Cinnamon Sugar Churros with Chocolate Dipping Sauce
If you love cinnamon-sugar, then these Cinnamon Sugar Churros with Chocolate Dipping Sauce need to make an appearance in your kitchen!
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We’ve all been through a fast-food drive-through at some point, right? But have you ever been through the same drive-through 3 times…in about 30 minutes? Yup, we’ve done that. You see, back when we lived in Atlanta, there was a fast-food place that sold cinnamon sugar churros. Now I’ve always been a sucker for anything covered in cinnamon-sugar, so those churros were calling my name!
We’d gone out to a nicer dinner with Laura’s sister when we decided to end the night with drive-through cinnamon sugar churros. What can I say? We’re classy folks. Well those churros were gone before we left the parking lot. So we did the most logical thing and pulled right back into line at the drive-through. And then we did it again. (See note above about us being classy folks.) I mean those churros were on sale for $1. And they were covered in cinnamon-sugar.
Cinnamon Sugar Churros with Chocolate Dipping Sauce
Fast forward many years, and we live in upstate New York. To my knowledge, there aren’t any fast food joints nearby that offer cinnamon sugar churros. The memory of those churros pushed me into the kitchen to make a batch myself. These Cinnamon Sugar Churros with Chocolate Dipping Sauce are guaranteed to disappear quickly. (And you won’t even need to go through the drive-through 3 times, either!)
Truthfully, these churros are so tasty that they don’t even need the chocolate dipping sauce. But then again, more chocolate is more better, right? Plus, this dipping sauce is super easy to make. So with that in mind, I decided to serve these churros with a dipping sauce on the side. After all, we can’t be letting the cinnamon-sugar have all the fun. Chocolate needs to get its turn, too!
I contemplated baking these churros, but I decided to go with the classic frying method instead. A baked churro is delicious (mmm…cinnamon-sugar goodness!), but a fried churro takes things to a whole new level. So I heated up the oil in the frying pan and dropped gently lowered the churro dough in. A couple of minutes later, these churros were nice and golden brown. All they needed was a good coating of cinnamon-sugar, and they were ready to serve. (And by serve, I mean eat them all myself. Just kidding! Sorta.)
If you love cinnamon-sugar as much as I do, then these Cinnamon Sugar Churros need to make an appearance in your kitchen. And don’t forget the Chocolate Dipping Sauce, too! I hope you enjoy this delicious treat as much as we do. Cheers!
Did you make a batch of these Cinnamon Sugar Churros with Chocolate Dipping Sauce at home? Leave a comment, or better yet snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog). I’d love to see your version!
Cinnamon Sugar Churros with Chocolate Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter (56 grams)
- 1½ cups water (340 grams)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (5 grams)
- ¼ tsp salt (1.5 grams)
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour (270 grams)
- 3 large eggs
- canola or vegetable oil for frying
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon (2 grams)
For the Chocolate Sauce
- ¼ cup heavy cream (57 g)
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips (85 grams)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract (2.5 grams)
- {optional} 1 tsp amaretto or Bailey’s (4 grams)
Instructions
For the Dough
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; spray with nonstick baking spray. Set pan aside.
- Using a large saucepan, add butter, water, vanilla extract and salt; place over medium-low heat. Once mixture begins to simmer, gradually add flour, whisking constantly until well combined and no clumps of flour remain.
- Transfer dough into bowl of a countertop mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on low speed for a full 2 minutes.
- Add eggs and continue mixing on low speed for 1-2 minutes, or until well combined.
- Transfer warm dough into a large piping bag fitted with a large open star tip. (Note: I used an Ateco #827 piping tip).
- Pipe 6” strips of dough onto the prepared baking sheet. (Tip: Use scissors to snip each churro off of the piping bag.)
- Refrigerate uncovered for 30-60 minutes. (Note: This is a good time to make the chocolate sauce.)
- Line another baking sheet or large plate with paper towels; set aside.
- Using a Dutch oven or large pot, add enough oil to cover bottom ~2” of pot. Place over medium-high heat until oil reaches ~350°F. (Tip: An easy way to test the oil is to drop a tiny piece of dough in. If it bubbles up immediately, then oil is hot enough.)
- Carefully lower churros into hot oil. Fry for 4-5 minutes, rotating occasionally, or until golden brown. (Note: You will need to fry the churros in several batches to avoid overcrowding pan. I did mine in 3 batches.)
- Remove churros with tongs and place on paper-towel lined baking sheet; let cool slightly.
- Using a shallow dish, add sugar and cinnamon; stir until well combined. Roll warm churros in the mixture and then transfer churros to a serving plate. Serve with warm chocolate sauce.
For the Chocolate Sauce
- Using a small microwave-safe bowl, add heavy cream and chocolate chips. Microwave in 20-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla extract and {optional} amaretto or Bailey’s.
Looking for more cinnamon-sugar recipes? Check out a few of these other favorites, too:
Trdelnik (Czech Cinnamon Sugar Pastry)
Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins227/4
I love all that cinnamon and sugar! Oh, and the chocolate sauce too! What a great combination. Love that these can be made at home and we can skip the drive through altogether!
You and me both, Kathy! I’ve always been a sucker for cinnamon + sugar. So good! The chocolate sauce was tasty, but totally not required. Thanks so much, my friend!
Good golly!!! Dude glad I saw this early-and not a day late! Keep your window open cos am sending my drone up!!! Gosh looking at these Cinnamon Sugar Churros with that Chocolate Dipping Sauce is TORTURE!!! Am stuck at work! And drooling all over my keyboard!
I gotta know – what restaurant was it? We stop by Costco’s food court to grab a $1 foot long churro – they r ok – definitely not good enough for us to get three servings tho…
Haha! I thought I heard a noise outside my window earlier. It must’ve been your drone coming up for churros! So the restaurant was El Pollo Loco up in Marietta. I just googled it and they have since closed. Bummer! I totally forgot that Costco had the foot-long ones. Too bad we’re still waiting on our Costco to open up here…
That is hilarious, David! Those drive-up churros must have been pretty darn good to make 3 rounds in half an hour!
Looks like you nailed the homemade version! And that chocolate dipping sauce looks amazing too!
Hey, those drive-up churros were delicious! But then again, anything coated in cinnamon + sugar is delicious, right? 🙂 Thanks so much, Marissa!
Bitte bitte auch in Gramm Angaben das tolle Rezept, es ist einfach zu lecker um darauf zu verzichten!
Viele Grüße sendet,
Jesse-Gabriel aus Berlin
Sure thing! I actually love and prefer baking in grams, but 99% of folks here in the States prefer measurements. I’ve added the grams to the recipe in the post. Let me know if you have any questions! 🙂
Where the heck did you find a churro drive-through in Atlanta and WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME ABOUT IT!?!?!?! But I forgive you because we are like-minded peeps: you fried these churros to perfection and more is always more when it comes to chocolate!
Hey now! I’m nearly certain you have better churros in NYC. These were drive-through churros from El Pollo Loco – not exactly the classiest of desserts. But damn were they good! We are indeed like-minded peeps, so I’ll save you a couple from the next batch I make. Then you can drive by my house and pick ’em up – see, it’s almost like a drive-through churro shack! 🙂
Mmm, I do love churros! I have never tried making my own though – so this will be on the list to try very soon. You cannot beat cinnamon sugar, and oh that chocolate dipping sauce looks OH so good!
The dough is actually not hard to make at all, Alex! The only problem is that it might lead to an increased consumption of churros – I mean, if that’s actually a problem. 🙂
sorry but i think chocolate sauce is essential david!!:-)
Haha! Point taken, Sherry. 🙂
More chocolate is definitely more better – I bet these taste absolutely superb! I wish we had any drive thrus around here that served anything as exciting as cinnamon sugar churros! And for $1 – I don’t blame you for going back. What an absolutely delicious treat, Davis!
Hey, I can’t say this was the classiest of joints. They had $1 churros at the drive-through. But man were those churros good! Heck, I still remember that like 13 years later. Hah! Thanks so much, Katerina!
Gorgeous work, David! These churros look fantastic. I love cinnamon and chocolate together.
Thanks, Jeff! I’m a sucker for all things cinnamon-sugar…the chocolate is just bonus for me. Hope you had a great birthday, my friend!
Yep…a fried churro is definitely the way to go here!! These look like such a fabulous treat, David! Cinnamon sugar, chocolate and fried goodness…what’s not to love??! No way I’m stopping at one 😉 Happy weekend to ya, my friend!
You can’t ever go wrong with fried dough covered in cinnamon + sugar! (Or covered in powdered sugar for that matter…) And you’re totally right about stopping at one. It’s impossible!
Oooh, Im so much Team fried churro! And, dipped in chocolate? Be still, my heart! And, this recipe looks so easy! Definitely going to give this one a go! thanks for the recipe!
I’m with ya, Laura! I mean Team Baked Churro isn’t a bad option, but Team Fried Churro is gonna win that battle every time. This recipe really is quite easy, too. The only hard part is when you’ve got to make another batch because the first one disappeared!
I’ve never made my own churros but you’ve convinced me to start. And I’m glad you fried them rather than baked them–if you’re gonna make churros you might as well do it right!
I’ve laid the gauntlet down, Kelsie…now you have to complete it! And complete it, I mean you have to eat a bunch of churros covered in cinnamon-sugar and dipped in chocolate sauce. Think you can handle that?? 🙂
That will be gone too in a matter of seconds if I made it at home. Who needs a drive thru when you can make something simple and delicious as this.
Exactly! No drive thru needed here. (And for the record, these churros didn’t last very long at home. Haha!) Thanks, Raymund!
Believe it or not, but I have had churros 2 – max 3 times in my life. Once I made them from scratch and other times got outside. I know that’s way not enough! Honestly, I cannot say I’m a huge fan of fried churros (there’s something about their texture + that oil), but I’m intrigued with the idea of baked version. But I must warn you: if I make churros, I’m serving them with dulce de leche. Thank you for understanding 🙂
What!? Only 2-3 times? I absolutely love cinnamon-sugar, so churros rank pretty high on my list. But I totally get it. I think a baked churro dipped in dulce de leche sounds pretty awesome! You should make that!
I love everything about this recipe. I am with you on the cinnamon and sugar, it’s so good. Also, love the chocolate dipping sauce. It can’t get any better.
Truthfully, I think cinnamon-sugar desserts rank up there in the top spot for me! I enjoy chocolate, maple, etc, but cinnamon + sugar always gets my attention! Thanks so much, Dawn!
I need this in my life! How delicious!! I first had churros and chocolate when I lived in Spain many moons ago. I believe it was at a place that opened at 4 AM, after the night scene. Ha! Clearly MANY moons ago. Really, this looks amazing! 🙂 ~Valentina
Yup, a churro place that opened at 4am was pure genius! I bet that place made a ton of money in the first hour or two…haha. I love cinnamon + sugar desserts, and these churros are a favorite here for sure. (Although I can’t say I ate them at 4am!)
The last time I had churros was a few years back…and now I’m craving them! Churros are so addictive, especially cinnamon sugar ones with chocolate sauce 🙂 Yum!!
Churros are SO good! I’m hearing you say that you haven’t had churros since Little Nicole came along. You clearly need to fix this problem! They’re actually not all that hard to make at home…but they do tend to disappear quickly. Oops!