Cinco de Mayo Churro Bites (Printer-Friendly)

Golden, crispy churro bites tossed in cinnamon sugar and paired with silky chocolate sauce.

# What You’ll Need:

→ Churro Bites

01 - 1 cup water
02 - 1/2 cup unsalted butter
03 - 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
04 - 1/4 teaspoon salt
05 - 1 cup all-purpose flour
06 - 2 large eggs
07 - 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
08 - Vegetable oil for frying

→ Cinnamon Sugar Coating

09 - 1/2 cup granulated sugar
10 - 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

→ Chocolate Dipping Sauce

11 - 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
12 - 1/2 cup heavy cream
13 - 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
14 - 1 tablespoon light corn syrup

# How-To Steps:

01 - Combine granulated sugar and ground cinnamon in a shallow bowl and set aside for coating.
02 - In a medium saucepan, bring water, butter, sugar, and salt to a boil over medium heat. Once butter melts completely, add flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until a dough forms and pulls away from the sides, approximately 2 minutes.
03 - Remove pan from heat and allow dough to cool for 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla extract, mixing until the dough is smooth and glossy.
04 - Transfer the prepared dough to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
05 - Heat 2 inches of vegetable oil in a deep pot to 350°F.
06 - Pipe 1-inch pieces of dough directly into the hot oil, cutting with scissors. Fry churro bites in batches, turning occasionally, until golden and crisp, approximately 2-3 minutes per batch.
07 - Remove churro bites with a slotted spoon and drain briefly on paper towels. While still warm, toss in cinnamon sugar until thoroughly coated.
08 - Heat cream in a small saucepan until just simmering. Pour over chopped chocolate, add butter and corn syrup, and let sit 1 minute. Stir until smooth and glossy.
09 - Serve churro bites warm accompanied by chocolate dipping sauce.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • They fry up in minutes and stay crispy on the outside while staying tender inside, which is honestly harder to achieve than it sounds.
  • The cinnamon sugar coating is addictive enough that people will eat them straight from the bowl without even touching the chocolate sauce.
  • You can have everything ready ahead of time and fry them just before guests arrive, so you're not stuck in the kitchen while the party happens.
02 -
  • Oil temperature is everything—if it's too cool, your churros absorb oil and become greasy instead of crispy, and if it's too hot, they brown on the outside before the inside cooks through.
  • Don't skip letting the dough cool before adding eggs, or you'll end up with scrambled egg bits in your batter, which I discovered the unfortunate way.
  • The cinnamon sugar needs to happen while the churros are still warm or the coating slides right off onto the plate instead of clinging to the surface.
03 -
  • If you don't have a piping bag with a star tip, you can use a churrera if you have one, or even pipe the dough through a regular piping bag and just accept that they'll be less fancy-looking but taste exactly the same.
  • Pair these with Mexican hot chocolate for the full experience—the richness of the chocolate sauce combined with a warm cup of chocolate is how they're meant to be eaten.
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