook well, the centre will end up raw and they won’t be very crispy. So use a medium sized one!
Making the heart shapes
Churros are typically piped straight into hot oil but one, that’s scary. And two, it would be extremely hard to make the heart shapes if we did this.
So we’re going to pipe the shapes onto some baking paper first.
I printed of a heart shape template just so that all my churros were even but to be honest they didn’t end up even at the end….I used a template and they were still all different sizes I don’t know how this happened.
I guess you could say they were more realistic since we all have different sized hearts….I think. I’m assuming we do but I don’t actually know.
Anyway I digress. All I wanted to say was, you can freehand the heart shapes, or like me, you could add a template under the baking paper.
Just a heads up, this is quite a thick dough, so if you feel like you’re struggling a little when piping the shapes, that normal. It isn’t the easiest dough to pipe with but you got this don’t worry!
How many churros does this recipe make?
In the recipe below, I’ve wrote that you will get around 8 churros.
Please don’t take this number too seriously.
It’s hard to say how many churros you will get exactly, just because your heart shapes might be slightly bigger or smaller than mine. Or you might be using a piping tip that is slightly bigger or smaller than mine.
So 8 is just an idea, you might get a few more or a few less.
If you’re worried about not having enough, just double the recipe like I did!
Frying the churros
The temperature of the oil
When it comes to frying churros, the temperature of the oil is important.
You don’t want the oil to be too hot, otherwise the centre of the churros won’t cook. But then also if it’s too cold, the churros will taste oily.
The ideal temperature is between 180c – 190c.
If you don’t have a thermometer that’s fine. I recommend just adding a small piece of dough into the oil. If it starts gently bubbling straight away, the oil is ready.
If you see no bubbles, the oil needs to be heated a little longer. If it starts aggressively bubbling, the oil is too hot. Turn the heat off and let it cool down for a few minutes.
You want the churros to be gently bubbling through the whole cooking process. If you notice that they start bubbling aggressively, lower the heat!
Placing the churros into the oil
In the picture above, the churros have been piped onto squares of baking paper.
The reason for this is because it makes it easier to add them into the oil.
Once the oil is ready, I just pick up one of the squares of baking paper and gently place this into the oil.
After a few seconds, the churro will have separated from the baking paper. Use some tongs to get it out of the oil.
If you’ve never done this before and are worried about….you know….fire. Don’t worry, it’s fine to add baking paper into oil. Just don’t leave it in there the whole time as the churros cook, take it out after a few seconds!
The ganache
I also made a ganache, so that I can dip the churros into this.
I am sorry I don’t know why I didn’t take any pictures of it. I got too excited to eat the churros so I forgot.
Anyway, I made a milk chocolate ganache. All you need to do is heat some milk chocolate and double/heavy cream together. Whipping cream works too.
If you wanted to make a dark chocolate ganache instead, you could, but you need to change the quantity of the cream.
So instead of using 80ml, use 150ml instead.
If you wanted to make a white chocolate one, you don’t need to change anything. The quantities are the same as the milk chocolate ganache!
Not feeling churros? Here are a few other recipes I posted recently:
Heart
Shaped Churros
Ingredients
Makes: around 8
- For the churros:
240ml water
60g unsalted butter
30g granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
120g plain flour
1 egg
- For the cinnamon sugar:
80g granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, you can add as much as you want
- For the ganache:
150g milk chocolate, chopped
80ml double cream
Directions
- Making the churros:
- In a pot, add the water, butter, sugar and salt. Place this onto medium heat and heat until all the butter has melted and the mixture comes to a boil.
- Take this off the heat and add the flour. Mix until you get a smooth dough.
- Place this back onto medium heat and keep heating the dough, whiles mixing, for 2 minutes. Now take it off, add the dough into a large bowl and leave this to cool for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, add the egg and mix until you get a smooth dough. Add this into a piping bag fitted with a medium sized star tip.
- Cut squares of baking paper and then pipe your heart shaped churros onto these. Leave these aside until you're ready to fry them.
- Frying the churros:
- In a pot, heat some flavourless oil up. You want the oil to be between 180c - 190c.
- Once the oil is ready, you can start frying the churros. The easiest way to add them into the oil is by picking up one of the squares of baking paper and placing this into the oil. After a few seconds the churro will have separated from the baking paper. Use tongs to get the baking paper out of the oil.
- Fry until the churros are a deep golden brown colour on both sides. Once fried, leave them on a wire rack.
- The cinnamon sugar:
- In a bowl, mix together the sugar and ground cinnamon.
- Whiles your churros are still warm, coat them with this sugar.
- Making the ganache:
- In a bowl or jug, add the chocolate and the double cream. Heat this in your microwave for 30 seconds, then take it out and stir.
- Now place it back in the microwave for 15 seconds this time, then give it a stir again. Keep repeating this until the chocolate has melted and you get a smooth ganache.
- Now you can dip your churros into this and enjoy!
