Mini Mondays: Churros

One of my favorite memories growing up is going to Costco with my mom.  She didn't take me very often because she would usually go during the week when I was in school because, let's face it, Costco is a mad-house on the weekends.  But occasionally she would put up with the crowds and take me along with her.  After we were done shopping (and tasting all the samples) we would stop by the food court and get a giant churro, and man were they delicious.  Now that I'm an adult, Costco trips aren't nearly as fun.  Mostly I want to get in and out of there as fast as possible; forget about waiting in a forever long line to get a churro.  So I decided I would try my hand at making homemade churros.  I decided to make them miniature for several reasons: 1) I didn't feel like using a ton of oil to fill up a big pot to fry up a normal sized churro.  2) I could eat more of them and feel less guilty if they are small.  3) As we have already established on this blog, things are a million times more adorable in miniature form.

Mini Churros

What you need:

1 cup water

2 1/2 T sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 T vegetable oil

2 tsp Mexican vanilla

1 cup flour

Oil for frying

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

What you do:

Combine water, 2 1/2 T sugar, salt, vegetable oil and vanilla in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil then remove from heat and stir in the flour until a ball forms.  Mix the remaining sugar and cinnamon together in a shallow dish and set aside. 

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Allow the dough to cool some them either put the dough in a pastry bag and pipe out the dough into finger length strips (longer if you want to make regular sized churros).  If you use a star tip then your churros will look "normal."  I don't have a pastry bag and I tried to use a ziploc bag but after ripping two I said "screw it" and just rolled them out by hand.  

Now fry the dough until golden brown.  Make sure the oil is not too hot or the outside of the churro will crisp up before the dough on the inside is all the way cooked.  Immediately after taking the churros out of the oil roll them in the cinnamon sugar mixture you made earlier.  These taste best when eaten immediately, but they are still quite tasty even a couple days after you fry them (as long as they are kept in an airtight container).