Contrary to the wishes of my stomach, I do not make dessert every day. Its not that I don’t want to have dessert every day or even make dessert every day (I would love to do both), I just really don’t want to do the amount of cardio it would take to counterpoise all of that deliciousness. So dessert remains in the “special” category and only shows up about twice a week and the old adage definitely holds true…
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
…or maybe I should say stomach in this instance. Either way, I get very excited on dessert day. Today, I am making enchiladas for dinner, so I wanted to make something fun that would pair well with them. Well what Mexican treat is more fun than churros?? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. So churros win! I have made churros before and although they are delicious, I didn’t really feel like frying anything tonight. Hauling out the big skillet, then what am I going to do with the oil afterwards… these thoughts motivated me to research baked churros and I found out that I could make churro doughnuts… in the oven…. no big skillet or oil required! So remember when I said that no other Mexican treats were more fun than churros? Well, it turns out that churro doughnuts actually won that contest and are now my new favorite Mexican treat.
This recipe is pretty simple, but it does take one special tool: a doughnut pan. I do so much baking, but never bought a doughnut pan until recently and I wish I had bought one a long time ago. Baking beautifully shaped little doughnuts is something that we should all be able to do!! You don’t need a fancy one, just a doughnut shaped one and I promise that you will use it more than you think.
Combine your dry ingredients into a large bowl and your wet ingredients into a smaller one and then combine them. Don’t mix this batter too much. As soon as you are sure than everything is combined, stop mixing! I do this batter by hand, because it is very easy to over mix batter when using a stand mixer.
Once your batter is ready, there are two ways to get it loaded into your doughnut pan. You can absolutely scoop it in with a spoon, but if you want them to look perfect, you can pipe them in with a pastry bag. Pastry bags are very easy to work with! I use disposable bags, so there is no cleaning afterwards! Just set the bag into a tall water glass, pour your batter into the bag, cut off the tip and you are ready to pipe out beautiful smooth lines of batter. Both techniques work great though. I promise!
Fill each cavity about three quarters of the way full. This batter is dense and does not rise a whole lot, so filling them this much will give you nicely sized doughnuts.
You will want to bake them at 350 degrees for between 15-18 minutes depending on your oven and pan. You can tell that they are finished when you can poke a toothpick into one and it comes out clean. You can also tell when you touch the doughnut and the surface springs back. If the place that you pressed down feels too soft or stays depressed, leave them in a little bit longer. Once they are done, allow them to fully cool on a cooling rack before topping them.
The topping is the most churro-y part of these fun little treats. These are great on their own, but the topping just puts them over the top. Give them a little dip in some melted butter and then some cinnamon sugar and you will get a sweet and crunchy topping that feels just like a churro! You can eat these now or dip them into a chocolate ganache or a cup of coffee! Whatever you end up doing with them, I hope they make you feel as festive and happy as I do right now.
Churro Doughnuts
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, mix 2 cups of flour, 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar, the baking powder, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg and1/2 teaspoon of salt
- In a separate bowl, mix the egg, milk, 2 tablespoons of melted butter and vanilla
- Mix the wet ingredients in with the dry until just combined
- Prepare your doughnut pan with non stick spray
- Fill each cavity about 3/4 full
- Bake for 15-18 minutes
- Once the doughnuts are springy to the touch, transfer them onto a cooling rack
- For the topping, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a medium sized bowl
- In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
- Dip each cooled doughnut into the butter and then into the cinnamon sugar on both sides
