Baked NOT fried, this Churro is hands-down delicious and real chocolate and coffee lovers treat with the thick decadent espresso flavored chocolate sauce. I’m in heaven, come join me in my Churro wonderland 🙂

I feel like I’m in my happy world right now, with all these delicious Churro in front of me. Every dip, every bite is pure heavenly indulgence, I cannot think of anything better than this Churro right now. Always take my time when I eat any meal, but with this Churro I had been taking my time 2x than I normally do. I love to savor every bite, to feel the crunchy outside texture of the Churro and soft bread texture inside and the chocolate sauce, this alone is a treat to me. It is super decadent, just the right thickness and a nice hint of espresso flavor. You can never go wrong serving this for dessert, I’m pretty sure you and your guest will be head over heels in love with it.

What is Churro?

Churro is a strip of fried dough that is coated with cinnamon sugar. The dough is similar to a choux pastry, the one used to make Eclair or Profiteroles.  Churros are traditional in Spain and Portugal, from where they originate, as well as the Philippines (that explains why I am obsessed with it). It is traditionally served with chocolate dipping sauce on the side ( that is why its to die for!  MORE chocolate please).

Ingredients for Bake Churro

• All-Purpose Flour – This is base dry ingredient. 
• Butter – This gives the dough a nice buttery taste and also helps in the nice browning during baking
• Sugar – Sugar is use to sweeten Churro dough and as sugar coating after baking
• Salt – Always add salt to enhance the taste
• Egg – This gives the structure of the dough
• Vanilla Extract – This adds flavor. You can also substitute it with Almond Extract
• Chocolate – You can use dark or semi-sweet chocolate, bar chocolate or chocolate chips but I find that chopped bar chocolate produces a better silky smooth chocolate dipping sauce as it melts better.
• Milk – This helps make a smooth dipping sauce
• Cinnammon – For the Cinnamon sugar coating. You can add more or less depending on how strong you like the Cinnamon flavor
• Espresso Powder – Use only the fine powder texture so that it dissolves easily. You can use any flavored coffee powder ( Vanilla, Hazelnut, Almond, Cappucino etc.)

How to Make Bake Churro

Making a Churro dough is different from making any bread dough. The dough is cooked first on stove-top before it gets baked in the oven. It’s similar to making a pate choux, or choux pastry that is used in making cream puff and profiteroles. Although they differ in the end product as Churro do not have a hollow center compared to profiteroles or eclair but the process of making is dough is similar. It does vary in the proportion of the ingredients and the technique of a baking it. 

• First is to melt the butter, sugar and salt in a water in a stove top. Once that is done
• time to cook the dough. You’ll add the flour and cook the dough for about 1 minute until it forms into a dough. That’s it for cooking the dough. Do not cook too much or you will end up with a dry gummy Churro
• Add wet ingredients: Wait until the dough cools down before adding the egg and vanilla extract. Mix for about 1 minute until the egg is fully incorporated, you’ll end up with a very thick batter which is what is expected. I always say, do not over mix the dough as you’ll end up with a rough Churro.
• Then it’s time to pipe the dough. Transfer the dough into a piping bag with piping tip, I used Wilton 1M for this one. Pipe the dough into small pieces, I like to make it 2 bite size per piece which is about 3-inch long per piece. You’ll end up with 25 pieces of small bite size Churro which is enough for sharing between 3 people. You can definitely make long Churro about 6-inch per piece and you’ll end up with 12 pieces of Churro. 

Can I Freeze the Churro Dough? 

YES! This is what I love about this, you can definitely freeze the dough and bake it for later. This is so convenient and a great emergency dessert. Dough can be frozen for 2-3 months. Here’s how you do it

• Pipe the Churro into the size that you like and arrange it in a parchment lined baking sheet
• Leave it in the freezer for about 4 hours or until solid hard. Transfer in a ziplock bag, label with date and baking temperate and time (400F for 22 minutes). For frozen dough, You may need to add 2-3 more minutes during baking.
• When ready to bake, no need to thaw. Pre-heat the oven to 400F the bake as per recipe instruction. You may need to add 2-3 minutes more which makes the baking time 25 minutes instead of 22 minutes. 

What Can I Use if I Don’t Have a Piping Kit? 

You can still make Churro even without a piping bag and piping tip. Transfer the batter in a sandwich bag and push the batter to one side of the sandwich bag. Close the sandwich bag and release as much air as possible. Snip the end to about 1/2-inch or bigger if you want a thicker Churro. Press slightly until the batter comes out. You will not get the horizontal line in the Churro but it will still be great, it doesn’t change the taste.  

Can I Make Churro Without Any Electric Mixer?

Good news, YES You can. Isn’t hat wonderful? First, it’s bake not fried, then you can make it even without any mixer. Simpy mix the dough and egg mixture manually until it forms into a thick sticky dough. This will not take long, about 1 minute or so and you got yourself a Churro dough that you can use immediately or freeze for future baking.

How to Make Chocolate Espresso Dipping Sauce 

Now the decadent portion. For the chocolate sauce, I made a Chocolate Espresso Sauce which is basically a slightly thick chocolate ganache with espresso powder. You can add more or less of the Espresso powder depending on how much coffee flavor you like in the sauce. The properties of the sauce is 1:2 ratio, every 1 part chocolate there should be 2 parts milk. This gives a slightly thick but not too thick and not too thin either. I used 1/4 cup chocolate chips, chopped chocolate is even better as it melts better than chocolate chips. It will give you a more fluid and smooth chocolate dip, or you can use a combination of chocolate chips and chopped chocolate. The milk is 1/2 cup because we need the chocolate sauce to be thinner than a regular chocolate ganache, its more like a chocolate ganache for drizzling and dipping. 

How to Make Cinnamon Sugar Coating

Cinnamon sugar is just a combination of white sugar and cinnamon powder. I personally like to further grind the granulated sugar to make it finer as opposed to large coarse granule of sugar. If you prefer the later, then you can use the granulated sugar as is. You can add as much or less cinnamon powder as you like. Some people do not like the taste of cinnamon, if that is the case you can remove the cinnamon powder. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Water
• 1/4 cup softened Butter – take the butter out at least 30 minutes before using
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tbsp Granulated Sugar 
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Egg –  at room temperature ( take the butter out at least 30 minutes before using )

For the Espresso Chocolate Sauce:

• 1/2 cup Milk (any type of milk will work)
• 1/4 cup chopped Dark Chocolate or Dark Chocolate Chips
• 1 teaspoon Espresso Powder (or more for stronger flavor)

For Cinnamon Sugar Coating:

• 1/4 cup Caster Sugar or Granulated Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon Powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F (204C).  Line baking sheer with parchment paper; set aside.
2. Melt the Butter: In a medium saucepan, add water, sugar, salt and butter. Place over medium-high heat. Heat until butter is melted and mixture starts to simmer and bubbles starts to show at the side of the pan, but do NOT boil.
3. Add the Flour: As soon as it is simmering, whisk in the flour. Whisk until there are no flour lumps and a dough ball has formed. Stir the dough around the pot and cook it for about a minute over LOW heat. The mixture will clump and pull away from the sides of the pan.  Transfer in a mixing bowl and let cool completely. Do NOT cook too long as it could result to a dry dough.

4. 

5. Wet Ingredients: In a separate glass or bowl, combine the egg and vanilla and whisk together.
6. Cooked Dough + Wet Ingredients: Add egg and vanilla extract into the cooked dough and mix until the dough loosened and formed into a thick sticky dough.

7. 

8. Pipe: Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe dough into a 3-inch Churro or 6-inch on the parchment-covered cookie sheet. Make sure to pipe them nice and thick. Do this by putting pressure on the bag and piping slowly. Leave about 2 inches of space between the Churro.

   

9. Bake for 22 minutes or until golden brown. You will notice that the Churro will lift immediately when you pick it up. It will also slide easily when you push the tray back and forth. That is the sign that the Churro is baked already. If the Churro is still sticking in the pan, bake for another 2 minutes then check again. Turn off the oven and leave the Churro inside the oven for another 5 minutes to dry a little. This step helps the Churro keep their shape.

   

10. Make the Cinnamon Coating: Process the granulated sugar into a finer texture using a food chopper. This gives a nicer fine coating as opposed to big granules of sugar. If you do not have anything to process the sugar, then use a granulated sugar. Combine sugar, cinnamon and salt and mix to combine.

    

11. Coat the Churro: Take the churro straight from the oven and VERY lightly spray it with olive oil then immediately toss them in the cinnamon sugar mixture while still hot. It is best to do this when the Churro is still warm and fresh from the oven so that the coating sticks to the Churro.

    

12. Make the Chocolate Espresso Dipping Sauce: In a microwaveable safe bowl, transfer the chocolate, milk and espresso powder. Microwave for 1 minute in 30 seconds interval and stir after each interval until the chocolate is fully melted. Stir until smooth then transfer in a serving bowl. The sauce will get thick as it cools, microwave for 10 seconds to bring it back to melted state. I always like my sauce warm to keep the consistency just right.

    

13. Serve: Transfer Churro in a serving platter with the Chocolate Espresso Dipping Sauce on the side.

Makes 24 pieces (3-inch long) or 12 pieces (6-inch long)

Recipe Notes:

• Make-Ahead: If you do not want to bake the entire batch, you can freeze the dough. Refer to the freezing instruction discussion above.
• Alternative for Piping Bag: If you do not have piping bag and icing tip for step no. 8, you can use sandwich bag. Put the dough and cut the tip to the desired width of the churro.

Featured Posts:

• How To Freeze Cookies (Bake and Unbaked)
• How To Store Cookie Properly So They Last Longer
• Holiday Cookie Platter, The More The Merrier 🙂
• Classic Shortbread Cookie
• [VIDEO] Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons
• [VIDEO] Cinnamon Pecan Palmier (Elephant Ears Cookie)
• [VIDEO] Brookie: Brownie & Cookie in One, a Two in One Treat!
• [VIDEO] Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Chocolate Dipped Almond Ball Cookie
• Purple Yam Crinkles
• Chocolate Crinkles
• Homemade Hot Chocolate
• Lemon Ricotta Cookie
• Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookie
• Pistachio and Almond Cranberry
• Baked Mini Churro
• Meringue Chocolate Kisses Cookie

My Latest Video

Thank You for visiting my website. Please don’t forget to click the “Like” button below if you like this recipe. Lastly, did you know that I have a YouTube Channel? Please support my channel by clicking on the “Subscribe” button in my video and the “Bell” icon to get notification of new videos.

Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube